A replica of the Black Christ of Esquipulas, Guatemala, is seen during a special Mass celebrated in honor of the iconic image Jan. 7, 2024, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. Housed in the Basilica of the Holy Christ in Esquipulas, the original 16th-century cedar carving of Jesus on the cross is a popular object of veneration by Central Americans. It also is the focal point of a major festival held annually on Jan. 15 that attracts thousands of pilgrims. (OSV News photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)
Source & Summit: Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
(The faithful) taking part in the Eucharistic sacrifice, which is the source and summit of the whole Christian life, offer the Divine Victim to God, and themselves along with it.
-The Second Vatican Council fathers in Lumen Gentium, #11
Source & Summit is a feature of The Western Kentucky Catholic online, celebrating the National Eucharistic Revival: Year of Parish Revival. Intended to help Catholics of our parishes to probe the riches of our liturgical year and celebrate the liturgy well, the column will always start with the Bible readings for the Mass of the Day to help us reflect on, and help to “unpack” and expand our experiences at liturgy into the domestic church (the home) and the workplace.
Sunday reflections will be based on the Lord’s Day, the Liturgy, the Eucharist, and, occasionally, community.
Sunday, January 14, 2024:
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011424.cfm
Samuel 3:3b—10, 19
Psalm 40:2, 4, 7—10
Corinthians 6:13c—15a, 17—20
John 1:35—42
At this table, we put aside every worldly separation based on culture, class, or other differences. Baptized, we no longer admit to distinctions based on age or sex or race or wealth. This communion is why all prejudice, all racism, all sexism, all deference to wealth and power must be banished from our parishes, our homes and our lives. This communion is why we will not call enemies those who are human beings like ourselves. This communion is why we will not commit the world’s resources to an escalating arms race while the poor die. We cannot. Not when we have feasted here on the “Body broken” and “Blood poured out.”
Let that be clear in the reverent way we walk forward to take the holy Bread and Cup. Let it be clear in the way the ministers announce, “The Body of Christ,” “The Blood of Christ.” Let it be clear in our “Amen.” Let it be clear in the songs and psalms we sing and the way that we sing them. Let it be clear in the holy silence that fills the church when all have partaken.
-Joseph Cardinal Bernadin
To learn more about the Diocese of Owensboro’s celebration of the National Eucharistic Revival, visit https://owensborodiocese.org/eucharistic-revival/.
