3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Whenever Jesus speaks, since he is God, he speaks the Word of God. And, in so far as human words allow, His words contain the fullness of the mystery of God.

The words we hear Our Lord speak today are the words of Isaiah the prophet, words already inspired by God, - but spoken by Jesus, who is God, the inspired word of God reveals its full meaning.

At its heart is the mystery of God who is revealed to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus says “The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me”. The Spirit is the Holy Spirit who dwells in Jesus’ human soul from the moment he becomes man in the womb of Our Blessed Lady and that Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Lord - that is – of the Father. The anointing reminds us that Jesus’ human nature was from the very beginning filled with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit but also that in his divine nature as God the Son he shares the same nature as God the Holy Spirit and God the Father, and at the heart of this mystery of God there is the great mission. God the Son is eternally begotten by the love of the God the Father, that love returned to God the Father by God the Son is Divine Love, it is God the Holy Spirit. In sending God the Son to save us, God the Father does not withhold his love - God the Holy Spirit, and so in the work of “proclaiming the good news to the poor, liberty to captives, new sight to the blind and freedom to the down trodden” God the Son and God the Holy Spirit have a joint mission, inseparable but distinct. Words begin to fail us but Christ saves us by his death and resurrection, through the out pouring of the Holy Spirit we share in that salvation. In Christ is seen the image of the invisible God – the Holy Spirit reveals him. We confess Jesus is Lord, in the power of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus we come before the one who was anointed, God the Son, - the one who anointed, God the Father - and the one who is the anointing God the Holy Spirit.

It is from this Divine Mystery, from what God is, that our Salvation comes and our salvation leads us to the Divine Mystery, to God. “Proclaiming the good news to the poor, liberty to captives, new sight to the blind and freedom to the down trodden” refers above all to our salvation, to our freedom from sin and death and our realisation of eternal happiness which is to know and see God. “The Lord’s year of favour” is now - it is the time when in Christ, through the sacraments our salvation and redemption becomes possible.