Catholic Doctrine and the Sunday Readings for January 2023

The meaning of the Sunday Mass Readings is made clearest by Catholic Doctrine. It is Catholic Doctrine more than anything else that we should get out of or take from the Sunday Readings because Catholic Doctrine more than anything else lets us know who God is, what He wants, and who we are.

The Sunday Readings can be used to support various conclusions about spiritual growth, pastoral care, and prudential judgment; but none of these conclusions must be believed in order to be Catholic. It is Catholic Doctrine that must be believed in order to be Catholic. Yet even the best homilies often fail to be explicit about what in them is doctrine and what is not doctrine. As the Catholic Church implodes – as, for example, there is a decline in Mass attendance, Baptisms, weddings in the Church, self-identification as Catholic, and belief in Transubstantiation – we would do well to remember that periods of renewed vitality in Church history were always periods of renewed commitment to Catholic Doctrine.

Catholic Doctrine is authored only by the Magisterium (the pope and bishops) and is true for all times and places. Conclusions about spiritual growth, pastoral care, and prudential judgment are not true for all times and places, even when they are made by the Magisterium. Catholic Doctrine describes unchanging reality. The best single source of Catholic Doctrine is the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition. (For more on doctrine, see a previous column of mine.)

The Sunday Readings are from one of the two main sources of God’s Revelation – Sacred Scripture. The other main source of Revelation is Sacred Tradition. Neither Scripture nor Tradition is self-explanatory. Their profound meaning needs to be interpreted and clarified. Our Lord established the Magisterium to be the one and only authoritative interpreter of Revelation. God has not revealed whatever we feel He has revealed. The clearest meaning of Revelation is provided by Catholic Doctrine.

Faith is the acceptance of God’s Revelation. We only have Faith to the extent that we accept Revelation. Not only has God revealed Who He is, what He wants, and who we are; He has also revealed the Faith He wants us to have, the response He wants us to have to Him. God does not want us to accept His Revelation any way we feel like accepting it. Catholic Doctrine is the clearest expression of the Faith God wants us to have.

This column is the first in a series that will present and explain Catholic doctrines that clarify each month’s Sunday Mass Readings. It will rely on the Index of Citations of Sacred Scripture located in the back of the Catechism to share doctrines supported by verses from the Sunday Readings. There are too many citations, or references, in the Catechism to verses from a month of Sunday Mass readings to identify all the pertinent doctrines, so I will use my best judgment to select which verses and doctrines to cover in a column. Selection of this month’s verses and doctrines has been complicated by the need for the above introduction to this series and because there are five Sundays in this month.

CCC below abbreviates the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the numbers after it are the number of paragraphs in the Catechism. For example, for more on Revelation, Faith, and the Magisterium, see CCC 50-184. 857-862, 874-896, 1555-1561, and 2032-2040. A thorough list of Sunday Reading verses cited in the CCC will be at the end of each Sunday’s commentary. If a Reading is not listed, none of its verses is cited by the Catechism.

January 1, The Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God

Interestingly, only the Second Reading and the Gospel mention Mary even though her status as the Mother of God is being celebrated in this Mass. Only one verse from all of today’s Readings is cited by the Catechism in order to support the doctrine celebrated today. The verse is: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman” (Galatians 4:4 from the Second Reading). The doctrine is: Mary, the mother of Jesus, is the Mother of God because Jesus is God the Son (CCC 484). Although not cited in the Catechism to support this doctrine about Mary, the Gospel verse that Jesus “was conceived in the womb [of Mary]”(Luke 2:21) also means that Mary is the Mother of God. CCC 485-507 and 963-972 elaborate on Mary’s unique role in salvation history.

Verses from the Second Reading, Alleluia, and Gospel are used to support doctrines that are not about Mary. At the very least, we should get from the Second Reading two doctrines. “God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out. ‘Abba, Father!’” (Galatians 4:6) means that Jesus Christ is God (CCC 422) and that there is one God in three Divine Persons: The Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit (CCC 689). In fact, “[t]he mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. . . . It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the ‘hierarchy of the truths of faith’” (CCC 234). Mary is not the mother of God the Father or God the Holy Spirit

• Second Reading: Galatians 4:1-7: (CCC 1972); Gal 4:4-5: (CCC 422); Gal 4:4: (CCC 484, 488, 527, 531, 580, 702); Gal 4:5-7: (CCC 1265); Gal 4:6: (CCC 683, 689, 693, 742, 1695, 2766).
• Alleluia: Hebrews 1:1-2: (CCC 102).
• Gospel: Luke 2:19: (CCC 2599); Lk 2:21: (CCC 527).

January 8, The Epiphany of the Lord

The Catechism refers to Matthew 2:2, which is in both the Alleluia and the Gospel: “We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.” “We” are the magi who represent all Gentiles (all those who are not Jews). This verse, along with the rest of the Gospel Reading, means that Jesus is not only the Messiah of Israel, but also the one and only Savior of the world (CCC 528). This Sunday’s other Readings should be interpreted in light of this doctrine, for example, “Nations shall walk by your light” (Isaiah 60:3 from the First Reading), “Lord every nation on earth will adore you” (Psalms 72:11 from the Responsorial Psalm), and “the Gentiles are coheirs” (Ephesians 3:6 in the Second Reading).

• Gospel: Matthew 2:1-12: (CCC 486); Mt 2:1: (CCC 528); Mt 2:2: (CCC 439, 528); Mt 2:4-6: (CCC 528); Mt 2:11: (CCC 724).

Jan. 15, The Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

One important doctrine we should take away is: Jesus is fully human as well as fully divine (CCC, 461). This doctrine makes clear the meaning of “The Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14a from the Alleluia). How Jesus can be both God and human is more fully presented in CCC, 464-478.

A verse from the Gospel, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), is cited four times in the Catechism to support another crucial doctrine: without the atonement of Jesus for the sins of humanity, no human being could experience eternal salvation (CCC 536, 608, 713, 1137). This means that both the Original Sin of humanity’s first parents and each person’s own sins make it impossible for any person to be in the eternal direct presence of the All-Holy God without God the Son paying the price for everyone’s sins by His sacrificial death on the cross. (CCC 598-618 and 1503-1505) elaborate on how Jesus “takes away the sin of the world.”

• First Reading: Isaiah 49:1-6: (CCC 713); Is 49:5-6: (CCC 64).
• Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 40:2: (CCC 2657); Ps 40:7-9: (CCC 462); Ps 40:7: (CCC 2824).
• Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:2: (CCC 752, 1695).
• Alleluia: John 1:12-18: (CCC 1996); Jn 1:12-13: CCC, 706; Jn 1:12: (CCC 526, 1692); Jn 1:14:(CCC 423, 454, 461, 594, 705, 2466).
• Gospel: John 1:29: (CCC 408, 523, 536, 608, 613, 1137, 1505); Jn 1:31-34: (CCC 486); Jn 1:31: (CCC 438); Jn 1:32-34: (CCC 713); Jn 1:32-33: (CCC 536); Jn 1:33-36: (CCC 719); Jn 1:33-34: (CCC 1286).

Jan. 22, The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Gospel Reading gives us the gospel (good news or message) that Jesus Himself preached: “From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matthew 4: 17). What we should take away from this verse is that the Kingdom is the ultimate beatitude or happiness to which God invites humanity (CCC1720).

By “Kingdom of Heaven” Matthew means what Mark and Luke mean by “Kingdom of God.” (John rarely refers to the Kingdom.) To summarize (CCC 541-556, 645-655, 668-679, and 102-1050), the Kingdom is the theme of Jesus’ preaching and actions. It is what Jesus tells us to “seek first” (Matthew 6:33). It is our salvation. If we do not understand the Kingdom, we do not understand Jesus, but only have unconnected bits of information about Him. The Kingdom is not Heaven, if by “Heaven” we mean the state after death when the soul, separated its body, is with God. (Matthew uses “Heaven” instead of “God” in reference to the Kingdom due to Jewish piety.) The Kingdom preached by Jesus will only be fully established when He comes again in glory on the Last Day to judge the living and the dead. Those who enter the Kingdom will have their bodies and souls for all eternity in perfect relationship with God, each other, and all of God’s creation. The greatest Revelation of what the Kingdom will be like is Christ’s Resurrection.

• Gospel: Matthew 4:17: CCC, 1720, 1989; Mt 4:19: CCC, 878.

Jan. 29, The Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Catechism quotes almost all of today’s Gospel, the verses traditionally called the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12). The Beatitudes are at the heart of Jesus’ preaching and fulfill the promises God made to the Chosen People beginning with Abraham by relating those promises not to a new territorial kingdom like that of David or Solomon, but to the Kingdom of God (CCC 1716).

Jesus connects two beatitudes to the Kingdom (Matthew 5:3, 10). It seems to me, especially in light of (CCC 1716), that we get Jesus’ implicit meaning of the other beatitudes if we explicitly connect them to the Kingdom: “they will be comforted” in the Kingdom; “they will inherit the land” of the “new earth” (2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1) in the Kingdom; “they will be satisfied” in the Kingdom; “they will be shown mercy” by being allowed into the Kingdom; “they will see God” in the Kingdom; “they will be called the children of God” because they have been allowed into the Kingdom; “your reward will be great in the heaven,” that is, the “new heaven” (2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1) of the Kingdom.

• First Reading: Zephaniah 2:3: (CCC 64, 711, 716).
• Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:27: (CCC 489); 1 Cor 1:30: (CCC 2813).
• Gospel: Matthew 5:1: (CCC 581); Mt 5:3-12: (CCC 1716); Mt 5:3: (CCC 544, 2546); Mt 5:8: (CCC 1720, 2518); Mt 5:9: (CCC 2305-2330); Mt 5:11-12: (CCC 520).

What the Catechism says about the sixth beatitude in Matthew 5:8 serves both as a fitting conclusion to this month’s column and as a fitting purpose for this entire series on the Doctrinal meaning of the Sunday Readings:

“Pure in heart” refers to those who have attuned their intellects and wills to the demands of God’s holiness, chiefly in three areas: charity; chastity or sexual rectitude; love of truth, and orthodoxy of faith (CCC 2518).

The best way to attune our intellects and wills to the holiness of God, the best way to be charitable, chaste, and committed to truth, is to do our best to be in agreement with all of Catholic Doctrine and to use Christ’s gift of the Sacrament of Confession when we fail to be in agreement with any Catholic doctrine.