Ordinary 3

The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

[Sunday of the Word of God]

Isaiah 8:23-9:3; Psalm 27; I Corinthians 1:10-13, 17; Matthew 4:12-23

Our story began with conversation. God engages Eve and Adam in dialogue about various aspects of life in the Garden. And even when this dialogue is ruptured by sin, God continues to speak. “Where are you?” he asks.

 

And whether we answer or not; whether we hide ourselves in the bushes like Adam and Eve;

God never lets up. God is always trying to engage us in conversation. God spoke to humanity to the extent that God’s very Word became enfleshed in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus is God’s living Word seeking us out. Jesus is God’s dialogue with us.

 

Recall the occasion when the two disciples are walking home to Emmaus. They are frustrated, angry, and sad. Jesus walks along with them. Jesus listens to them. He asks questions. He engages them in conversation. Ultimately, Jesus fully reveals himself as they share a meal.

 

The nature of friendship is encounter. Really getting to know a person through experiencing activities together, listening, conversing, and self-revealing. Authentic friendships are more than a mere exchange of information. Over time they enable us to deepen our trust and risk self-revelation.

 

For such an authentic relationship to develop, it is important to recognize the difference between a mature exchange of words and chatter. Chatter stays at the surface of life and does not achieve communion between people. It exchanges information. It’s talking about the weather, other people and events. It often devolves into gossip. Chatter is always about someone else. It never dares to be about us. I have a lot of people like that in my life. I expect you do as well. Chatter is what is found on most podcasts, YouTubes and social media.

 

I want more. More depth. More life. God wants more.

 

There are two people in my life that I deeply care for, though the experiences of each have come to be very different. They illustrate what I am speaking about.

 

One friend I’ve known for 25 years. With no compelling reason, he has conveyed by direct words and inaction that we will no longer see or speak with each other. Revealing very little about himself over the years, he kept his cards close to his chest. Friendship cannot abide silence. Friendships do come to an end. From rupturing betrayals to most often neglect that slowly erodes the relationship until it is lost. I mourn the loss.

 

With another friend, whom I’ve only known for a few years, we have over that brief time grown in trust and thus self-revelations, warts and all. We share in experiences, engage in conversations for hours, challenge each other – walk with each other in life. I relish the lived experience.

 

I hope my examples resonate with you.

 

There is something both wonderful and fearful when you realize that another person knows you so deeply. Wonderful in that you are accepted for who you are. Fearful in that what is known is the possible material of betrayal. Between wonderful and fearful is found trust.

 

Recall that Jesus says to us, “I have called you friends…” [John 15:15]. Like all maturing friendships, Jesus has trusted us and revealed himself to us through his words, stories and life in sacred scripture. To read, reflect and pray with the words of the Bible is to engage God in conversation. It involves, like any mature friendship, accepting the other person for who they are and not who we want them to be [that includes our acceptance of God as God is], listening intently, questioning, challenging, supporting and self-revealing. Our maturing relationship with Jesus, the Father, and the Spirit is no different than any other maturing relationship. And, there are no short cuts.

 

Pope Francis instituted the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time as the Sunday of the Word of God. Francis wanted us to be conscious and understand what was begun at the Second Vatican Council in the Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum [Hearing the Word of God…] that sacred scripture, the Bible, is a living conversation with God. God speaks to us. Engages us. Dialogues with us as God conversed with Adam and Eve in the garden; spoke face to face with Moses in the burning bush; as Jesus listened to the sadness of Cleopas and his wife as they walked home, questioned the mourning Mary Magdalene at the tomb, opened his heart to the contrite Peter on the lakeshore, listens and speaks to you and me whenever we engage in the Sacred Liturgy and in our personal prayer.

To cultivate this divine friendship and deepen our conversation with God, we need to pray.

This is achieved first of all in the liturgical and communal prayer of the Eucharist. During the Sunday Eucharist God speaks to us through the Hebrew Scriptures, the Psalm, the early Christian Letters, and the Gospel. In each of these passages we do not decide what to hear from the Word of God.  The Lectionary choices are prescribed. In this, God speaks to us through Christ’s Body, the Church. Therefore, alongside words of encouragement, strength, and comfort we may at times hear a message that we do not want to hear but need to hear for our spiritual life with God.

 

To engage in this conversation…

 

1.      You need a Bible. I would suggest The New American Bible.

 

2.      We need to cultivate the three components of a conversation: Listening. Silence. Response.

 

Listening requires us giving full attention to the speaker. When a person is speaking we cannot be formulating our response nor talking over a person.

 

Silence is absolutely necessary for entering into the spiritual life. Silence offers the speaker the room to convey their thoughts. In silence we hear the voice of the Spirit. Silence allows us to give a thoughtful response rather than a knee-jerk emotional reaction.

 

Be aware that our culture works against us experiencing all three components.       

 

3.     Make sacred scripture a part of your daily life. Time dedicated to prayer, meditation and reflection need to be a part of the Christian day. I would suggest the monthly publication, Give Us This Day. It includes a brief form of Morning and Evening Prayer, the readings and prayers for the daily Eucharist, and reflections by solid Catholic authors.  

 

4.     Take a phrase, an image, or a story from scripture that catches your imagination. Turn it around in your soul throughout the day. Question God. Speak to God about situation in your life. The difficult as well as the good. Joy. Anger. Frustration. Hope. Sadness. Doubts. Questions. Hold nothing back. Remember this is a friend we are speaking with.

 

This Sunday and the teaching from the Second Vatican Council on the Word of God remind us there is a friend who regularly wants to speak with us.

 

Are we open to engaging in the conversation?

 

 

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[Refer to the text given by Pope Leo XIV to the general audience on 14 January 2026.]

25 January 2026