2nd Sunday OT @ St. Apollinaris Church

HOMILY - SECOND SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (YEAR A)
JANUARY 14-15, 2017
SATURDAY 4:30 PM, SUNDAY 7:30 AM, 9:00 AM (RUTHERFORD), 10:30 AM (YOUNTVILLE) ORDINARY FORM (ENGLISH) MASS

In Japanese, when meeting someone, it is polite to say “Hajimemashite” (はじめまして), which is often translated loosely as “Pleased to meet you,” but actually means “It is the beginning,” or “It is the first time.” If you follow sumo or martial arts competitions, you will also hear the referees say right before the beginning of the action, “Hajime” (はじめ) which means “to start,” or “to begin.”
Today we begin the Sundays of Ordinary Time. In Latin, it’s called “tempus per annum”, or time during the year.
Ordinary – which we might consider to mean “unremarkable,” or “run-of-the-mill” – here means “ordered,” or “numbered.”
In essence, we count our way through the Church’s liturgical year, marking time for now until the beginning of Lent on the first day of March.
Our readings today have an ordered or structured approach as well.
The First Reading from Isaiah comes from what are called the “Servant Songs” – prophecies which foretell the coming of the Messiah – a Hebrew word rendered in Greek as “Christ” – both of which mean “the anointed one.” Anointing figures prominently in the rites for both Baptism and Confirmation. And so, through these two Sacraments of Initiation, we too, become “anointed.”
In the Second Reading from the beginning of St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul calls them as members of the Church – the Body of Christ – to be “sanctified in Christ Jesus, [and] called to be holy”.
We too are called to be made holy in Christ Jesus . . . sanctified for our work as His hands and feet, as His voice . . . in the world we live in.
Today’s Gospel Reading is from the First Chapter of St. John’s Gospel.
John’s Gospel is unique among the four Gospels because within its first chapter . . . it parallels the Creation account found in the Book of Genesis – the first book of the Bible.
On Christmas, the Gospel reading for the Mass during the day, is the start of John’s Gospel. And identical toGenesis, the first words of John’s Gospel are:
In the beginning . . .
From there John parallels the seven days of creation with seven events from the beginning of Christ’s ministry.
Just as the Creation account in Genesis leads to the creation of Man and Woman in the first Creation, John’s Gospel leads to the Wedding Feast at Cana.
Today’s Gospel reading is the Second Day of the new Creation, where St. John the Baptist speaks of both Baptism in water, and how the Christ will “baptize with the Holy Spirit.”
This parallels the creation of the waters above and below in Genesis – drawing a parallel between the material creation and the new creation – a spiritual re-creation – brought about by Christ’s reconciling all things to Himself by the Blood of His Cross (Col 1:20) as all creation cries out for redemption in Christ (Rom 8:20ff).
And so, we find ourselves at the beginning of a new year. Let us be reminded of our own Baptism and Confirmation – where we were made the children of God, and anointed as members of Christ’s Body the Church – and as such called to live in the new creation in Christ.
As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, may we begin anew. Let us pray that we might be configured more deeply to Christ . . . as individuals as well as members of His Body the Church. And as such, may we share in His mission to restore all creation . . . through the Power of the Holy Spirit.

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