The Gospel passage this weekend is taken from the “Sermon on the Mount” that immediately follows Jesus’ proclamation of the Beatitudes, the ordinary and necessary precepts for a true Christian life. Here, Jesus used concrete images of light and salt to demonstrate that glorifying God is the purpose for which we are called and chosen to be His disciples and to be witnesses to the Gospel. Something is considered good only to the extent that it fulfills the purpose for which it exists.

The Bible is a story of two Covenants, the Old and the New Testaments. Each Covenant had its precepts and a process through which the precepts were handed down to the people who chose to be partners with God in a Covenant. In the Old Testament, Moses became the mediator through whom God gave the decalogue that codified the precepts of the Covenant, made God with the patriarchs, and renewed on Mount Sinai with the people of Israel who were on their way to the land promised them.

Since 2019, the Universal Church dedicates the third Sunday of every year to the celebration of the Word of God. This celebration is very apt in Year "A" of the liturgical calendar for two reasons. First, it is at this third weekend of Ordinary Time that the almost serial Gospel Readings from Matthew begin and continue throughout Ordinary Time of the liturgical year. It is also on the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time in Year "A" that Matthew gives us an account of the beginning of the preaching part of the public ministry of Jesus.

During the Season of Advent when we prepared for the coming of Jesus at Christmas, we had two weekends when the Gospel passages focused on the person and mission of John the Baptist, the forebearer of Christ, who came to prepare Israel for the coming of the awaited Messiah. On Christmas Day, the Gospel passage for the Mass during the day, which was taken from the prologue of St. John’s Gospel, took a sudden break at some point to introduce John the Baptist and distinguish him from the Christ whose arrival John prepared Israel for.

The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which we celebrate this weekend, brings to an end the Christmas Season. Next weekend we shall return to Ordinary Time when we shall be nourished with Readings for a few weeks before we begin the Season of Lent. The Baptism of the Lord, which signified the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus, emphasizes our identity as beloved Children of God, our mission being to share Christ’s light and the transformative power of our own Baptism through which we received adoption into the great family of God and the mandate to live out God’s love and justice in the world, acting as prophets and servants.

The Epiphany of the Lord is traditionally celebrated on January 6, but here in the United States it is moved to the First Sunday of the New Year as it is done in other countries. In the Feast of the Epiphany, we celebrate Jesus revealing Himself, not as a mere “King of the Jews,” but as Savior of the whole world. This is the story of the Magi, noble men who saw His sign and traveled from the east to arrive at His birth place in order to worship Him.

The weekend following Christmas is traditionally celebrated as the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the Holy Family of Nazareth. On this feast day of the Family, the Church invites us as we thank God for the blessing and example of the Holy Family in Nazareth. That we express gratitude to God for the family in general, and for our families in particular, to seek to imitate the example of the Holy Family, to pray especially for families that are experiencing difficulties and turbulence and to work to promote family life in our communities. The Readings at Mass this weekend are carefully chosen to project the virtues of family life, virtues we are invited to imitate and so give life to our faith in preparation for the joy we shall have as God’s great family for eternity in the life to come.

One of the most precious gifts gratuitously given to human beings by God is the gift of freewill. So precious is this gift that God Himself respects it. He does not compel us to worship or have a relationship with Him against our will. To each of us, God extends an invitation to a life with Him in the Spirit which is properly entered into through baptism and is then expected to be lived responsibly and faithfully thereafter.

The Entrance Antiphon from which this weekend derives its liturgical name (Gaudete Sunday) invites us repeatedly to rejoice because our salvation is near. Those who wait for the coming of the Savior are exhorted neither to despair nor resort to complacency, for the Savior will arrive soon. Waiting can be at a time when things seem to be getting worse, is sometimes not pleasant, and can cause the faltering of best intentions. This unfortunate scenario was experienced by John the Baptist who had the singular privilege of being the precursor to the coming Messiah.

As we know, the First Sunday of Advent each year always invites us to a reflection on the second coming of Christ and the end of the world. On this Second Sunday of Advent, the Readings customarily introduces to us John the Baptist, the precursor of Christ who always comes with a call to repentance because the Kingdom of God is near. Although very pivotal to the Messiah’s mission, John the Baptist remains one of the most underappreciated figures in salvation history.