Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

As I am in Tahoe this Sunday and trying to schedule ahead, I shall be brief. One thing that strikes me here is the number of times one of the priests speaks of how the Gospel is for us; we are the ones now that it is meant for and how do we live what Jesus is saying and showing us? We need to read the Gospel seeing ourselves and getting the good news for us now.

Here is something from a commentary on this Sunday's readings by Dennis Hamm:

"our Scriptures invite us to take the role of prophet with utmost seriousness—regarding Jesus, the apostles, and ourselves. Jeremiah was for the early Church the archetypal prophet, so much so that language from his call story (this Sunday's First Reading) is used to describe our archetypal apostle, St. Paul; he uses Jeremiah's call to describe his own vocation (Gal 1:15), and Luke does the same in Acts 26:17. The Gospel reading shows Jesus placing his mission in the prophetic tradition of Elijah and Elisha. Further, our theology of baptism describes our own Christian mission as a participation in Jesus' role of prophet, along with the awesome roles of priest and king.

What can give perspective to any application of the role of prophet to ourselves or others is Paul's reflection on the place of love as the “way” of exercising all the gifts. When we feel called to confront our little part of the world in the name of God—that is, according to an informed conscience—it must be motivated by love. Otherwise our action is empty and our perceived role self-appointed