08 February 2026

08 February 2026 - Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Transcript

Reading:  

1 Corinthians 2:3-4

Write:  

I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling,
 and my message and my proclamation
 were not with persuasive words of wisdom,
 but with a demonstration of Spirit and power,…

Reflect:   

I want to refer to the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 17 and 18. This is where Saint Paul had his colossal failure at preaching. It seems there was a place in Athens where there was a temple made for many gods. There was even an altar to what was called an “Unknown God”. Well, Saint Paul tried to talk to the Athenians about this unknown God. But when he started to speak about the resurrection of the dead – well, they kind of went... crazy. They all but laughed him out of Athens.

Paul went from Athens to Corinth and that is where we pick up the story for this weekend. He was so concerned about his colossal failure that we have the story that he quotes here in this first letter. Paul realized that the best way to reach people was not to speak about some philosophical endgame like resurrection from the dead, but it was better to speak about Christ and him crucified and then lead them to the power of the resurrected Christ. This is what Paul was experiencing when he said that last line that I quoted above: “with a demonstration of Spirit and power”.

You see, in Athens he thought of preaching philosophically about the resurrection of the dead. But he discovered that was just a human wisdom and not based on the power of God, even though the Resurrection was an act of God. Next week – the last weekend before Lent – we read again from this second chapter of first Corinthians. Next weekend and this weekend are continuations of 1 Corinthians with no break between them. Verse 5 reads: “so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.” You just heard me say that.

Verse six reads: “Yet we do speak a wisdom to those who are mature, but not a wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away.” And this is the start of Paul’s selection next weekend. So he does speak to them about wisdom. In another place, Scripture says “the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men.” I will return to this section next weekend.

Apply:   

But, what is the lesson for us in this reading for this weekend? I want to return to my old standby comments. You are going to get tired of me mentioning this, but it is that important! You see, Paul was preaching to the Corinthians what he knew about Christ. It was not a matter of his brilliant mind being able to expound on the grand scheme of things about God. That is what he tried to do in Athens. No. It was about him from his own life where he could demonstrate the spirit and the power of God available to every believer. I have no doubt that he told them the story of being knocked to the ground. There would be time for greater explanations later in his preaching and writing. But he had to speak to them about his own experience. Yes, there it is! Now I ask you “the question”:

[Exaggerate with slowness this question.] Do you have your own experience of the presence of God ready to tell the world?

It comes down to something like this:

You ask someone: “do you know Donald Trump?”

From one person you get the answer: “yeah, the forty fifth and the forty seventh president of the United States” and maybe some other comments that we won’t go into.

You ask the next person, let’s say his name is… Eric Trump. You get the answer: “yeah, dad and I just had breakfast the other day. He told me he’s ready to introduce something… But, he told me not to say anything. He wanted to surprise everyone.”

Which of those two people really knows Donald Trump?

So I ask you: “do you know Jesus who is called the Christ?”

How are you going to answer? With an impersonal “he’s the second person of the Blessed Trinity”? Or something much more intimate talking about what he has already done in your life?

This is the different between what St. Paul ran into in Athens and Corinth. “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”

What do you expect to get out of this Lent? If it is anything less than a renewed relationship of love with the Lord of creation, you are settling for way too little.

Paul’s next verse should be our own: “I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling.” But it should NOT leave us remaining silent about the work of Christ in our lives. Will we fail? I can almost guarantee you will with a few people. The first few times you try to tell your story, it comes off… rather rough. But that is to be expected. We are telling something about what should be the most intimate message of our lives. But being able to speak about Jesus and his relationship with you should be as easy – should be – as easy as talking to someone else about your spouse or your children.

Do you know Jesus? What has he done – for you? What does having this called back to your mind do for you? How many of you are reduced to silence as you contemplate his actions already in your life? Can you give a voice to that contemplation? Learn – memorize – practice your story. You never know when it will be needed to offer support to someone else. I’ll repeat something I said just a couple weeks ago: “remember, you may be the only Bible someone else encounters.” Be ready.

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Lastly, the booklets for the Novena to Our Lady, Undoer of Knots have arrived. They are in the back of the church. Please take one if you are interested. And LAST lastly, I have been asked to announce something from the Archbishop:

Lenten Mornings of Recollection with Archbishop Michael McGovern will be held in February. A Women’s Morning of Recollection will be held Feb. 21 at St. Robert Bellarmine Parish in Omaha, and a Men’s Morning of Recollection will be held on Feb. 28 at St. Wenceslaus Parish in Omaha. Both begin with Mass at 8:30 a.m. There is no cost to attend, but registration is required. For more information, visit ArchOmaha.org.

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