Sunday Reflection with Canon Robin Gibbons: January 25, 2026

Duccio di Buoninsegna

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Given what is happening in our geo-political world, the words of the prophet Isaiah might seem a bit hollow, given the brutal behaviour ( or lack of leadership) of leaders and officials who should know better. Isaiah speaks out for the plight of those innocent people in the crosshairs of political posturing, our Greenlanders, Ukrainians, our stateless and unwanted immigrants, those insulted by demeaning comments from public figures, and all those in our world who feel the pain, unease, bullying, tension of betrayal from powerful people and closed communities. All who feel powerless will find empathy and sympathy in Isaiah's opening words of our first reading. We ourselves may find them highly appropriate in their negativity, reminding us that that bad things happen:

'First the Lord degraded the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali'(Is 8: 23)

yet the Oracle of God does not end there it points forward to the struggle of hope and the emergent promises of the Most High, but it also demands much of us.

I think we who follow the gospel have to be realists, in the sense that our religious experience cannot be about magical solutions, for a sentimental or naive piety does not heal divisions nor create solutions. To become as the little ones does not mean a faith that distances itself from the world in which we live to live in a bubble looking to the future Kingdom. Our Christian life needs that mixture of faith and good works which Isaiah tells of and Jesus teaches, in order to ground itself in the divine power of the Spirit's gift to us of love and compassion for all. This is what we need to remove ourselves from and false performative posturing in religious matters, this loving service is the true gift of grace in the combination of our own lives blending together contemplation of the Most High and our vocation to be loving servants in action!

This discipleship of active service of our neighbour, in which contemplation of the mysteries of God, reflection on the words and teachings of the Lord in Scripture, is we hope with the guidance of good spiritual friends the way of growth in our spiritual and human life as one unity. Jesus in the gospel as well as Isaiah and Paul in I Corinthians calls us to be one in our faith. In practical terms they encourage in us the desire to heal the hurts and deal with the wrongs of humankind and our fragile miscued planet. And to act together with others of good will, for the common good.

Pope Francis in his encyclical 'Laudato si' guides and helps us to embrace this task of being prophets, witnessing by prayer, words and actions to the goodness of God. In the gospel today Jesus reiterates John the Baptist's call; ' Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'.(Mt 4:17)

Jesus in calling the first disciples to follow him, places them, as he does with us who are also his disciples, in a relationship of intimacy and trust in him. To follow the Lord we have first of all to change course. Here is Pope Francis repeating this call in Laudato si :

'Many things have to change course, but it is we human beings above all who need to change. We lack an awareness of our common origin, of our mutual belonging, and of a future to be shared with everyone. This basic awareness would enable the development of new convictions, attitudes and forms of life. A great cultural, spiritual and educational challenge stands before us, and it will demand that we set out on the long path of renewal'. (Laudato si ' 6:202)

Francis lifts us up to see what Isaiah tells us comes after facing difficulty, particularly long term problems, yet trusting and working with God, the birth of hope through renewal;

' The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;

Upon those who lived in a land of gloom
a light has shone.'(Is 9:1)

So yet again we are reminded that the gospel is not about an apocalypse, nor of destruction, rather completion though struggle but done as one people, together with our God to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom that is here amongst us and to work not only for our own conversion but that of others. May it be so!

LECTIO

Isaiah Chapter 12 - Song of Thanksgiving

On that day, you will say:
I give you thanks, O LORD;
though you have been angry with me,
your anger has abated, and you have consoled me.

God indeed is my salvation;
I am confident and unafraid.
For the LORD is my strength and my might,
and he has been my salvation.

With joy you will draw water
from the fountains of salvation,

And you will say on that day:
give thanks to the LORD, acclaim his name;

Among the nations make known his deeds,
proclaim how exalted is his name.c

Sing praise to the LORD for he has done glorious things;
let this be known throughout all the earth.

Shout with exultation, City of Zion,
for great in your midst
is the Holy One of Israel!

Extract from Laudato si

III. ECOLOGICAL CONVERSION

216. The rich heritage of Christian spirituality, the fruit of twenty centuries of personal and communal experience, has a precious contribution to make to the renewal of humanity. Here, I would like to offer Christians a few suggestions for an ecological spirituality grounded in the convictions of our faith, since the teachings of the Gospel have direct consequences for our way of thinking, feeling and living. More than in ideas or concepts as such, I am interested in how such a spirituality can motivate us to a more passionate concern for the protection of our world. A commitment this lofty cannot be sustained by doctrine alone, without a spirituality capable of inspiring us, without an "interior impulse which encourages, motivates, nourishes and gives meaning to our individual and communal activity".[151] Admittedly, Christians have not always appropriated and developed the spiritual treasures bestowed by God upon the Church, where the life of the spirit is not dissociated from the body or from nature or from worldly realities, but lived in and with them, in communion with all that surrounds us.

217. "The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast".[152] For this reason, the ecological crisis is also a summons to profound interior conversion. It must be said that some committed and prayerful Christians, with the excuse of realism and pragmatism, tend to ridicule expressions of concern for the environment. Others are passive; they choose not to change their habits and thus become inconsistent. So what they all need is an "ecological conversion", whereby the effects of their encounter with Jesus Christ become evident in their relationship with the world around them. Living our vocation to be protectors of God's handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience.

218. In calling to mind the figure of Saint Francis of Assisi, we come to realize that a healthy relationship with creation is one dimension of overall personal conversion, which entails the recognition of our errors, sins, faults and failures, and leads to heartfelt repentance and desire to change. The Australian bishops spoke of the importance of such conversion for achieving reconciliation with creation: "To achieve such reconciliation, we must examine our lives and acknowledge the ways in which we have harmed God's creation through our actions and our failure to act. We need to experience a conversion, or change of heart".[153]

219. Nevertheless, self-improvement on the part of individuals will not by itself remedy the extremely complex situation facing our world today. Isolated individuals can lose their ability and freedom to escape the utilitarian mindset, and end up prey to an unethical consumerism bereft of social or ecological awareness. Social problems must be addressed by community networks and not simply by the sum of individual good deeds. This task "will make such tremendous demands of man that he could never achieve it by individual initiative or even by the united effort of men bred in an individualistic way. The work of dominating the world calls for a union of skills and a unity of achievement that can only grow from quite a different attitude".[154] The ecological conversion needed to bring about lasting change is also a community conversion.

220. This conversion calls for a number of attitudes which together foster a spirit of generous care, full of tenderness. First, it entails gratitude and gratuitousness, a recognition that the world is God's loving gift, and that we are called quietly to imitate his generosity in self-sacrifice and good works: "Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing… and your Father who sees in secret will reward you" (Mt 6:3-4). It also entails a loving awareness that we are not disconnected from the rest of creatures, but joined in a splendid universal communion. As believers, we do not look at the world from without but from within, conscious of the bonds with which the Father has linked us to all beings.