Bringing Home
the Word
SOLEMNITY OF THE EPIPHANY January 6, 2008
Choosing a Different Way
By Diane M. Houdek
When we hear the phrase “speaking
truth to power,” we usually think of
those particularly courageous and
prophetic figures who confront tyrants
and oppressors, often at the cost of their
own lives. And while such people are
essential to our world and our church,
many, if not most, of us know in our
hearts that we can’t be like those people.
But facing this truth about ourselves
doesn’t mean that we give up our val-
ues, our beliefs, our commitment to
positive change. It just means we need
to find our own way.
We each have unique gifts to offer
the world, and today’s solemnity of the
Epiphany reminds us that we are
called, first and foremost, to bring
those gifts to the newborn King, the
SUNDAY READINGS
Isaiah 60:1-6
God’s holy people lead the way for the
rest of the nations.The nations will walk
by their light.
Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6
Paul preaches the mystery that Jews and
gentiles are to be united in Christ.
Matthew 2:1-12
Jesus the Messiah is manifested not to
King Herod, but to Magi from the East,
who present the newborn King of the
Jews with gold, frankincense and myrrh.
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Messiah, the Christ child, the Lord of
all who was born in a humble stable in
Bethlehem.
The story from Matthew’s Gospel
about the visit of the Magi that forms
the basis of this feast shows us that the
kingdom of God will always be at odds
with the kingdoms of this earth. Were
these visitors kings, wise men,
astrologers, astronomers, philosophers?
We don’t know for sure. What we do
know is that they were seekers. Their
field of study had led them to an
awareness of a great event taking place
in a distant land, one that was worth a
long and arduous journey, the journey
of a lifetime.
When they arrive in Jerusalem, their
natural expectations are met with con-
fusion, suspicion and subterfuge. King
Herod, threatened by the idea of a new
ruler supplanting him, subverts the
work of his own scholars and wise
men to find out the answer to the
magi’s question for his own purpose.
But the men from the east continue on
their journey. They arrive in
Bethlehem, worship the child and pres-
ent him with symbolic gifts: gold for
kingship, frankincense for divinity,
myrrh for the death that he would both
endure and conquer. And the reading
concludes with a telling sentence:
“And having been warned in a dream
not to return to Herod, they departed
for their country by another way.”
l www.AmericanCatholic.org
As I reflect on this, I find myself
thinking of a number of questions, all
of them slightly disturbing. Was it
their coming to Jerusalem with their
curiosity and questions that alerted the
wicked king to the baby’s existence? If
they hadn’t asked, would the prophe-
cies naming Bethlehem as the Messiah’s
birthplace have remained in the dusty
custody of the Torah scholars? We
know that Joseph was similarly warned
in a dream to take the child to Egypt,
but might it have prevented the deaths
of all those babies? They didn’t return
to Jerusalem and Herod with the spe-
cific location of the child, but had the
damage already been done? Clearly
they weren’t in a position to stop
Herod. What could three foreigners do
in the face of that notorious despot?
Two thousand years later, we still
wrestle with these same issues. What is
our role, our responsibility? How do
we confront the despots in our life?
What do we do to protect the inno-
cent, whether it’s one child or many?
Epiphany refers to the manifestation of
God’s presence in our human world,
the showing forth of the kingdom of
heaven. The Magi found the child
because they sought him. Herod
sought only his own power and
destruction followed in his wake but
he didn’t find the child. Faced with the
choice of darkness or light, destruction
or peace, which will we choose?
 REFLECTION
QUESTIONS
QUESTIONS THE
REFLECTION HOME The use of incense has special mean-
CHURCH ing in Catholic ritual.When blessed
• Why is it difficult to proclaim of By Jeanne Hunt it is a sacramental. It’s burning repre-
the gospel? sents our devotion and fervor; its
fragrance symbolizes virtue; its rising
• How can your family live the virtue smoke, human prayer ascending to
of hospitality? God. Incense was the magi’s gift to
Jesus and it is still a prayer gift for
• When have you stayed silent when Catholics.
you might have spoken (and vice
versa)? With what result?
O CONNECTIONOO
OO O
“In the bleak midwinter,” as the hymn goes, An Epiphany custom is to mark and
enters the Feast of Epiphany. The Christmas bless the entrances of the house

PRAYER
trees are hitting the curb and we are putting
away Christmas. But today’s Gospel says,
“Hold your horses, Jesus is not a little plastic
statue in a nativity scene. He’s real and he’s
worth looking for!”
O Divine Messiah, As the darkness of winter surrounds us, as
the bills pile up, as the world returns to the
You have a way problems of hatred, dysfunction and greed, the
of intruding Magi appear to point their fingers toward a
radical path where we encounter the Messiah.
on my comfort level.
We cannot live without this Christ.
Keeping up with you In our homes the message of the Magi
means seeing you means keeping our hearts and homes open to
the unexpected guest. The presence of Jesus
in others, Christ is often hidden in the person of a lone-
talking about my faith ly friend, a needy relative or an attention-
starved child. What we have heard in the
to the stranger,
bleak midwinter is that believing in the incar-
sharing my wealth nation means that we have an attitude of hos-
with the poor. pitality. The grace of this feast of Epiphany is
meant to teach us how to extend our wealth to
Epiphany is a state of mind those who need us. This grace is an attitude
Bless my journey that directs us to welcome others as the
Christ. In fact, a gospel-centered home is not
toward the Light. bothered by the bleakness of winter. There is
Amen.
plenty of Light to fill the rooms.
inscribing the initials of the three Magi
(Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar)
above the doors with the chalk.The
doors are inscribed with the follow-
ing: 20 + C + M + B + 08.The initials
are separated by crosses and the year
above the door.The “CMB” also
stands for the words "Christus
Mansionem Benedicat" which means
“May Christ bless this house.” This
inscription above the entry of our
house reminds us to be with and go
with Christ throughout the year.
Join the Conversation!
Visit the Bringing Home the Word blog
to share your experience of the
Word in your everyday life and to
comment on what you’ve read here.
(http://bhtw.wordpress.com)

WEEKDAY Monday
Tuesday
1 Jn 3:22—4:6/Mt 4:12-17, 23-25 Thursday
1 Jn 4:7-10/Mk 6:34-44 Friday
1 Jn 4:19—5:4/Lk 4:14-22a
1 Jn 5:5-13/Lk 5:12-16
READINGS Wednesday 1 Jn 4:11-18/Mk 6:45-52 Saturday 1 Jn 5:14-21/Jn 3:22-30

Bringing Home Editor: Diane M. Houdek; Art Director: Michael Winegardner; Illustrations by Julie Lonneman
the Word For licensing information, call 1-800-488-0488 or visit www.BringingHometheWord.org.
Copyright © 2008, St. Anthony Messenger Press, 28 W. Liberty St., Cincinnati, OH 45202.
January 6, 2008 All rights reserved. Print duplication rights granted only to license holders.
 Bringing Home
the Word
BAPTISM OF THE LORD January 13, 2008
Not Needing to Be Right
By Diane M. Houdek
A legendary and somewhat humorous
epitaph reads, “Here lies the body of
Michael O’Day / who died defending the
right of way.” We laugh somewhat rue-
fully because we all know the truth of
it. If we admit it, there have been times
in all our lives when we’ve been willing
to go to extremes to defend the right-
ness of our position on something.
Matthew’s account of the baptism of
Jesus contains an interesting exchange
that the other Gospels don’t include.
John the Baptist protests, with some
cause, that it is he who should be bap-
tized by Jesus. He recognizes that his is
the lesser calling, that he is the forerun-
ner, not the Messiah. And he’s right. But
Jesus tells him, “Allow it now, for thus
SUNDAY READINGS
Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7
God introduces a special Servant. He
will show the world the way that leads
to justice.
Acts 10:34-38
God the Father anointed Jesus with the
Spirit at his baptism. Jesus then began
his saving mission.
Matthew 3:13-17
Jesus is baptized by John, anointed with
the Holy Spirit, and identified as God’s
beloved Son. Jesus’ purpose is to fulfill
God’s plan of salvation.
St. Anthony Messenger Press
it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteous-
ness.” This is a bit of a mouthful. We
might be inclined to say, “It’s okay, let it
slide for now.” It’s a recognition that
there’s a larger perspective, a bigger pic-
ture, than the immediate issue at hand.
In the case of Jesus and John, Jesus
knows that his ministry is just begin-
ning and must be seen to be part of the
bigger story of salvation, that began
with creation, with the calling of the
chosen people, the exodus and the
words of the prophets. He is the fulfill-
ment of all that has gone before, not a
renegade bursting on the scene set to
take over and dominate everyone
around him. He doesn’t need to prove
that he’s greater than John the Baptist.
We see a similar attitude in the other
two readings for this feast. The prophet
Isaiah notes that gentleness is one of the
distinguishing characteristics of the
Servant of the Lord: “A bruised reed he
shall not break, / and a smoldering wick
he shall not quench, / until he establish-
es justice on the earth.” And in the sec-
ond reading, we hear a bit of the revolu-
tionary turn of events in the house of
the gentile Cornelius. Peter, the leader
of the Jerusalem church in the days
after the resurrection and ascension, has
been somewhat uneasy about Paul’s
mission to the gentiles. In the early days
of the Christian community, the ques-
tion of the place of Jews and gentiles in
the new dispensation was one of the
l www.AmericanCatholic.org
biggest questions that needed to be
resolved. So this event dramatizes Peter
finally accepting that the gentiles were
equal to the Jews. He proclaims, “In
truth, I see that God shows no partiality.
Rather in every nation whoever fears
him and acts uprightly is acceptable to
him.”
Again and again the Scriptures
remind us that God is bigger than our
human boundaries and power struggles.
At times it takes a great deal of faith to
believe that God has a higher purpose
than we can discern at any given time.
And the more we’re invested in a con-
flict, the harder it is to let God be God.
We fall into the trap of needing to be
right, and needing others to see that
we’re right. And we don’t always care
who we trample in our stampede
toward rightness.
It can be helpful in a difficult situa-
tion to take a step back and reflect on
the difference between what’s merely
right and what’s righteous, on the differ-
ence between human judgment and
divine justice. The baptism of Jesus, like
so many other events in his life and
ministry, reminds us that while he
closed the gap between the human and
the divine, he did it in such a way that
we would be able to resist the tempta-
tion in the Garden of Eden to be merely
like gods. Through Jesus, we, too, are
children of God. If we live that way,
others will listen to us.
 REFLECTION
QUESTIONS
QUESTIONS
REFLECTION
• How important is it to you to be
always right?
• If John the Baptist were alive today,
how would he look? What would
he do and say?
PRAYER
I believe in God, the Father
Almighty,
the Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son,
our Lord:
Who was conceived of the Holy
Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was
buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day he arose again from
the dead.
He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God
the Father Almighty,
whence he shall come to judge
the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.
Amen.
Monday
WEEKDAY Tuesday
READINGS Wednesday 1 Sm 3:1-10, 19-20/Mk 1:29-39
Bringing Home
the Word
January 13, 2008
THE
HOME
CHURCH
By Jeanne Hunt
Baptism is a place of beginning in the family.
It is a sacred moment. Welcoming a newborn
child or an adult into our spiritual family car-
ries deep significance. So the story of today’s
Gospel is both a connection with Jesus’ life
and a connection with our own journey. Both
stand out as moments in time when faith was
proclaimed and God responded. It is very
good for us to stop in our tracks and revisit
that moment. What place do those baptismal
promises have in your family life today?
Catholic homes are meant to be God’s home.
The domestic church is a sacred place where
our vocation as the baptized is lived out. This
Sunday is good time to dust off our promise to
God and see how we are measuring up to his
standards of faithfulness. The old question still
remains: “If discipleship were a crime, would
there be enough evidence to convict us?” As
the secular society lives more and more with-
out God, it is becoming difficult to live holy
and chaste lives. Before the sun sets on the
Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, honestly ask
yourself if Jesus would approve of your per-
sonal version of baptismal life. If he would not
be particularly well pleased” with you, use this
occasion for a fresh start.
11 Sm 1:1-8/Mk 1:14-20 Thursday
1 Sm 1:9-20/Mk 1:21-28 Friday
Saturday
Editor: Diane M. Houdek; Art Director: Michael Winegardner; Illustrations by Julie Lonneman
For licensing information, call 1-800-488-0488 or visit www.BringingHometheWord.org.
Copyright © 2008, St. Anthony Messenger Press, 28 W. Liberty St., Cincinnati, OH 45202.
All rights reserved. Print duplication rights granted only to license holders.
The Apostles’ Creed is a statement
of our beliefs as baptized Catholics.
It is a summary of what the apostles
believed about Jesus and about the
newly formed community of faith.
This creed is called the ancient,
baptismal symbol of the Roman
Church. Tradition holds that the
creed comes to us from St. Peter
the first apostle, and is our earliest
faith statement.
The Apostles’ Creed is said at the
beginning of the rosary. The Creed
we say at Mass is known as the
Nicene Creed.
O CONNECTIONOO
OO O
Create a prayer center with a candle,
a bowl of water and mementoes of
family baptisms (baptismal candles,
stoles, photos).
Light the candle and talk about
memories of the events and what sig-
nificance they have in your life today.
Close by renewing your baptismal
vows or saying the Apostles’ Creed
together.
Join the Conversation!
Visit the Bringing Home the Word blog
to share your experience of the
Word in your everyday life and to
comment on what you’ve read here.
(http://bhtw.wordpress.com)
1 Sm 4:1-11/Mk 1:40-45
1 Sm 8:4-7, 10-22a/Mk 2:1-12
1 Sm 9:1-4, 17-19; 10:1a/Mk
2:13-17
 Bringing Home
the Word
2ND SUNDAY OF THE YEAR January 20, 2008
The Real Work of Our Faith
By Diane M. Houdek
The Christmas season ended last
Sunday with the Feast of the Baptism of
the Lord. We celebrate the incarnation
with a fitting combination of childlike
wonder, nostalgia, feasting and merri-
ment. But the cycle of the church year
and the lectionary readings remind us
that our faith is more than a commemo-
ration of the birth of a baby in
Bethlehem. That baby, like all babies,
grew quickly. Our faith needs to grow
and deepen as well. And the way it does
that is through discipleship.
We might think of Christmas as the
elaborate window-dressing of our faith
SUNDAY READINGS
Isaiah 49:3, 5-6
A Servant of God accepts the task to
become a light to the nations guiding
them along the path of faith.
1 Corinthians 1:1-3
Paul first reminds the people that he is
an apostle of Christ Jesus. He recognizes
that they have been “sanctified in Christ
Jesus,” but he will also make them face
their shortcomings.
John 1:29-34
John the Baptist reveals and bears wit-
ness to Jesus as both the Lamb of God
and the Son of God, who will take away
the sin of the world.
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and the rest of the year as the day-to-
day transactions that keep our faith
alive and growing and invite others to
join us on our journey. Many people are
drawn to the church at Christmas,
whether they’re approaching it for the
first time or returning after an absence.
The beauty and peace draw them in and
the story of the incarnation soothes
their souls. Rested, refreshed, they—and
we—should be ready for the challenges
that lie ahead in the new year.
The story of John the Baptist is inter-
woven with the story of Jesus. Luke’s
Gospel tells us that Mary and Elizabeth,
mothers of these two towering figures,
were relatives and friends. We see them
greet each other and we hear that even
in the womb, John recognized the great-
ness of his cousin’s presence. Last week
we heard of their meeting on the banks
of the Jordan. Elsewhere in the synoptic
Gospels, we hear of followers of John
coming to Jesus to ask if he truly is the
Messiah that their master and teacher
has been proclaiming. What was simple
and obvious when they were children is
suddenly clouded in doubt and uncer-
tainty.
In our reading today from the Gospel
of John, we get a glimpse of this experi-
ence in John’s proclamation of Jesus as
the Lamb of God. Twice he tells us, “I
did not know him.” Just as at the end of
John’s Gospel Mary Magdalene mistakes
the risen Christ for the gardener, so
l www.AmericanCatholic.org
John could not recognize the Chosen
One without the sign of the Spirit’s
descent.
Entering into Ordinary Time can be
like that for us. During the Christmas
season we have a sort of soft-focus pic-
ture of the birth of Jesus, the visits by
the shepherds and the kings. Christmas
reflects the remarkable experience of
first conversion, the initial acceptance of
faith. We’re lost in the wonder of the
intimate presence of God in our lives.
We have heard the good news of God’s
love and we believe. But our faith tells
us that there is more to the covenant
than a one-time conversion experience.
And today we begin once again to
explore what discipleship means in our
life, how we live our faith in our daily
lives.
The second reading for this Sunday is
the beginning of St.Paul’s letter to the
Corinthians. His greeting is addressed to
“you who have been sanctified in Christ
Jesus, called to be holy.” But as the let-
ter continues in upcoming weeks, we
will find out that the Corinthians are
not always living this call to holiness.
And Paul takes them to task for it and
shows them what they need to do bet-
ter.
God’s spirit speaks to us in many
ways—through the Scriptures, through
other people, even through the evening
news. If we’re alert to the signs around
us, we will know how to respond.
 REFLECTION
QUESTIONS
QUESTIONS THE
REFLECTION HOME Today’s Gospel calls Jesus the “Lamb
CHURCH of God” (Agnus Dei in Latin). This
• What events and people have led By Jeanne Hunt image reflects the Jewish temple sac-
you to belief? rifice of a lamb to atone for the sins
of the people. In the Passover ritual,
• What do you think is the relation- the blood of a lamb offered protec-
ship between catechesis and evan- tion for the chosen people from the
gelization? avenging angel. In John’s Gospel, Jesus
is introduced this way and later we
• If you have a tendency to cling to find out that the Last Supper takes
the image of the baby Jesus, what place as the Passover lambs are
might you be avoiding? being slaughtered in the Temple.
“Seeing is believing,” goes the old proverb, but We hear these words in the Mass
we Christians take a different slant. Like John as we prepare to receive Eucharist.
we take belief up a notch and accept things we

PRAYER
cannot prove. We take a lot of heat for this
position, but those of us who walk by faith
have come to know that not everything can be
explained. John defends his encounter with
Christ as the pivotal moment of faith. The
Good St. John, experience of Jesus that brought him to belief.
Pray that we may In our family lives we must teach faith in
many ways. Evangelization and catechesis go
be graced hand in hand. But John the Baptist is telling
with a new spirit of us that he was evangelized first and then cate-
chesis followed. I believe it is the same for us.
faith We can memorize the entire catechism and
never receive the gift of faith. Faith comes
as we begin this year. when we are willing to surrender to Jesus
May your passion Christ. This surrender comes with a choice to
be with Jesus in prayer and begin a conversa-
for the faith tion with him. We will meet Jesus and experi-
inspire us to be filled ence the same Lord of whom John the Baptist
speaks. John was a courageous man who relin-
with the fire quished his pride and believed in Jesus. Prayer
time should be a core activity in the Catholic
of Christ’s love. family. It is an evangelizing moment that John
Amen. the Baptist would understand.
O CONNECTIONOO
OO O
Put a pair of sandals on a table visible
to all in the household. Attach this
note: “We walk by faith and not by
sight.” Alternatively, you might want to
put the note on the closet where you
keep your shoes. Seeing it daily will
remind you to stay strong when
doubt and uncertainty creeps into
your mind and heart.
Join the Conversation!
Visit the Bringing Home the Word blog
to share your experience of the
Word in your everyday life and to
comment on what you’ve read here.
(http://bhtw.wordpress.com)

Monday 1 Sm 15:16-23/Mk 2:18-22 Thursday 1 Sm 18:6-9; 19:1-7/Mk 3:7-12

Agnes Francis DeSales
WEEKDAY Tuesday 1 Sm 16:1-13/Mk 2:23-28 Friday Acts 22:3-16 or Acts 9:1-22/
READINGS Wednesday 1 Sm 17:32-33, 37, 40-51/
Saturday
Mk 16:15-18 Conversion of Paul
2 Tm 1:1-8 or Ti 1:1-5/Mk 3:20-21
Mk 3:1-6
Timothy and Titus

Bringing Home Editor: Diane M. Houdek; Art Director: Michael Winegardner; Illustrations by Julie Lonneman
the Word For licensing information, call 1-800-488-0488 or visit www.BringingHometheWord.org.
Copyright © 2008, St. Anthony Messenger Press, 28 W. Liberty St., Cincinnati, OH 45202.
January 20, 2008 All rights reserved. Print duplication rights granted only to license holder.
 Bringing Home
the Word
3RD SUNDAY OF THE YEAR January 27, 2008
Hearing God’s Call
By Diane M. Houdek
“The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light.” This line from
the words of Isaiah in our first reading
has long been a personal favorite. As I
reflected on today’s reading, though, I
discovered the line that precedes it:
“Anguish has taken wing, dispelled is
darkness: for there is no gloom where
but now there was distress.” In many
ways it’s simply a rephrasing of the
same idea.
The wonder of the Sacred Scriptures
is that they’re the living word of God.
We hear them differently depending on
SUNDAY READINGS
Isaiah 8:23—9:3
A prophet sees a wonderful transforma-
tion taking place. Lands once poor and
oppressed will enjoy the bounty of the
Lord.
1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17
Paul urges the community to be united
in mind and purpose.The people must
dedicate themselves to Christ crucified.
Matthew 4:12-23 or 4:12-17
Jesus begins his ministry by proclaiming
the presence of the kingdom of heaven.
He calls others to follow him as disci-
ples and share in the spreading of the
good news.
St. Anthony Messenger Press
what is happening in our lives, on what
kind of mood we’re in, even on how
closely we’re paying attention or not
while they’re being proclaimed at Mass.
And then sometimes God hits us with a
line of Scripture in the manner of what
a friend describes as “the divine clue-
by-four.”
Today’s Gospel is the familiar call of
the Galilean fisherman. Jesus invites
them to leave their boats and nets and
follow him. At different times in our
lives, we might think they’re crazy. At
other times, we think they’d be crazy
not to follow his call. And then it dawns
on us that the Lord calls us in much the
same manner.
St. Ignatius, in his Spiritual Exercises,
encourages people to place themselves
imaginatively in the stories from the
Gospels, using all of their senses to
enter into the experience of Jesus and
the disciples. This passage is a common
one to use for such a practice. The hot
sun, the smell of fish, the breeze off the
sea, the grittiness of the sand, the tex-
ture of the fishing nets, the rough wood
of the boats—all these details make it
easy to imagine what it was like for
those fishermen who became Jesus’ first
disciples.
But sometimes those very details that
help us imagine a time two thousand
years ago can keep us from seeing our-
selves in the same boat, as it were. For
most of us, our lives are spent indoors,
l www.AmericanCatholic.org
in offices and cubicles, in trucks and
cars, operating heavy machinery or deli-
cate medical instruments. And more an
more of our time is spent with our
hands on a keyboard and our eyes on
an LCD screen.
It’s easy to romanticize the life of a
first-century fisherman because it’s so
far removed from our everyday lives.
Most people in the first century had few
occupational choices. But work is work.
And no matter what we do our how
many choices we had or even have in
what we do to earn our daily bread, the
day-to-day experience is going to have
ups and downs, periods of great satis-
faction and dry spells of boredom and
frustration. I suspect it was the same for
those first-century fishermen. We think
of them as being dedicated to their
work, their nets, their father and
coworkers. But maybe at the time Jesus
came along the beach, they were having
a bad day and were eager for a change.
Only later did they discover what they
had traded in their nets to embrace.
One thing is certain in all of this: God
may not pay very close attention to
what we’re doing when he calls us. It’s
up to us to hear the call, perhaps trad-
ing something we love for something
we will come to love more, perhaps
finding a welcome escape from a situa-
tion that has become difficult. God
chooses to call us. It’s our choice to hear
and to follow.
 REFLECTION
QUESTIONS
QUESTIONS THE
REFLECTION HOME The apostles received a dramatic
CHURCH vocation call. However each of us
• What kind of nets should you be By Jeanne Hunt has a special call from God as well.
dropping to get on with your holy In Catholic language this is called a
calling? “vocation.” The word comes from
the Latin vocatio, a calling, summon-
• Describe your vocation.What ing; from vocare, to call. It is a call
makes it unique? What makes it from God to a unique state of life, in
holy? which we can reach holiness.The
Second Vatican Council tells us that
there is a “universal call to holiness
• What is your experience of reading
Scripture? Of hearing it proclaimed in the Church” (Lumen Gentium, 39).

at Mass? Leaving our nets behind is not as easy as it

sounds. The apostles’ leave-taking sounds easy
enough: One day they are fishermen, the next O CONNECTIONOO
OO O
day they are on the “winning souls walking Take a look at your planner and bank

PRAYER
tour” with Jesus. The reality of this Gospel
story is that all of us must be willing to aban-
don our agenda for God’s agenda. The virtue
of poverty is the grace that we need in this sit-
uation. We are called to put aside how we
would like to live for the way God calls us to
Jesus, live. It takes a willingness not to own our
Give me the desire most precious commodity—our time—to
make this happen.
and the motivation In our homes the message translates into
to put you first looking at priorities. A preacher once said to
me, “If you want to know what is most impor-
in my life. tant to you, look at your bank account and
When you call me your planner.” Therein lies the truth and the
challenge of today’s Gospel. Just like James
to drop what and John we must be willing to abandon our
I am doing plans for God’s plans. The “nets” that we hold
onto may be many things: job security, our
and serve you, routine, fear of the unknown, our posses-
help me not sions…. It’s our job to complete this list and
then turn everything over to Jesus. He may
to hesitate. just be inviting us to dare to abandon our nets
Amen. and walk into the kingdom with him.
account. Make an honest list of the
way you spend your time and money.
Then, create a new list with your
parish at the top.
Make a New Year’s resolution to
spend more time, talent and treasure
for Jesus. You can do this locally at
your parish and/or globally through a
favorite charity. Listen creatively to
the way God is calling you to fish for
the kingdom.
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Monday 2 Sm 5:1-7, 10/Mk 3:22-30 Thursday 2 Sm 7:18-19, 24-29/Mk 4:21-25

John Bosco
WEEKDAY Tuesday
Thomas Aquinas
2 Sm 6:12b-15, 17-19/Mk Friday 2 Sm 11:1-4a, 5-10a, 13-17/Mk
READINGS 3:31-35 4:26-34
Wednesday 2 Sm 7:4-17/Mk 4:1-20 Saturday Mal 3:1-4/Heb 2:14-18/Lk 2:22-40
Presentation of the Lord
Bringing Home Editor: Diane M. Houdek; Art Director: Michael Winegardner; Illustrations by Julie Lonneman
the Word For licensing information, call 1-800-488-0488 or visit www.BringingHometheWord.org.
Copyright © 2008, St. Anthony Messenger Press, 28 W. Liberty St., Cincinnati, OH 45202.
January 27, 2008 All rights reserved. Print duplication rights granted only to license holders.