"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me"

Today's Mass Readings

In today’s first reading, we catch a brief glimpse of what will happen at the end when Christ returns. All of Christ’s followers will join the Saints in heaven at the very end before the final judgment. Today’s reading from the Gospel of Luke hints at this second coming of Christ for those who know the Old Testament background. Jesus is in the synagogue in his home town of Nazareth, where he reads from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He reads from the beginning of chapter 61 of Isaiah. Jesus begins with, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,” but he ends it with, “and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” He did not read the entire chapter. The rest of the chapter continues with what life will be like in the Messianic age, when Jews believe/d the Messiah would come to earth. It was traditional in Judaism, as it still is today in some communities, to read all of Isaiah 61 as describing what will happen when the Messiah comes. Jesus, who is the Messiah, however, stops short of the chapter and, in a sense, declares Himself to be the long awaited Messiah when He claims: “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” What is interesting is that He never claimed that the rest of the passage was as of yet fulfilled. Christians believe the rest will be fulfilled at the end, when Jesus returns a final time.

In the Liturgy, we pray as the mystery of faith, “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.” At one level, Christ comes again with every celebration of the Eucharist. Indeed, this is the parousia (presence) that some Protestants think refers only to some second coming still in the future. Indeed, Christ will come again at the end, but on another level, Christ is present at every Eucharist. So, we too may join with the early Church and pray, maranatha, Come Lord. We who are alive today may not be alive when Jesus comes at the end of history. But, we are certainly present at the celebration of the Eucharist.

Let us prepare ourselves for being caught up with the Saints in heaven at the Sacred Liturgy, where truly the angels and Saints in heaven are present as we celebrate the Memorial of Christ’s death and resurrection in the Eucharist. Let us prepare ourselves for the coming of our Lord at every celebration of the Eucharist.