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Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A, February 6, 2011
Lectionary index # 73

Twenty-second digests for the congregation: Arrange with your liturgy committee to have these brief historical introductions read to the assembly before you do each reading.

Who should announce these before the first and second readings, and before the gospel acclamation? They're not Scripture, nor homiletic, so they shouldn't be delivered from the ambo. They're a modest teaching. So let the presider say them from the chair. Let the lector turn toward the presider and listen.
Print this page, cut it at the blue lines, and give the introduction paragraphs to the person who will speak them.

Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A, February 6, 2011
Before the first reading:

Former exiles returned to Jerusalem were disappointed that it was taking so long to restore their city. Isaiah told them it was their fault because they were not sharing. Then he gives them an alternative.
After the psalm, before the second reading:

Saint Paul had given an eloquent speech to the sophisticated people of Athens, and failed miserably. In his next stop, Corinth, he vowed to get out of God's way and preach only Christ crucified. The results were very different.
Before the gospel acclamation:

As Jesus continues his Sermon on the Mount, he uses two metaphors to teach his followers their special role in the world.
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On a new website, read a new essay about these readings for a community responding to the Word as a community.

First reading, Isaiah 58:7-10 [Jerusalem Bible translation]

The Historical Situation: Isaiah's audience were recently returned from exile. They had hoped for a quick restoration of their beloved Jerusalem, but that project was frustratingly slow. The people wondered why their suffering was so prolonged. The prophet's response is unsympathetic: it's your own fault; it's because you're not sharing.

This suggests that disappointment is not an acceptable excuse for failing to care for those worse off than ourselves. God's demand that we share with the hungry and homeless is uncompromising.

Proclaiming It: So you should read this with great authority in your voice. And notice this structure:

By alternating your tone of voice, make this alternating structure stand out in your proclamation.

Second Reading, 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 [Jerusalem Bible translation]

The Historical Situation: Paul had come to Corinth from Athens, where his preaching met derision and rejection. Paul is being very frank here about how miserably his human eloquence had failed. See Acts 17:16-33 for Paul's speech there (it's a great speech, really) and the humiliating response of the sophisticated Athenians. (For another Pauline meditation about knowing Christ crucified, see Philippians 3:7-16.

Here Paul says that in Corinth he chose not to rely on human eloquence, "so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God." His concern, then, is that their faith have the soundest foundation.

Proclaiming It: This reading demands a much more personal, humble tone than the imperatives of Isaiah. It should sound almost apologetic. When you set out to read this to the assembly, make your intention like Paul's, that your proclamation will help dispose the people to a stronger faith. And having said that, I should spend no more of my human eloquence talking about your human eloquence.

Several other commentaries on these passages. All are thoughtful, all quite readable, from the scholarly to the popular.
Links may be incomplete more than a few weeks before the "due date."
Father Roger Karban of Belleville, Illinois, USA, writes a newspaper column about every Sunday's readings. Here are his essays for today's passages, from: courtesy of The Evangelist, official publication of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, New York, or of The Belleville Messenger, of the Diocese of Belleville.

Read all of Father Karban's recent columns here, at the site of FOSIL, the Faithful of Southern Illinois.

The Text This Week; links to homilies, art works, movies and other resources on the week's scripture themes
Archived weekly column of Father Francis X. Cleary, S.J. (Log in using 0026437 and 63137.) Saint Louis University's excellent Sunday liturgy-preparation site

Reflexiones En Español

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Last modified: February 5, 2011