The meaning of the Sunday Mass Readings for February 2025 is made clearest by Catholic Doctrine. Catholic doctrines are the authoritative, essentially unchangeable clarifications of Revelation and Faith that, in order to be Catholic, must be accepted as objectively true. Catholic doctrines describe reality. Much of what is taught by the pope and bishops is not doctrine; much of what they say is application of Revelation and Faith, not clarification of Revelation and Faith.
Accepting heresy – false doctrine – is always a temptation. But also tempting is reductionism, which mistakes a part of the Faith for the whole Faith. Reductionism is thinking one has all the truths about an issue when one has only some of the truths. Heresy is an error of commission; reductionism is an error of omission. I will provide examples of reductionism further in this column.
Let’s learn the always-true doctrines in the Catechism of the Catholic Church that we can take away from this February’s Readings.[1]
February 2, Presentation of the Lord
Today’s Gospel gives us examples, in Simeon and Anna, that the Chosen People had been awaiting the prophesized Messiah by the time of Christ. Simeon and Anna are witnesses that Jesus is the awaited Messiah (CCC 711[2]).
Yet “[m]any of Jesus’ deeds and words constituted a ‘sign of contradiction’” (CCC 575), as Simeon predicted. This means that while Jesus was in many ways an observant Jew, He also transcended Judaism. One key way in which He did so was with regard to the Temple. While Jesus, “expressed the deepest respect for the Temple” (CCC 583) as “the privileged place of encounter with God” (CCC 584) – and the episode in today’s Gospel is only one of many ways (CCC 583- 586) – nevertheless He brought “a new age in the history of salvation, when his Body would be the definitive Temple” (CCC 593). There are many other ways Jesus contradicted or transcended Judaism (CCC 577-582, 587-591).
God made a covenant – the Old Covenant – in various stages with Abraham and his children, the Chosen People (CCC 54-64, 121-123). Jesus is the Mediator of a New Covenant (CCC 65-67, 124-130, 762-763) with the spiritual children of Abraham, the People of God who are most completed united to Him in the Catholic Church (CCC 781).
- From the Responsorial Psalm[3] (Psalms 24:7, 8, 9, 10): Ps 24:7-10 is cited in CCC 559; Ps 24:8-10 in CCC 269; and Ps 24:9-10 in CCC 2628.
- From the Second Reading (Hebrews 2:14-18): Heb 2:14-15 is cited in CCC 635; Heb 2:14 in CCC 407 and 636; Heb 2:15 in CCC 1520 and 2606; and Heb 2:17-18 in CCC 609.
- From the Gospel (Luke 2:22-40 OR Luke 2:22-32): Lk 2:22-39 is cited in CCC 529 and 583; Lk 2:25 in CCC 711; Lk 2:26-27 in CCC 695; Lk 2:32 in CCC 713; Lk 2:34 in CCC 575 and 587; Lk 2:35 in CCC 149 and 618; and 2:38 in CCC 711.
February 9, Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Catechism quotes Isaiah in today’s First Reading and St. Peter in today’s Gospel – about their unworthiness due to their sins – in order to teach: “But because God is holy, he can forgive the man who realizes he is a sinner” (CCC 208).
It is easy to be reductionist about God’s forgiveness and mercy. We should not reduce the reality of God’s forgiveness only to His willingness to forgive sin. Yes, it is Catholic doctrine that God is willing to forgive all sin (CCC 982). But in order to be fully in touch with the reality of God’s forgiveness, we also need to accept all the other Catholic doctrines about it. See CCC 976-987, 1422-1498, and 1846-1876.
The angels seen by Isaiah (and whom we paraphrase at the beginning of every Eucharistic Prayer – “Holy, holy, holy . . .”) reveal their “part in the service of the praise of God” (CCC 1138) in the perfect liturgy in Heaven. To be in Heaven is to participate in the perfect liturgy (CCC 1136-1139). Yet “the [Holy] Spirit and the Church enable us to participate [in this eternal liturgy] whenever we celebrate the mystery of salvation in the sacraments” (CCC 1139). So even now, on earth, we can have a share in the Heavenly Liturgy.
Core doctrines of Catholic Faith are take-aways from today’s Second Reading. What St. Paul “handed on” is an example of how “the apostolic Church expressed and handed on her faith in brief formulae for all” (CCC 186). “The mystery of Christ’s resurrection is a real event, with manifestations that were historically verified” (CCC 639). “The Resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of our [Catholic] faith” (CCC 638). Jesus did “experience the condition of death, the separation of his soul from his body” (CCC 624). Although “Christ’s death was a real death . . . divine power preserved Christ’s body from corruption” (CCC 627). That the Risen Christ appeared first to Peter (Cephas) is one of several examples in the New Testament that Peter “holds the first place in the college of the Twelve” (CCC 552) – Jesus made Peter the leader of the leaders of His Church, and Peter’s ministry continues in his successors, the Bishops of Rome, the Popes (CCC 880-882). St. Paul is an apostle, even though he was not one of the Twelve, because he experienced the Risen Christ (CCC 659).
- From the First Reading (Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8): Is 6:1 is cited in CCC 1137; Is 6:2-3 in CCC 1138; Is 6:3 in CCC 2809; Is 6:5 in CCC 208 and 2584; Is 6:6 in CCC 332; and Is 6:8 in CCC 2584.
- From the Responsorial Psalm (Psalms 138:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 7-8): Ps 138:2 is cited in CCC 214.
- From the Second Reading (1 Corinthians 15:1-11 OR 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, 11): 1 Cor 15:3-5 is cited in CCC 186; 1 Cor 15:3-4 in CCC 639 and 652; 1 Cor 15:3 in CCC 519, 601, 619, and 624; 1 Cor 15:4-8 in CCC 642; 1 Cor 15:4 in CCC 627; 1 Cor 15:5 in CCC 552 and 641; 1 Cor 15:7-8 in CCC 857; 1 Cor 15:8 in CCC 659; and 1 Cor 15:9 in CCC 752.
- From the Alleluia (Matthew 4:19): Mt 4:19 is cited in CCC 878.
- From the Gospel (Luke 5:1-11): Lk 5:8 is cited in CCC 208.
February 16, Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
From today’s First Reading about trusting God, we should take away the definition of faith. “Faith is first of all a personal [loyalty] of man to God. At the same time, and inseparably, it is a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed” (CCC 150).
From today’s Second Reading, we should take away that resurrection of every dead human is “an essential element of the Christian faith” (CCC 991). When we profess in the Creed that we “look forward to the resurrection of the dead,” we are not referring to Christ, but to ourselves and everyone else who has lived or will live. Eternity involves having not only a soul, but also a body. Since death is the separation of the soul from the body, resurrection of the dead is reunion of the soul and the body for eternity. See CCC 988-1019).
The only verses from the Beatitudes in today’s Gospel that are cited by the Catechism have to do with poverty. Poverty is not only material poverty, but also “the many forms of cultural and religious poverty” (CCC 2444).
It is reductionism to believe that Christ is requiring us to become materially poor in order to enter the Kingdom of God. If he were, there would not be Catholic doctrines about charity and social justice (CCC 1877-1948, 2401-2463). There would be no need to come to the aid of the materially poor and render their rights since that would take them out of a state of blessedness! Instead, Christ proclaims in the Beatitudes the good news that those who choose the Kingdom of God will be saved from all forms of poverty, all kinds of need, all evil – the poor are blessed because God wants to save them, not because they are poor.
What Christ does require for entrance into the Kingdom of God is poverty of spirit (CCC 2546), which is “to prefer him to everything and everyone” (CCC 2544). The best way to prefer Jesus is to accept all Catholic Doctrine as objectively true, and not selected doctrines which reduce the Catholic Faith (CCC 11, 18). The best way to prefer Jesus is to worship, pray, and act in harmony with Catholic Doctrine, all Catholic Doctrine. Catholic Faith should not be reduced to a particular spirituality or vocation (CCC 871-873).
- From the First Reading (Jeremiah 17:5-8): Jer 17:5-6 is cited in CCC 150.
- From the Second Reading (1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20): 1 Cor 15:20 is cited in CCC 632 and 991.
- From the Gospel (Luke 6:17, 20-26): Lk 6:20-22 is cited in CCC 2444; Lk 6:20 in CCC 2546; and Lk 6:24 in CCC 2547.
February 23, Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
In today’s Second Reading, St. Paul compares Adam who is “the first man” and “the earthly one” to “the last Adam” who is “the second man” and ”the heavenly one.” Jesus “is the New Adam” (CCC 504) “who, because he ’became obedient unto death, even death on a cross,’ makes amends superabundantly for the disobedience of Adam” (CCC 411). Furthermore, the Second Reading tells us that those who choose Christ will bear His image. This means, both for St. Paul and for Catholic Doctrine, that those who are eternally saved will have the same kind of existence that Jesus has had since His Resurrection. So Jesus is also the New Adam because He “inaugurates the new creation” (CCC 504) which will be completed in the New Heaven and the New Earth of the Kingdom of God at the end of time (CCC 1042-1050).
Today’s Alleluia and Gospel share the theme of love. Yes, “Jesus makes [love] the new commandment” (CCC 1823). “The Lord asks us to love as he does, even our enemies” (CCC 1825). But love is easily reduced. For example, it can be reduced to pacifism which ignores Catholic doctrine about legitimate defense (CCC 2263-2267).
While the “Law of the Gospel . . . is summed up in the Golden Rule, ‘Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them’” (CCC 1970), the Golden Rule only makes sense in union with all that Christ commands and all Catholic Doctrine, which clarifies Christ’s commands (CCC 1824). If I wish others would give cocaine (or pornography or any bad thing) to me, Christ does not want me to give that same bad thing to others. Charity binds all the virtues in perfect harmony (CCC 1827). It does not squash or obliterate any of the other virtues, such as prudence.
- From the Second Reading (1 Corinthians 15:45-49): 1 Cor 15:45 is cited in CCC 411 and 504; and 1 Cor 15:47 in CCC 504.
- From the Alleluia (John 13:34): Jn 13:34 is cited in CCC 782, 1823, 1970, 2195, 2822, and 2842.
- From the Gospel (Luke 6:27-38): Lk 6:28 is cited in CCC 1669; Lk 6:31 in CCC 1789 and 1970; and Lk 6:36 in CCC 1458 and 2842.
[1] There are too many citations, or references, in the Catechism to the verses in 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 that may not exceed 2,000 words. The bullet points allow you to explore further the Biblical basis of Catholic Doctrine.
[2] CCC abbreviates Catechism of the Catholic Church. Any number after it is the number of a paragraph in the Catechism. For example, “CCC 711” means paragraph 711 of the Catechism.
[3] If a Reading is not listed, then none of its verses is cited by the CCC.
1 thought on “The Sunday Readings for February 2025 and Catholic Doctrine”
It’s not “Blessed are the spiritually poor” (which would be nothing to brag about); it’s “Blest are the poor in their spirits” or “Blest in spirit are the poor.” And the “poor” here is a reference to Christ’s poor followers, not to the poor as a socio-economic class. The Beatitudes in their entirety are a set of promises that Jesus is making to his disciples, and only to his disciples, for their perseverance through difficulties. We need to get this right.