1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Brothers and sisters:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I give thanks to my God always on your account
for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus,
that in him you were enriched in every way,
with all discourse and all knowledge,
as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you,
so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift
as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He will keep you firm to the end,
irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful,
and by him you were called to fellowship with his Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
When we fail to sense the presence of God, it is because our minds and hearts have become clouded with negative human attitudes, emotions and actions. Isaiah affirmed that God is not only our Father, but the master potter carefully and lovingly forming us into the desired image.
He called out to God plaintively, begging God to rekindle the relationship that existed with the nation in the past. Isaiah had the answer to his problem: He recognized that God always meets those who not only do right but do it gladly, and those who always keep God in their minds and hearts. Individually and collectively, we are responsible for our relationship with God and the world in which we dwell.
Paul rejoiced that God had been so generous with the Corinthian community, endowing them with grace and diverse spiritual riches. God had blessed them with inspired speech, knowledge and spiritual gifts. But there is a hint of sarcasm in Paul’s words, for these are precisely the gifts that were causing the disruption and division of the community.
Some in the community misused the gifts, using them to inflate their egos and grab power and influence over others. Throughout the letter, Paul chastised them for their abuse of God’s generosity, but he ends on a note of hope. God is faithful and would continue to bless them to the end, enabling them to be pure and blameless on the day of the Lord’s return. On that day, excuses and evasions will not suffice.
God did tear open the heavens and come down. Jesus was the visible presence of God during His ministry and the Spirit is active in the world and in our lives. But there will be another encounter for humanity when Jesus returns.
Unfortunately, the passage of time and the changing of attitudes have deadened the spiritual awareness of humanity. Many do not sense the presence or even the existence of God. We are in danger of going the way of the people in Isaiah’s reading.
And today's Catholic liturgy contains the passage of Isaiah from which the first of the "O" readings from Isaiah is derived, From The Stump of Jesse, so a setting by a composer I'm entirely unfamiliar with, Rihards Dubra.
San Antonio Chamber Choir
Richard Bjella, director
O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum, super quem continebunt
reges os suum, quem Gentes deprecabuntur: veni ad liberandum nos, jam
noli tardare.
O Root of Jesse, who stands as a sign for the People before whom kings will be silent and who the People will make supplication to, come and free us, please come quickly.
My quick and dirty translation.
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