Opening the Word: Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (1/26/2025)

Opening the Word is a series of prompts from The Emmaus Institute for Biblical Studies to help focus our minds and hearts on the Sunday Mass Readings. After Jesus revealed Himself to the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus, they said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:32). Our Lord desires to enflame our hearts also by revealing Himself to us in His Word. Take this opportunity to pause, and allow the Lord to make Himself known to you through the opening of the Scriptures which will ready your eyes to see Him in the breaking of the bread.

Listen Here:

First Reading: Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10 
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 19:8, 9, 10, 15 (cf. John 6:63c)
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:12-30
Gospel: Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21 

Step 1: Begin in prayer, asking the Lord to open your heart to receive how He wants to make Himself known to you. Then, attentively read the Scriptures. 

Step 2: Consider these meditation prompts that follow from the readings:

1. In the first reading from Nehemiah, we read of Ezra the priest opening up the Scriptures before all of the people. Listen carefully to how Ezra does this: what do you recognize in Ezra’s reading of the law that sounds like the Liturgy of the Word at Mass? Additionally, observe how the people respond to hearing the Law opened up for them—how am I receiving the Word of God each Sunday? Am I allowing the voice of God in the Scriptures to transform my heart, mind, and soul?
2. In the Gospel reading, Jesus went into the synagogue in Nazareth and read from the prophet Isaiah. Listen to these words carefully and consider how they reveal the mission of identity of Jesus: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19; cf. Isa 61:1-2). When we invite Jesus into our lives, this is what He does; this is what He is about: good news, freedom, and healing. Where are you in need of good news, freedom, and healing? Invite the Lord into your heart this day and allow Him to accomplish these things in you. 

Step 3: Conclude with a prayer of gratitude and ask the Lord to keep these Words in your heart.