Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) Jan. 26 (Isaiah 9:1-4; Psalm 27; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17-18; Matthew 4:12-23)

It is extremely difficult to be joyful or have hope in the midst of ruin and pain. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali — part of Galilee — had been conquered by the brutal Assyrians around 733 B.C. and made into a province of their empire. The land had been devastated and the northern kingdom of Israel snuffed out. In other words, there was little cause for optimism or joy — the future looked very bleak indeed.

De gustibus non est disputandum. That’s a famous line from St. Augustine wherein he suggests that taste is subjective and that what one person fancies might not be to another person’s liking. Under that canopy I would like to recommend the following books to you. Among the books that I read in 2013, these 10 stayed with me in ways that the others didn’t.

Someone asked me recently, “After the Year of Faith, what will be the Church’s theme in 2014? How does the Pope designate a theme for the year?”

“What’s wrong with you?” the young woman asks her co-worker, Joe. She’s been trying to convey a message from their boss, but Joe seems to be on another planet.

Anyone familiar with the life and writings of Simone Weil will, I am sure, agree that she was a woman of exceptional faith. She was also a woman with an unwavering commitment to the poor. But, and this may seem anomalous, she was also exceptional and unwavering in a certain resistance she had towards the institutional Church. During her lifetime she longed for daily Eucharist, even as she resisted baptism and membership in the Church. Why?

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) Jan. 19 (Isaiah 49:3, 5-6; Psalm 40; 1 Corinthians 1:1-3; John 1:29-34)

Human vision is often very shortsighted. We fail to see the big picture and fall victim to tunnel vision. It is then very easy to become caught up in our own struggles and problems or focus our energies on immediate benefits. The word of God spoken to the enigmatic Servant in Isaiah was both a shock and a challenge. In the omitted verse, the Servant protested that his life had been unfruitful and wasted in useless things. Rather than backing off or allowing him some slack, God raised the bar. The Servant had been called even before his birth so there was no “escape.” Merely restoring Israel to God was too small a task — God had far grander things in mind.

Baptism of the Lord (Year A) Jan. 12 (Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7; Psalm 29; Acts 10:34-38; Matthew 3:13-17)

Who was the prophetic figure described in Isaiah’s Song of the Servant? A name was not given, but clearly the identity must have been clear to the generation for whom this was written. Many believe it was a collective symbol of the nation of Israel. This would fit nicely with the mission described in the passage: justice, light to the nations, healer of the suffering and liberator of the oppressed.

Epiphany of the Lord (Year A) Jan. 5 (Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72; Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6; Matthew 2:1-12)

Epiphany has always been associated with light and hope. Since each year we celebrate this feast with the same readings, we might ask how the past year has been different from any other year and what 2014 might hold for us.

The Christmas story is surely one of the greatest stories ever told. It chronicles a birth from which the world records time as before or after. Moreover, it is written in a way that has inflamed the romantic imagination for 2,000 years. This hasn’t always been for the good. Beyond spawning every kind of legend imaginable, the story of Christmas has, in the Christian imagination, too often taken on a centrality not accorded to it in the Gospels themselves. This is not surprising, given its richness.

Holy Family (Year A) Dec. 29 (Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14; Psalm 128; Colossians 3:12-21; Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23)

The term “family values” is tossed around rather indiscriminately, especially in the political sphere. It can mean many things, but often it is little more than a code word for extreme conservative social values or a mask for hypocrisy.