Our Gospel reading for this 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, highlights one of the central elements for living in relationship with God, freedom. As Tony explains, without freedom, no relationship can be authentic much less intimate, and it is precisely freedom for relationship with God that Christ sets us free.
Mass Readings:
Reading 1: Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 19:8; 9, 10, 15
Reading 2: 1 Corinthians 12:12-30
Gospel: Luke 1:1-4, 4:14-21
Works Cited:
Raymond Brown, Introduction to the New Testament, 227n5.
Brendan Byrne, The Hospitality of God: A Reading of Luke’s Gospel, 26.
St. John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, 31.
St. John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, 32.
Brendan Byrne, The Hospitality of God, 61.
Exodus 7:16, 8:16, 9:1
Tony Crescio is the founder of FRESHImage Ministries. He holds an MTS from the University of Notre Dame and is currently a PhD candidate in Christian Theology at Saint Louis University. His research focuses on the intersection between moral and sacramental theology. His dissertation is entitled, Presencing the Divine: Augustine, the Eucharist and the Ethics of Exemplarity.
Tony’s academic publications can be found here.