Liturgical Study - Novus Ordo - Third Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year A - 1/25/2026
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)
Theme
From Recognition to Discipleship — The Authority of the Call
“He Called Them, and They Left Everything”
After the Church publicly identifies Christ as the Lamb of God (Jn 1; Jan 18), she immediately confronts the unavoidable consequence of recognition:
If He is who He claims to be, obedience is no longer optional.
The liturgy now turns from seeing to submitting.
This Sunday explicitly rejects a Christianity of admiration, curiosity, or abstract belief. Christ does not request applause or intellectual assent alone. He commands allegiance.
The Catechism is explicit:
“Jesus’ invitation to enter his kingdom comes in the form of a call to conversion.” (CCC §1427)
Recognition that does not result in obedience is, in Catholic theology, incomplete faith (cf. Jas 2:17).
1. FIRST READING — Isaiah 8:23–9:3
Light Breaks Into Darkness
Isaiah’s prophecy is not sentimental consolation. It is geographic, historical, and messianic.
Galilee of the nations — politically marginal, religiously suspect, culturally mixed — becomes the first theater of redemption. This fulfills a consistent biblical pattern: God acts where human prestige is absent.
The Fathers read this as a deliberate divine inversion. St. Jerome notes that Christ begins where pride is least entrenched. Power centers resist grace; the humble receive it.
Magisterially, this reinforces a key principle articulated by Vatican II:
“God does not save men merely as individuals… but by making them into a people.”
(Lumen Gentium, §9)
The light does not merely illuminate — it summons. Revelation always carries obligation. As Dei Verbum teaches:
“By revelation God addresses men as His friends… and invites them into fellowship with Himself.” (§2)
An invitation from God, however, carries the weight of command.
2. RESPONSORIAL PSALM — Psalm 27
The Courage to Follow
Psalm 27 forms the interior architecture of discipleship.
“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?”
Fear is the principal enemy of obedience — fear of loss, instability, ridicule, or suffering. The Psalm answers fear not by denying danger, but by reordering trust.
St. Augustine teaches that courage in obedience flows from rightly ordered love:
“He who loves God fears nothing except separation from Him.”
The Catechism echoes this logic:
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (CCC §1831)
This is not servile fear, but filial awe — the fear of choosing lesser goods over the Highest Good. Psalm 27 trains the soul to prefer God to safety, which is the interior prerequisite for leaving nets behind.
3. SECOND READING — 1 Corinthians 1:10–13, 17
Unity Under Authority
St. Paul immediately destroys the myth of private discipleship.
Factionalism reveals a deeper problem: refusal of authority. “I belong to Paul… Apollos… Cephas” is not merely personality preference — it is rebellion against the unity Christ established.
Paul’s corrective is ecclesiological:
“Is Christ divided?”
The Church is not a federation of spiritual preferences. She is a visible, hierarchical body, unified under Christ’s authority transmitted through apostolic succession.
Vatican II affirms:
“Christ the Lord founded one Church… governed by the successor of Peter and the bishops in communion with him.”
(Lumen Gentium, §8)
This reading prepares the Gospel by establishing that Christ’s call always includes submission to a structured authority, not self-directed spirituality.
4. GOSPEL — Matthew 4:12–23
The Sovereign Call
Christ does not explain.
He does not persuade.
He does not negotiate.
“Follow Me.”
The immediacy of the response is theologically decisive. The disciples do not weigh pros and cons. They recognize authority.
St. Thomas Aquinas explains:
“Obedience is the virtue whereby a man promptly carries out the command of a superior.”
(ST II–II, q.104, a.1)
Their response is not emotional enthusiasm; it is rational submission to recognized divine authority.
Pope Benedict XVI emphasizes this exact moment:
“To follow Christ means to entrust oneself totally to Him… allowing oneself to be guided.”
(Jesus of Nazareth, Vol. I)
The Kingdom is not a metaphor. It is a regime — the reign of God over the human will.
5. The Theological Unity Now Fully Revealed
The liturgy is executing a deliberate pedagogical progression:
• Isaiah establishes divine initiative
• The Psalm forms courage to respond
• Corinthians establishes communal authority
• Matthew reveals the commanding Christ
This is the Church’s answer to modern Christianity’s favorite evasion:
“I believe, but I don’t obey.”
As Redemptor Hominis teaches:
“Man cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of self.” (§10)
Discipleship is not self-expression. It is self-surrender.
6. Interconnectedness, Magisterial Illumination, and Catholic Interpretation
The Catechism defines conversion as ongoing obedience:
“Conversion is first of all a work of the grace of God… requiring a radical reorientation of one’s whole life.” (CCC §1427–1428)
Aquinas clarifies that obedience is not opposed to freedom — it perfects it:
“The more closely one adheres to God, the more free one becomes.”
(ST I–II, q.17)
Pope Pius X warned against a Christianity detached from authority:
“The true friends of the people are neither revolutionaries nor innovators, but traditionalists.”
(Notre Charge Apostolique)
This Sunday stands as a rebuke to therapeutic, self-defined faith.
7. Practical Application — Immediate Obedience
The Gospel forces an examination of conscience, not sentiment:
• What identity, habit, or comfort delays obedience?
• What authority do I resist under the guise of “discernment”?
Delayed obedience is often disguised disobedience.
As Christ Himself warns:
“No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God.” (Lk 9:62)
Discipleship Begins with Abandonment
Every authentic call of Christ requires loss — not because God is cruel, but because nothing competes with sovereignty.
To follow Christ is to leave something behind.
Always.
And the Church, in her wisdom, places this truth at the beginning of Ordinary Time, so no one mistakes Christianity for a hobby.