Extraordinary Ordinary Time

This weekend we give attention to three communities who hear the Word of God and respond. The people of Israel hear the Word proclaimed from the scroll as they begin a new life after they had returned from exile. The people of Nazareth hear Jesus, one of their own, proclaim the Word from the scroll as He begins His ministry. Today we hear the Word and are called to receive Him, accept His mission as our own, and follow Him. Jesus is in our midst by the power of the Spirit as the Church gathered, the Word proclaimed and heard, and the Eucharist received and shared. We know the response of the people of Israel and the people of Nazareth. What is our response? Will we make the “mission statement” of Jesus our own as individuals and as a community? Will we be nourished in this mission and faithfully carry it out in our daily decisions? This mission is far beyond the capability of any one of us to carry it out by ourselves, yet coming together as a community of faith is in itself a very challenging task. It can be accomplished if we come together as the Body with Christ as our Head and the Spirit as our “soul”. This is the vision that can sustain us and make our Ordinary Time quite Extraordinary.