"Left nothing not subject to Him" (Hebrews 2: 5-11)

In today's first reading, Hebrews 2: 5-12, St. Paul reminds us that God "left nothing not 'subject to him [Jesus]. Yet at present we do not see 'all things subject to him,' but we do see Jesus 'crowned with glory and honor' because he suffered death, he who 'for a little while' was made  'lower than the angels,' that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone."

The author of the Entrance Antiphon for today's liturgy says to us: "Upon a lofty throne  I saw a man seated, whom a host of angels adore, singing in unison: Behold, the name of whose empire is eternal."  That man is the son of man to whom God "left nothing not 'subject to  him'" and whom God "made...for a little while lower than the angels; [God] crowned him with glory and honor, subjecting all things under his feet"(Psalm 8).

It is this son of man whose "fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee" (today's Gospel, Mark 1: 21-28), following his miracles: his casting out Satan from possessed individuals, his healing of the sick and the lame, his raising the dead to life, his restoring lepers to wholeness, and his forgiveness of sins.  This son of God transformed bread and wine into His body and blood at the Last Supper before He died and continues doing so on every altar during the Catholic Mass and says to us: "Take and eat--this is my body given up for you; take and drink--this is my blood poured out for you"  (Luke 22: 19-20). It is this son of man who died upon the cross,  rose again, and ascended into heaven, from whence He sends the Holy Spirit as our Advocate throughout our life here on earth. It is that Spirit who opens our minds and hearts to all that Jesus taught in the Gospels, who transforms us into the person God intends us to be and cleanses us from all of our sins in the sacraments of the Catholic Church!

The Risen Jesus never leaves us and brings to completion what God has begun in us in our baptisms! At the end of our lives, it is Jesus who comes back to us and takes us where He is, that is to the "empire [that] is eternal," where "a host of angels adore" Him, the Son of God made man!