25 January 2026 (Sunday) / 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Sunday of the Word of God). Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

25 January 2026 (Sunday)

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Sunday of the Word of God).
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Isaiah 8: 23 – 9: 3
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 27: 1, 4, 13-14
Second Reading: First Corinthians 1: 10-13, 17
Alleluia: Matthew 4: 23
Gospel: Matthew 4: 12-23 or Matthew 4: 12-17

First Reading : Isaiah 8:23‐9:3

In days past the Lord humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in days to come he will confer glory on the Way of the Sea on the far side of Jordan, province of the nations. The people that walked in darkness has seen a great light; on those who live in a land of deep shadow a light has shone. You have made their gladness greater, you have made their joy increase; they rejoice in your presence as men rejoice at harvest time, as men are happy when they are dividing the spoils. For the yoke that was weighing on him, the bar across his shoulders,
the rod of his oppressor – these you break as on the day of Midian.

Responsive Psalm : Psalm 26(27):1,4,13‐14

The Lord is my light and my help.
The Lord is my light and my help;
  whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
  before whom shall I shrink?
The Lord is my light and my help.
There is one thing I ask of the Lord,
  for this I long,
to live in the house of the Lord,
  all the days of my life,
to savour the sweetness of the Lord,
  to behold his temple.
The Lord is my light and my help.
I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness
  in the land of the living.
Hope in him, hold firm and take heart.
  Hope in the Lord!
The Lord is my light and my help.

Second Reading : 1 Corinthians 1:10‐13,17

I appeal to you, brothers, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, to make up the differences between you, and instead of disagreeing among yourselves, to be united again in your belief and practice. From what Chloe’s people have been telling me, my dear brothers, it is clear that there are serious differences among you. What I mean are all these slogans that you have, like: ‘I am for Paul’, ‘I am for Apollos’, ‘I am for Cephas’, ‘I am for Christ.’ Has Christ been parcelled out? Was it Paul that was crucified for you? Were you baptised in the name of Paul?
  For Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the Good News, and not to preach that in the terms of philosophy in which the crucifixion of Christ cannot be expressed.

Alleluia: Matthew 4: 23
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
23 Jesus proclaimed the Gospel of the kingdom and cured every disease among the people.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel : Matthew 4:12‐23

Hearing that John had been arrested, Jesus went back to Galilee, and leaving Nazareth he went and settled in Capernaum, a lakeside town on the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali. In this way the prophecy of Isaiah was to be fulfilled:
‘Land of Zebulun! Land of Naphtali! Way of the sea on the far side of Jordan, Galilee of the nations! The people that lived in darkness has seen a great light; on those who dwell in the land and shadow of death a light has dawned.’ From that moment Jesus began his preaching with the message, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.’
  As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew; they were making a cast in the lake with their net, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.’ And they left their nets at once and followed him. Going on from there he saw another pair of brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John; they were in their boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. At once, leaving the boat and their father, they followed him.
  He went round the whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness among the people.

For our reflection today:

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Is 9:2). The Evangelist Saint Matthew uses this prophecy as the prologue to Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, when, from the house of Nazareth, he came to live in the city of Capernaum. Jesus starts teaching in Capernaum; and the content of his magisterium is summed up in the words: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 4:16). Indeed, to “repent” means to see “a light”! To see “a great light”! The light that comes from God. The light that is God himself. Through the Gospel, which Christ proclaims, Isaiah’s prophetic words appear: “Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined” (Is 9:1). In the darkness – a symbol of confusion, error and even death – the light suddenly shines forth, which is the Son of God himself, who has taken on human nature; he, the Word, “the true light that enlightens every man” (Jn 1:9). (Pope John Paul II, Homily of the Holy Mass in the parish of Santa Rita a Torbellamonaca, 22 January1984)

Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,
Most High Servant,
Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love (Blessed  and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)