TOS102 The Church’s New Year – Season of Foundations; For audio only PPN
Truth of the Spirit shares an episode of Living Seasons of Change with Msgr. David LeSieur and Patti Brunner in The Church’s New Year-Season of Foundations Year A. The Catholic Church New Year began in December, liturgically speaking, and ties to the Hebraic New Year rather than the Christian Gregorian calendar. The continuation of the early years of Christ—Epiphany, Baptism, and the feast of Mary remind of the foundation on which the Kingdom was built. Truly, it seems like a gigantic task but the Lord works all things for good.
Note: This is an audio presentation. It was originally broadcasted on radio January 2008.
The connection of the Old Testament with the New Testament show the fulfillment of the Promise as Matthew’s Gospel reports the prophecies fulfilled. The Beatitudes lead past the ‘initial’ beginning of Christ’s ministry and Baptism to the Mountain—like Sinai –where the commandments were given. The celebration of Mary points clearly to the hope available by the promises in the writings of the prophets. The Holy Spirit and the Baptism of Jesus are signs but more—a promise to be fulfilled in each of us! The writers of the scripture were listeners; they were also evangelists—willing to spread the word of the Lord, no matter the cost.
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Patti Brunner Welcome to Living Seasons of Change, the show that explores how the Church’s liturgy is connected from week to week as we apply the Gospel to our daily lives. Today’s show is the Season of Foundations—we’ll review the earliest days of Christ and how the Old Testament promises are fulfilled in him. I’m Patti Brunner and my co-host today is Monsignor David LeSieur, a priest of the Diocese of Little Rock. Welcome Monsignor!
Msgr. David LeSieur Thank you, Patti. The readings this month include a feast of Mary, the arrival of the Magi visiting the child Jesus and the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. Then as the calendar continues, we start the readings of “Ordinary Time”.
Patti Brunner I want to remind our listeners that although the calendar new year starts January first, and has since 1582 when Pope Gregory established the Gregorian calendar, the liturgical calendar starts four Sundays before Christmas. The civil Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, is celebrated in September or October according to the arrival of a particular new moon. To pinpoint the official New Year the announcement came by the blowing of the shofar. It is also known as the Feast of Trumpets,
Msgr. David LeSieur A shofar is made from a ram’s horn and is used like a trumpet. In Hebrew, Rosh Hashanah means the “head of the year”. It remembers the creation of the world and calls the people to put their spiritual house in order.
Patti Brunner Our liturgical year has ties to the Hebraic New Year as it rotates around set feasts. The date for Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter, the Ascension and Pentecost follow a lunar schedule rather than a set date like Christmas.
Msgr. David LeSieur The celebration of Easter is set according to the Pascal moon. Christian feasts such as Good Friday and Pentecost relate to the Jewish feasts of Passover and Pentecost but with the fulfillment of Christ’s actions.
Patti Brunner Just as our liturgical New Year started four Sundays before Christmas, we look back to the past to the plan of the future.
Msgr. David LeSieur After Christmas each year we hear the readings for the feasts of Mary, Mother of God, the Baptism of Jesus and the Epiphany.
Patti Brunner These readings remind us of the foundation on which the kingdom was built. Truly, it seems like a gigantic task but the Lord works all things for good.
Msgr. David LeSieur. The liturgical year is set up as a three year cycle for the Sunday readings. We are in Year A which uses the Gospel of Matthew for a majority of the Gospel readings.
Patti Brunner. Each of the Gospel writers had a particular purpose and audience in mind. Matthew was inspired to write his gospel with a strong desire to connect Jesus with Jewish tradition and to report the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. As we continue the liturgical cycle A, we will have many opportunities to find the fine thread woven in Matthew’s account of the life of Jesus Christ, savior and King, Priest and God’s Son, as promised by the prophets.
Msgr. David LeSieur. Matthew was familiar with the references in the Old Testament concerning the Messiah and draws them out for us to see how Jesus fulfills the Promise.
Patti Brunner. The Magi, the wise men from the east, fulfilled the prophecies but they also used the prophecies to find Jesus, right?
Msgr.: That’s one of the interesting things about this reading from the second chapter of Matthew on the Feast of the Epiphany. The Magi followed a star, which was a natural phenomenon, but it would take them only so far. They got to Jerusalem and they had to ask directions and the directions come from Scripture.
Patti Brunner. When they arrived in Jerusalem they went to King Herod; perhaps they thought they would find the new king in the palace. Herod called in his scripture scholars; they looked it up and found that it said, “You, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means the least among the rulers.”
Msgr. David LeSieur. So, they found Bethlehem in the prophecy; they had to find it by someone reading the word of God to them. If you think about it, Herod was the king of the Jews. So, when he hears about the newborn king of the Jews, he immediately becomes fearful of his throne, of his power. He’s worried, threatened.
Patti: Scripture says when King Herod heard about the star of the newborn king of the Jews, he was greatly troubled and all Jerusalem with him, including all of the chief priests and the scribes and the people.
Msgr. David LeSieur. You know, it was the chief priests and the scribes that later would help put Jesus to death. So, there is some foreshadowing here, this wonderful event where the Magi are looking, following a star to find this newborn king. There is also some lurking threat in the story. It’s a marvelously told story.
Patti Brunner. King Herod wasn’t looking for the light. He didn’t notice the star to begin with and then, when given the opportunity, he didn’t go along with the light of the Scripture, either. The reading from Isaiah 60 on the feast of the Epiphany says “Nations shall walk by your light and kings by your shining radiance.” But not King Herod the Great!
Msgr.: “And darkness covers the earth, thick clouds cover the peoples; but upon you the Lord shines, and over you appears his glory. Nations shall walk by your light and by your radiance…”; you know, epiphany means manifestation. It’s a showing of the Lord. Then the Magi saw him and —
Patti: And they were pulled by light.
Msgr.: They were pulled by the light. And they were part of the “nations”.
Patti: Because they were Gentiles.
Msgr.: Right! A light of revelation for the Gentiles, which was what Simeon said in the Gospel of Luke at the Presentation of Jesus in the temple [Luke 2:28-32]. Then, in Isaiah, there is a reference to the gifts – gold, frankincense. So, it’s beautifully foreseen by the prophet, Isaiah.
Patti: Matthew really ties the events together.
Msgr.: And dromedaries, too. I love that word ‘Dromedaries.’ The prophetic Scripture says, “Caravans of camels shall fill you, dromedaries from Midean and Ephah; …” Of course, a dromedary is a camel.
Patti Brunner. I have read that a dromedary is a one hump long-legged camel and could travel three times faster rather than a cargo camel in the desert. Sounds like the kings from the Orient were in a hurry to follow the star! What’s interesting is that all of Judah knew they were there. I guess when the Magi came in, just the magnificence of their caravan would have caught people’s attention.
Msgr.: Herod and his court had paid no attention to the prophecies. They didn’t see the star, or, if they did, they ignored it. When outsiders came in, all of a sudden they were interested in something that has been theirs all along. Wouldn’t that raise your own interest to say, “We better go along with them and see what we’ve got.” But in their case, they didn’t catch on. They became alarmed. The people that became alarmed were the ones that put Jesus to death later. The Magi visited Herod the Great. Herod the Great is the one that built the temple. –and a different King Herod put Jesus to death.
Patti: And Herod called the Magi back to him secretly; that’s when he sent them on to Bethlehem so no one else knew his plan. He sent them with the instruction to let him know what they found so he could kill this future heir to his throne.
Msgr.: Which, of course, didn’t work! The wise men received a dream guiding them to go back by another route. Later Herod sends out his henchmen to kill baby boys in that area two years and under. So, Jesus may have been two years old by the time the Magi found him. Joseph had a dream to flee to Egypt. We hear that Gospel on the Feast of the Holy Family in the octave of Christmas. Mathew reminds us the prophet said “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
Patti: Jesus continues to fulfill the prophecies. As we look at this reading from Isaiah 42 on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord we are told about the covenant that will provide the light. This covenant will open the eyes of the blind; bring prisoners out of the confinements from the dungeons, from those who live in darkness, which is exactly what our salvation does. This is the new covenant of Jesus. At his baptism–as the Spirit descends upon him–we see a foreshadowing of what will happen to us when salvation is completed through the crucifixion and resurrection. We see what we will get because when we enter that covenant, we will have the Spirit descend upon us.
Msgr.: We are known as beloved sons and daughters, too. We have the Spirit. So, Isaiah says, “I have grasped you by the hand. I have formed you and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, to open eyes of the blind, bring out prisoners from confinement of the dungeon those who live in darkness.” That is very similar to Isaiah 61 that Jesus quotes in his initial sermon in the synagogue there in Nazareth. Matthew uses it, too, a different chapter, but somewhat the same thing.
Patti: During the Baptism of the Lord, which marked the beginning of his ministry in the Gospel of Matthew, the Spirit publicly came upon Jesus and there was an audible voice of God from the heavens. We look back to Isaiah 42 to hear the prophetic words.This is “my chosen one in whom I am well pleased, upon whom I have put my spirit.” Are those the same words spoken at the baptism of Jesus?
Msgr.: Yes, pretty much. “This is my son in whom I’m well pleased.” [Matthew 3:17] If you are following the liturgy in your bible, you’ll notice that the next event is the Temptation of Jesus. The Sunday liturgy waits until the season of Lent to share that passage. It is an important part of the preparation in establishing God’s kingdom but we’ll wait until Lent to discuss it.
Patti: Let’s look at the third week of Ordinary Time. Zebulun and Naphtali show up in both the first reading and the gospel. These small countries were formed when the Promised Land was divided into ten family units and they are now Jesus’ ministry headquarters.
Msgr.: Capernaum is in this area, in the northern Holy Land.
Patti: Matthew points to the scriptural prophecy of Isaiah promising that the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali would receive the light. These two ancient countries are so important because Nazareth, Cana and Capernaum are in these geographical locations named Galilee and this is where Jesus started up his ministry.
Msgr.: “People sitting in darkness will see a great light” — at the end of this gospel is where Jesus calls Peter and Andrew, James and John. Walking by the sea he sees two brothers. He calls them. So, he is spreading the light and it’s like these fishermen saw something in Jesus, saw some light in him that made them want to follow him. Jesus went around all of Galilee teaching in the synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel, curing every disease. He is bringing a light to a darkened situation. He is healing people, proclaiming the gospel, and teaching; he is shedding light on people’s minds.
Patti: On the Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, God says through the prophet Zephaniah, “I will leave as a remnant in your midst a people humble and lowly who will take refuge in the name of the Lord.” The lowly shepherds were called to witness the manger and, also, these fishermen were not ruling class or the elite. They were working people who quickly set aside their work to follow the call of the Lord.
Msgr.: They worked with their hands. They worked with fish. They had tough skin and worked hard all day long. They were probably what we call “middle-class”.
Patti Brunner
Their humility didn’t come from a hunger for food but from a hunger for God. Like them, we too are called to take refuge in the Lord! This season concludes with the Beatitudes which leads past the ‘initial’ beginning of Christ’s ministry and Baptism to the Mountain–like Sinai, where the Ten Commandments were given. Jesus reveals the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount. The people of God are given, directly by God, these provisions, a way for the people to follow until the infilling of the Holy Spirit brings a conversion of heart. It is very similar to Moses receiving the law, the Ten Commandments, on Mt. Sinai.
Msgr. David LeSieur Jesus, the new Moses! You notice how his Beatitudes tend to turn things around. The poor in spirit own the kingdom of heaven. The mourner will be comforted. The meek will inherit the land. The hungry and thirsting will be satisfied. It’s like he’s taking common situations and putting a new spin on them because the kingdom of heaven is breaking in. The kingdom of heaven changes everything; it turns things around. We will see it more in the Sermon on the Mount after Lent, after Easter. “Where you’ve heard it said of old, “do not do this,” I say to you, do this.” He takes the old law and then he fulfills it. Again, the preaching of the kingdom causes everything to have a new light on it. It is like being new wine in new wineskins; it causes a real change in thinking and living; a change of heart.
Patti. It’s also a way to behave until we get that change of heart, too. The commandments were given to the people before they were civilized in most respects, most of the commandments are “do not do”: do not take the Lord’s name in vain, do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not do that! So, Jesus has given these Beatitudes and he is telling us, “Now, do this; be this; be merciful. Be a peacemaker; be meek.” He is also telling us, as you do these, you are relying on God. The reward for following the Beatitudes is not a temporal reward; it’s how God will treat you. If you are merciful, you will be shown mercy. Well, who’s going to show you mercy? God is going to show you mercy! It’s taking refuge in the Lord. It’s finding your satisfaction in the Lord.
Msgr.: He tells us to be merciful to each other. He tells us to forgive. When we are in the kingdom, we begin to act more and more like God. In the Ten Commandments, when you separate the first three which refer to God himself, the remaining seven commandments, really, any human being on earth, whether Christian, Jew, Muslim, atheist, whatever, if they would abide by those rules it would be a better world.
Patti: Right.
Msgr.: Don’t steal. You don’t have to be a believer not to steal. Honor your parents. All these are just good wisdom. Then Jesus comes along and he’s talking about the kingdom: “the law says don’t kill. I say don’t even get angry. Don’t do anything that would make you want to kill anybody. The law says don’t commit adultery; I say don’t even look wrongly at someone or think about it in your heart.” So, he fulfills the law without destroying the law; he doesn’t do away with it. He takes it to a deeper level and gets us to think like God thinks; think like the lawgiver thinks. That’s what changes lives, seeing things from God’s point of view.
Patti: And, he’s putting it right up front that this is not necessarily going to be easy. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you. Again, it’s what is going to happen to him. Jesus is going to be persecuted.
Msgr.: Right. He uses persecution twice. Blessed are you who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness and blessed are you when they persecute you on account of me. I mean – who, in their right mind, would think of being persecuted as being a situation in which they get blessed?
Patti: Exactly! Again, it’s that upside down way of thinking.
Msgr.: Right, the Kingdom turns it all upside down.
Patti: Jesus is calling us to think in a different way. I think a lot of us are still struggling with making all of these work for us.
Msgr.: I don’t think enough people look at this or take it seriously or really know what it means. A lot of us are cultural Christians. We are baptized and our parents were raised in the church. But, how much of this really sinks in? I don’t know how to get that through to people. I need to work on it myself, too. It seems to me like when people go through things like persecution or sorrow, hunger, thirst for righteousness, those are teachable moments when someone needs to come along and say, “Do you know what is happening here? Do you see what is happening? What is happening in your life now, you hate. You don’t want to feel sad.
Patti Brunner. Right! You don’t want to feel persecuted because of something you stood up for. You hate it.
Msgr. David LeSieur. But there’s a beatitude in this. And someone needs to teach them that, to show them that this is good, but most of us probably don’t have anyone to really sit down with us and teach us through it, or walk us through it. We go to Mass; we hear a homily. We go home and we’ll go to work the next week. I think it just speaks of the need that we all have for community with people who are living the same thing, going through the same troubles, trials, but who are seriously trying to follow the Lord. It takes a community of people. It certainly takes a parish community to belong and it takes within that, smaller groups like prayer groups, where people can trust each other and bring their problems.
Patti: I know. I’ve gone through a time that didn’t make sense. I was in a quiet time from ministering and dealing with a family issue. I remember a friend who is a mentor said, “Have you ever read John of the Cross, The Dark Night of the Soul, or Theresa of Avila? Just bringing that up to me caused me to do some research and reading. All of sudden I started comprehending that when you are in that darkness or dry spell that the Lord has a purpose for that and not to worry about it. Just be faithful and “this, too, will pass” kind of thing. And, it helped me come through it quicker and with more peace. Looking back, because of the fruit that came after time, I could see that it was a sort of purification in the fire.
Msgr. David LeSieur. A refiner’s fire.
Patti Brunner. Precisely! Recently I looked in “Dark Night of the Soul” by John of the Cross and there is a section in there that says you need to have a friend who is aware of what you are going through to help you because you cannot explain it to anyone. And, I thought that was just so true! By having someone show you, then you can see that it is just a point in time, then, when you are out of it you can look back on it and easily find the blessing. Later you can recognize the “dark night” in other people when they are going through it.
Msgr.: Yes. And knowing that someone else has been through it, tells you that your problems are not unique and that this is not unusual.
Patti: And blessing came through it. Recently I was comforting someone whose husband had died. They had been married a long time and she was beside herself. And I said, “Have you found the blessing in it, yet?” And she said, “Oh No! I can’t find the blessing in it!” And, then, the next time I saw her she was just so different. She said, “You know, I have really been looking at the blessing that has come from all of this.”
Msgr.: “Blessed are you” – the Beatitudes. This is how Jesus started his ministry, with these words. People who heard this probably thought “where is he coming from? He’s saying things we haven’t heard before.” When you deal with Jesus, this is what you are dealing with; a whole new way of looking at things. It’s a new wine, he demands new wine, because he’s the new wine. He makes demands that we become new wineskins to hold all that and not break.
Patti: It’s not that he’s not calling us to suffer. As we read on the 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, he went about healing all their illnesses; “curing every disease and illness among the people” [Matthew 4:23]. But, he’s preparing us to live in a different way, trusting the Lord.
Msgr.: Imagine the people that came to listen to Jesus, some were curious, but there were some he touched because he began to speak their language. He talked like someone who understood what they were going through. Anybody would listen to someone who speaks in a way that touches where they live and does more than just quote the law to them.
Patti: If we were going to pick one Beatitude, which do you think would be for our time that we really need to work on?
Msgr.: Which of these Beatitudes? Well, poverty of spirit has always spoken to me because poverty of spirit is a willingness to admit that we don’t have everything, that we can’t do everything and that we have to depend upon God. It’s probably the basic beatitude, the first and basic beatitude: Poverty of spirit or trust in God. It’s being able to rely on God for what you need and realize you can’t get it for yourself; you can’t earn it. It’s just such a basic awareness of our nakedness and inability to save ourselves, to create a perfect world.
Patti: If you look at Mary’s life, she had that one down. Didn’t she?
Msgr.: She did. She was poor in spirit, and handmaid of the Lord. Poverty of spirit is simplicity. It’s not complacency; it’s just simplicity in trusting God. Doing what you can do and trusting God with the rest. I think from that beatitude, all the others flow.
Patti Brunner. Mary remains our role model of living the beatitudes. The celebration of Mary on January 1st points clearly to the “result” hoped for—available by the promises of Christ, of God, in the writings of the prophets.
Msgr.; In the gospel reading on January 1st, Luke tells us that after the birth of Jesus and the visit of the shepherds of the field, “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart”. That’s the first time the Gospel says that about her. The second time it says it is when she found Jesus in the temple.
Patti Brunner
The shepherds ran in haste to Bethlehem. They saw the sign, baby Jesus in the manger, they left and made known the message. Then, the shepherds returned, praising and glorifying God. [Luke 2:16-21]
Msgr. David LeSieur. In the middle of all this activity, we have Mary, this quiet woman; this quiet mother of it all. She is reflecting God in her heart, putting pieces together, wondering. I would imagine that she did this all her life. She reflected on all of the events that surrounded her son. In the Acts of the Apostles, you see her again. She is there when the Spirit comes. She is at prayer with the others. Maybe, that is a good way for us to start the year; with Mary as a model for us, a reflection and looking upon the results of one’s faith. Because of her faith, these things came about.
Patti Brunner. How often do we look at the events around us, reflect on them in our hearts and say, “How is God acting here? What is God doing here?” Mary did. What Mary sees happening is the fruit of her faith because when she accepted the angel’s message, it set into motion all these things that were happening.
Msgr. David LeSieur She was a big participant in them because she agreed to give birth to the Son of God. Even if she didn’t really fully understand what she would be doing when the angel said, “You would be the mother of Jesus.” She said, “How could this be because I don’t know man?” She was saying, “What will I have to do to make it happen?” The angel said you don’t have to do anything because the Holy Spirit will come upon you. She let all this happen to her. She said, “I am the maidservant of the Lord. Let it be done unto me as you say.”
Patti Brunner. Mary was an obedient servant blessed by God, blessed among women. In the reading from Numbers on January 1st we see how the Lord taught Moses the importance of blessings. Mary was a good steward of God’s blessings and grace.
Msgr.: Paul was too. He writes to the Ephesians. “You’ve heard the stewardship of God’s grace was given to me for your benefit; namely, the mystery was made known to me by revelation.” Then he goes on to tell us a new revelation: “It has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Jesus Christ through the gospel.” That was Paul’s whole thing. Faith – salvation by faith and by grace and bringing everybody in. He was the apostle to the Gentiles. The Magi represent that.
Patti: Definitely, this reading on the feast of the Epiphany helps us realize that the Magi were Gentiles. Following the Epiphany we have the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. John hesitated; he said “I need to be baptized by you”
Msgr.: Of course, John baptized for the forgiveness of sin and Jesus didn’t need baptism on that account, but Jesus said, “Allow it for now thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”[ Matthew 3] The New American Bible footnote on that “To fulfill all righteousness” it says—- “in this Gospel ‘to fulfill’ usually refers to fulfillment of prophecy, and ‘righteousness’ to ‘moral conduct in conformity with God’s will’. Here, however, as in Chapters 5 and 6, righteousness seems to mean the saving activity of God. To fulfill all righteousness is to submit to the plan of God for the salvation of the human race. This involves Jesus’ identification with sinners; hence, the propriety of his accepting John’s baptism.” So, it’s to fulfill the righteousness which means the saving activity of God; submitting to God’s plan for the salvation of the human race.
Patti: It is fitting for us to submit to the plan of God for the salvation of the human race, that is, to fulfill all righteousness. So, we follow Jesus’ example into baptism. In Isaiah it says, “I formed you and set you as a covenant of the people a light for the nations . . . upon whom I have put in my spirit, he shall bring forth justice to the nations.”
Msgr.: God’s covenant with us is that he will be our God and we will be his people. What we see Jesus doing here is fitting in with the plan of God for salvation. In other words, by being baptized, He is fitting in with God’s covenant.
Patti: This is where the Spirit descends upon Jesus.
Msgr.: And the father acknowledges him as “My Beloved Son”. Jesus himself is the New Covenant. He is the agreement between God and us. He brings us together. Maybe in this action of being baptized, he is standing in the water, so to speak, drawing people into repentance, and connecting them with God. He’s fulfilling God’s plan in himself, not as a sinner, but as the intercessor and mediator between God and sinners.
Patti: So, he’s standing in for us. He is taking the role of man very seriously here and submitting to the baptism which becomes our mark of the covenant.
In the Gospel of Matthew, John the Baptist sees the Holy Spirit and thus recognizes Jesus in the flesh as being the Messiah.
Msgr.: John says “the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be known to Israel.” “I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me on whomever you see the Spirit come down, that is he. ‘On whomever you see the Sprit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God. ”
Patti: John the Baptist recognized the voice of the Lord – he is definitely a prophet and has a connection with God. In the Old Testament, any of the prophets that could hear God’s voice had to have had the Holy Spirit.
Msgr.: The Spirit reveals Jesus to John. Through the power of the Spirit, through the recognition of the Spirit, John knows who Jesus is.
Patti Brunner. It works the same for us. The Holy Spirit reveals who Jesus is to us. As we continue the readings of this liturgical year, the Holy Spirit reveals, through sacred scripture, who Jesus is. We can know Jesus, as we hear the words of scripture spoken in every Catholic Church around the world in the liturgy. We are so blessed! Monsignor, will you close our show with a blessing?
Msgr. David LeSieur. Surely, [blessing]
Patti. Thank you Monsignor. To get a copy of the references in today’s show or to read the Liturgical readings please check the website PatriarchMinistries.com
Closing.
