+ “In medias res” is the Latin phrase that describes a technique or method of writing that “drops you into the midst of the plot.”
In other words, you do not get any background story or explanation or “lead up”; you are just “in it.”
For example: The scene opens after a murder has taken place.
There is the body. Who is it? Who did it? Why did it happen? These are all questions that hopefully will be told and solved as the story goes on.
+ Today, the letter to the Hebrews opens “in medias res,” and we hear who Jesus the Christ is, why he came to us, what his purpose was, how it was fulfilled, where he is now, and what all those angels around him are doing.
Praise! Praise! And more praise!
+ Then the Gospelgives us another “in medias res.” This is also first chapter stuff.
After the first line of the Gospel states: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God” (you cannot get much more “in medias res” than that), Mark then introduces us to John the Baptist, who by Verse 8 explains how his baptism with water differs from the baptism that Jesus will perform with not water but the Holy Spirit.
By Verse 11, Jesus has been baptized by John, and the Father has proclaimed the former his beloved Son.
By Verse 13, Jesus has been led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted.
By Verse 14, John has been arrested, and Jesus begins his ministry preaching that the kingdom of God is “at hand.”
Let the repentance begin!
Within 14 verses we have a “full blown” Christ in our midst preaching the kingdom of God.
+ What if someone were to write the story of our lives, beginning with right now — “in medias res”?
What would they say? How would they begin? How would they describe the quality of our faith?
What we were thinking? What we were saying? What we were doing?
“In medias res” is pretty cool and pretty correct and smart to describe our faith because it is so present.
It is the now. It is really where we are at.
So, stop right there! Stop right now!
+ Where are you in your faith? How are you in your faith?
What is its meaning? What is it doing? How is it growing?
As we move from ‘in medias res’ into our living faith during this Ordinary Time in the church liturgical calendar, we get to walk with Jesus the Christ and discover the power of his Spirit calling, shaping, forming, building, and transforming our journey with God!
Father Perry D. Leiker is the 14th pastor of St. Bernard Catholic Church. Reach him at (323) 255-6142. Email Father Perry at pleiker@stbernard-church.com. Follow Father Perry on Twitter: @MrDeano76.
