Martin Jumbam

Catholic Meditation: Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year B.

Martin Jumbam

Mother Church celebrates Sunday, February 1, 2015, as the fourth Sunday of ordinary time, Year B.  In the Entrance Antiphon we pray: “Save us, Lord our God, and gather us together from the nations, that we may proclaim your holy name and glory in your praise. Amen.” The theme of this day’s Mass is Jesus as the prophetic teacher, who teaches with authority, a sharp contrast to the teaching of the Scribes and Pharisees. This message comes out quite forcefully in Saint Mark’s Gospel of this day. The prophetic role of our Lord was foretold in the Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy in the first reading, when God promised Moses he would send such a teacher in the shape of a prophet walking in Moses’ footsteps. In his First Letter to the Corinthians, we hear Saint Paul continuing what he began last Sunday, that is, praising virginity and celibacy as states that allow the Christian time to give the Lord his/her undivided attention.

Catholic Meditation – Third Sunday of Year B

Martin Jumbam

The Universal Church celebrates Sunday, January 24, 2015 as the third Sunday in ordinary time in the Church’s year B.  In the Entrance Antiphon we pray: “Sing a new song to the Lord! Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Truth and beauty surround him; he lives in holiness and glory. Amen.” The theme of this day’s Mass is repentance and conversion needed to receive God’s blessing. In the first reading, we hear the classical example of a conversion story, the repentance of the city of Nineveh at the preaching of the prophet Jonah. Even though Nineveh is a pagan city and the capital of the Assyrian kingdom that had conquered Israel, God still shows his mercy to them, much to the dismay of the prophet Jonah, who reluctantly carries God’s message of mercy to them. It is the same call to repentance that rings through Saint Mark’s Gospel as Christ begins his public ministry by selecting his first Apostles. He invites them to follow him so he would make them fishers of men. Saint Paul, in the second reading, tackles the subject of marriage and virginity that his converts of Corinth were struggling with. He advises them to refrain from too much attachment to worldly things, repent from their sins and keep their eyes and minds fixed on the Lord for the time is running out. In the course of this Eucharist, let us pray for the grace to hear Christ’s call to follow him so he would also make us fishers of our brothers and sisters who have fallen by the wayside in their faith. 

Catholic Meditation – Second Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year B

Martin Jumbam

Mother Church celebrates January 18, 2015 as the second Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B. Christmas season is now behind us and we are now in the ordinary time of the liturgical year. This is a period of 33 or 34 Sundays that fall outside the Christmas and the Easter cycles of the Church. The Entrance Antiphon of this day’s Mass says: “May all the earth give you worship and praise, and break into song to your name, O God, Most High. Amen”. The theme of this day’s Mass is God’s call and man’s response to that call. We are at the very onset of Christ’s public ministry and he begins it appropriately by seeking out and calling those who will help him in his service. John’s Gospel message brings our Lord in contact with two of his first disciples (John and Andrew), who would later become the pillars of his Church. Seeking out and calling whoever he wills to his service is precisely what Yahweh did in earlier times, as we are reminded by the First Reading, which tells us of the call of Samuel. To follow Jesus, now as well as then, is to give him our heart, our whole being, our life itself. This means that we must be pure of heart and of body, as Saint Paul tells us in the Second Reading. In the course of this Eucharist, let us pray for the grace to hear the Lord’s call and to respond immediately by following him.

Catholic Meditation: Feast of the Epiphany

Martin Jumbam

Today, the Universal Church celebrates the feast of the Epiphany – the manifestation of Jesus as Messiah of Israel, Son of God and Saviour of the world. The entrance antiphon of this Mass says: “The Lord and ruler is coming; kingship is his, and government and power. Amen.” The great feast of Epiphany celebrates the adoration of Jesus by the wise men (Magi) from the East. Today’s readings express the grandeur of this feast. In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah shouts: “Arise, Jerusalem, shine out, for your light has come, the glory of the Lord is rising on you.” In the second reading, Saint Paul praises the majesty of God’s plan, which has revealed that pagans too now share in the same inheritance as Jews. In the Gospel, Matthew tells us the well-known story of the Magi, the three Wise Men, who came from the East bringing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the new born king, Christ the Lord. We pray in the course of this Eucharist for the grace to recognize Christ as the Messiah and as Emmanuel, God with us.