READING and REFLECTIONS For Saturday, January 03, 2015 Saturday Before Epiphany - Psalter Proper (White) Memorial : The Most Holy Name of Jesus Readings: 1 Jn 2:29-3:6; Jn 1:29-34 Response: All the ends of the earth has seen the glory of God. Rosary: Joyful Mysteries Verse: I have seen and I testify that he is the Chosen One of God. SAINT OF THE DAY: Saint Genevieve Patron of Paris Birth: 422 - Death: 512 St. Genevieve was born about the year 422, at Nanterre near Paris. She was seven years old when St. Germain of Auxerre came to her native village on his way to great Britain to combat the heresy of Pelagius. The child stood in the midst of a crowd gathered around the man of God, who singled her out and foretold her future sanctity. At her desire the holy Bishop led her to a church, accompanied by all the faithful, and consecrated her to God as a virgin. When Attila was reported to be marching on Paris, the inhabitants of the city prepared to evacuate, but St. Genevieve persuaded them to avert the scourge by fasting and prayer, assuring them of the protection of Heaven. The event verified the prediction, for the barbarian suddenly changed the course of his march. The life of St. Genevieve was one of great austerity, constant prayer, and works of charity. She died in the year 512. Her feast day is January 3rd. She dressed in a long flowing gown with a mantle covering her shoulders, similar to the type of garments the Blessed Mother wore. One of the symbols of this saint is a loaf of bread because she was so generous to those in need. READINGS FROM THE NEW AMERICAN BIBLE: READING 1, First John 2:29--3:6 29 If you know that he is upright you must recognise that everyone whose life is upright is a child of his. 1 You must see what great love the Father has lavished on us by letting us be called Gods children -- which is what we are! The reason why the world does not acknowledge us is that it did not acknowledge him. 2 My dear friends, we are already Gods children, but what we shall be in the future has not yet been revealed. We are well aware that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is. 3 Whoever treasures this hope of him purifies himself, to be as pure as he is. 4 Whoever sins, acts wickedly, because all sin is wickedness. 5 Now you are well aware that he has appeared in order to take sins away, and that in him there is no sin. 6 No one who remains in him sins, and whoever sins has neither seen him nor recognised him. RESPONSORIAL PSALM, Psalms 98:1, 3-4, 5-6 1 [Psalm] Sing a new song to Yahweh, for he has performed wonders, his saving power is in his right hand and his holy arm. 2 Yahweh has made known his saving power, revealed his saving justice for the nations to see, 3 mindful of his faithful love and his constancy to the House of Israel. The whole wide world has seen the saving power of our God. 4 Acclaim Yahweh, all the earth, burst into shouts of joy! 5 Play to Yahweh on the harp, to the sound of instruments; 6 to the sound of trumpet and horn, acclaim the presence of the King. GOSPEL, John 1:29-34 29 The next day, he saw Jesus coming towards him and said, Look, there is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. 30 It was of him that I said, Behind me comes one who has passed ahead of me because he existed before me. 31 I did not know him myself, and yet my purpose in coming to baptise with water was so that he might be revealed to Israel. 32 And John declared, I saw the Spirit come down on him like a dove from heaven and rest on him. 33 I did not know him myself, but he who sent me to baptise with water had said to me, The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and rest is the one who is to baptise with the Holy Spirit. 34 I have seen and I testify that he is the Chosen One of God. REFLECTIONS: Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God) OPENING PRAYER: Father, you make known the salvation of mankind at the birth of your Son. Make us strong in faith and bring us to the glory you promise. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. ON READING 1: John 2:29--3:6 (Not Listening to Heretics - Continued, We are children of God, A Child of God Does Not Sin) John 2, 1-24. This entire chapter shows how moved the Apostle is when he contemplates the marvelous gift of divine filiation. The Holy Spirit, who is the author of all Sacred Scripture, has desired John to pass on to us this unique revelation: we are children of God (v. 1). It is not easy to divide the chapter into sections, because the style is very cyclic and colloquial and includes many repetitions and further thoughts which make for great vividness and freshness. However, we can distinguish an opening proclama- tion of the central message (vv. 1-2) and emphasis on two requirements of divine filiation -- rejection of sin in any shape or form (vv. 3-10), and brotherly love lived to the full (vv. 11-24). John 2, 1. We should be called children of God: the original Hebrew expression, which reads we are called..., is also used by our Lord in the Beatitudes (cf. Mt 5:9): to be called means the same as to be called by God; and in the language of the Bible, when God gives someone a name he is not simply conferring a title but is causing the thing that the name indicates (cf., e.g., Gen 17:5), for the word of God is efficacious, it does what it says it will do. Hence St Johns adding: and so we are. Therefore, it is not just a matter of a metaphorical title, or a legal fiction, or adoption human-style: divine filiation is an essential feature of a Christians life, a marvelous fact whereby God gratuitously gives men a strictly supernatural dignity, an intimacy with God whereby they are domestici Dei, members of the household of God (Eph 219). This explains the tone of amazement and joy with which St. John passes on this revelation. This sense of divine filiation is one of the central points in the spirituality of Opus Dei. Its founder wrote: We do not exist in order to pursue just any happiness. We have been called to penetrate the intimacy of Gods own life, to know and love God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and to love also -- in that same love of the one God in three divine Persons--the angels and all men. This is the great boldness of the Christian faith--to proclaim the value and dignity of human nature and to affirm that we have been created to obtain the dignity of children of God, through the grace that raises us up to a supernatural level. An incredible boldness it would be, were it not founded on the promise of salvation given us by God the Father, confirmed by the blood of Christ, and reaffirmed and made possible by the constant action of the Holy Spirit (Christ Is Passing By, 133). The world does not know us, (because) it did not know him: these words are =eminiscent of our Lords at the Last Supper: the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do this because they have not known the Father, nor me (Jn 16:2-3). Divine filiation brings with it communion and a mysterious identification between Christ and the Christian. John 2, 2. The indescribable gift of divine filiation, which the world does not know (v. 1), is not fully experienced by Christians, because the seeds of divine life which it contains will only reach their full growth in eternal life, when we see him as he is, face to face (1 Cor 13:12); this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent (Jn 17:3). In that direct sight of God as he is, and of all things in God, the life of grace and divine filiation achieve their full growth. Man is not naturally able to see God face to face; he needs to be enlightened by a special light, which is given the technical theological name of lumen gloriae, light of glory. This does not allow him to take in all God (no created thing could do that), but it does allow him to look at God directly. Commenting on this verse, the St Pius V Catechism explains that beatitude consists of two things--that we shall behold God such as he is in his own nature and substance; and that we ourselves shall become, as it were, gods. For those who enjoy God while they retain their own nature, assume a certain admirable and almost divine form, so as to seem gods rather than men (I, 13, 7). When he appears: two interpretations are possible, given that in Greek the verb has no subject: when (what we shall be) is revealed we shall be as he is; or, as the New Vulgate translates it, when he (Christ) is revealed we will be ike him (Christ). The second interpretation is the more likely. John 2, 3. Purifies himself: Christian hope, which is grounded on Christ, is something active and it moves the Christian to purify himself. This verb is evocative of the ritual purifications required of priests in the Old Testament prior to engaging in divine service (cf. Ex 19:10; Num 8 :21; Acts 21:24); here and in other places in the New Testament, it means interior purification from sins, that is, righteousness, holiness (1 Pet 1:22; Jas 4:8 ). Our model is Jesus Christ, as he is pure; he is the One who has never had sin, the Righteous One (1 Jn 2:29; 3:7); a Christian has no other model of holiness, as Jesus himself said: Learn from me (Mt 11:29; cf. Jn 14:6). We have to learn from him, from Jesus, who is our only model. If you want to go forward without stumbling or wandering off the path, then all you have to do is walk the road he walked placing your feet in his footprints and entering into his humble and patient Heart, there to drink from the wellsprings of his commandments and of his love. In a word, you must identify yourself with Jesus Christ and try to become really and truly another Christ among your fellow men (St. J. Escriva, Friends of God, 128 ). John 2, 4-5. Sin is lawlessness: although this is not strictly speaking a definition, it does convey a basic idea: every sin is more than a transgression of a precept of the moral law; it is above all, an offense against God, the author of that law, a despising and a rejection of his will. To understand the scope of this assertion, one needs to start from the fact that man has been created by God and is ever-dependent on him. So, every sin involves a pretentious desire to be like God (cf. Gen 3:5), to build ones life without reference to, or even in opposition to, God. Everyone who sins severs his allegiance to God and takes the devils side. In this the mystery and lawlessness of sin consists. This expression, Bl. John Paul II explains, which echoes what St. Paul writes concerning the mystery of evil (cf. 2 Thess 2:7), helps us to grasp the obscure and intangible element hidden in sin. Clearly, sin is a product of mans freedom. But deep within its human reality there are factors at work which place it beyond the merely human, in the border-area where mans conscience, will and sensitivity are in contact with the dark forces which, according to St. Paul, are active in the world almost to the point of ruling it (cf. Rom 7:7-24; Eph 2:2; 6:12) (Reconciliatio et Paenitentiae, 14). Moreover, now that Christ has brought about our Redemption, every sin implies an offense to our Redeemer; it means crucifying again the Son of God (cf. Heb 6:6). So, St John reminds us about the main purpose of the Incarnation: he appeared to take away sins (v. 5). There is an echo here of the words the Apostle heard the Baptist say: Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world! (Jn 1:29). Thus, as we profess in the Creed at Mass, for us men and for our salvation he (the Word) came down from heaven. Being true God and therefore completely exempt from sin (v. 5), he took on our human nature, to burden himself with our sins and nail them to the Cross. Therefore, the Christian, ransomed from the power of the devil by the precious blood of Christ, and intimately united to him by the life of grace, has broken with sin once for all. ON THE GOSPEL: John 1:29-34 (The Witness of John - Continued) In the Gospel of John, history and the symbol join together. In today’s text, the symbolism consists above all in recalling texts of the Old Testament which we know and which reveal something concerning the identity of Jesus of Nazareth. In these few verses (Jn 1, 29-34) we find the following expressions which contain a symbolical density or depth: 1) Lamb of God; 2) Who takes away the sins of the world; 3) He existed before me; 4) The descent of the Spirit in the form of a dove; 5) Son of God. Lamb of God. This title recalls, brings to mind, the Exodus. The night of the first Passover. The blood of the Paschal Lamb, with which the doors of the houses were signed, was for the people a sign of liberation (Ex 12, 13-14). For the first Christians Jesus is the new Paschal Lamb who liberates his people (1 Co 5, 7; 1 P 1, 19; Rev 5, 6.9). For the first time in the Gospel Christ is called the Lamb of God. Isaiah had compared the sufferings of the Servant of Yahweh, the Messiah, with the sacrifice of a lamb (cf. Isaiah 53:7); and the blood of the paschal lamb smeared on the door of houses had served to protect the firstborn of the Israelites in Egypt (cf. Exodus 12:6-7): all this was a promise and prefiguring of the true Lamb, Christ, the victim in the sacrifice of Calvary on behalf of all mankind. This is why St. Paul will say that Christ, our Paschal Lamb, has been sacrificed (1 Corinthians 5:7). The expression Lamb of God also suggests the spotless innocence of the Redeemer (cf. 1 Peter 1:18-20; 1 John 3:5). The sacred text says the sin of the world, in the singular, to make it absolutely clear that every kind of sin is taken away: Christ came to free us from Original Sin, which in Adam affected all men, and from all personal sins. The Book of Revelation reveals to us that Jesus is victorious and glorious in Heaven as the slain lamb (cf. Revelation 5:6-14), surrounded by saints, martyrs and virgins (Revelation 7:9, 14; 14:1-5), who render Him the praise and glory due Him as God (Revelation 7:10). Since Holy Communion is a sharing in the sacrifice of Christ, priests say these words of the Baptist before administering it, to encourage the faithful to be grate ful to our Lord for giving Himself up to death to save us and for giving Himself to us as nourishment for our souls. ho takes away the sins of the World. This recalls a very beautiful phrase of the prophecy of Jeremiah: “There will be no further need for everyone to teach neighbour or brother: “You will know the Lord, they will all know me, from the least to the greatest, says the Lord; since I shall forgive their guilt and never more call their sin to mind” (Jer 31, 34). He existed before me. This recalls several texts of the Books of Wisdom, in which it is spoken about God’s Wisdom which existed before all the other creatures and which was with God, like a master of the works in the creation of the Universe and that, at the end, fixed her dwelling among the people of God (Pro 8, 22-31; Eccl 24, 1-11). The descent of the Spirit in the form of a dove. It recalls the creative action where it is said that the “Spirit of God sweeping over the waters” (Gen 1, 2). The text of Genesis suggests the image of a bird which flies over its nest. An image of the new creation in movement thanks to the action of Jesus. Son of God; this is the title which summarizes all the others. The best comment of this title is the explanation of Jesus himself: “The Jews answered him: ‘We are stoning you not for doing a good work, but for blasphemy: though you are only a man, you claim to be God”. Jesus answered: “Is it not written in your Law: I said: you are gods? So it uses the word ‘gods’ of those people to whom the word of God was addressed (and Scripture cannot be set aside), Yet to someone whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world you say, ‘You are blaspheming’ because I said, ‘I am Son of God’? If I am not doing my Father’s work there is no need to believe me, but if I am doing it, then even if you refuse to believe in me, at least believe in the work I do; then you will know for certain that the Father is in me and I am in the Father” (Jn 10, 33-38 ). The sacred text says the sin of the world, in the singular, to make it absolutely clear that every kind of sin is taken away: Christ came to free us from Original Sin, which in Adam affected all men, and from all personal sins. The Book of Revelation reveals to us that Jesus is victorious and glorious in Heaven as the slain lamb (cf. Revelation 5:6-14), surrounded by saints, martyrs and virgins (Revelation 7:9, 14; 14:1-5), who render Him the praise and glory due Him as God (Revelation 7:10). Since Holy Communion is a sharing in the sacrifice of Christ, priests say these words of the Baptist before administering it, to encourage the faithful to be grate ful to our Lord for giving Himself up to death to save us and for giving Himself to us as nourishment for our souls.The sacred text says the sin of the world, in the singular, to make it absolutely clear that every kind of sin is taken away: Christ came to free us from Original Sin, which in Adam affected all men, and from all personal sins. The Book of Revelation reveals to us that Jesus is victorious and glorious in Heaven as the slain lamb (cf. Revelation 5:6-14), surrounded by saints, martyrs and virgins (Revelation 7:9, 14; 14:1-5), who render Him the praise and glory due Him as God (Revelation 7:10). Since Holy Communion is a sharing in the sacrifice of Christ, priests say these words of the Baptist before administering it, to encourage the faithful to be grate ful to our Lord for giving Himself up to death to save us and for giving Himself to us as nourishment for our souls.30-31. John the Baptist here asserts Jesus superiority by saying that He existed before him, even though He was born after him. Thereby he shows us the divinity of Christ, who was generated by the Father from all eternity and born of the Virgin Mary in time. It is as if the Baptist were saying: Although I was born before Him, He is not limited by the ties of His birth; for although He is born of His mother in time, He was generated by His Father outside of time (St. Gregory the Great, In Evangelia Homiliae, VII). By saying what he says in verse 31, the Precursor does not mean to deny his ersonal knowledge of Jesus (cf. Luke 1:36 and Matthew 3:14), but to make it plain that God revealed to him the moment when he should publicly proclaim Jesus as Messiah and Son of God, and that he also understood that his own mission as precursor had no other purpose than to bear witness to Jesus Christ. 32-34. To emphasize the divinity of Jesus Christ, the Evangelist includes here the Precursors testimony regarding Jesus Baptism (cf. the other Gospels, which describe in more detail what happened on this occasion: Matthew 3:13-17 and paragraph). It is one of the key points in our Lords life, in which the mystery of the Blessed Trinity is revealed (cf. note on Matthew 3:16). The dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, of whom it is said in Genesis 1:2 that He was moving over the face of the waters. Through this sign of the dove, the Isaiah prophecies (11:2-5: 42:1-2) are fulfilled which say that the Messiah will be full of the power of the Holy Spirit. The Baptist points to the great difference between the baptism he confers and Christs Baptism; in John 3, Jesus will speak about this new Baptism in water and in the Spirit (cf. Acts 1:5; Titus 3:5). The Son of God: it should be pointed out that in the original text this expression carries the definite article, which means that John the Baptist confesses before his listeners the supernatural and transcendent character of Christs messiahship -- very far removed from the politico-religious notion which Jewish leaders had forged. To the just person God gives the gift of recognizing the action of the Holy Spirit. This is the gift of discernment. It is all about being able to see with clarity what God is doing in my life, to hear with distinctiveness what God is saying, to understand with greater fullness what God might be inviting me to, in order that I may be able to repond to this God in the choices that I make everyday in my life. When we recognize God in our life, we are able to recognize as well what seperates us from God, such as our sinful tendencies that prevent us from seeing and recognizing Gods presence in our daily lives. Only a life of prayer can awaken our faith to see, hear and know Gods call, in the same way that John the Baptist, through his life of prayer and attentiveness to the Spirit, discerned and recognized Jesus as the Chosen One of God, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. God desires always to give us his gift of discernment so that we may come to recognize the presence of Jesus in our every day life. FINAL PRAYERS: Sing a new song to Yahweh, for he has performed wonders, his saving power is in his right hand and his holy arm. (Ps 98,1) Lord, now you let your servant go in peace. Your word has been fulfilled. My own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people. A light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel. Amen. It is by God’s mercy that we are saved. May we never tire of spreading this joyful message to the world. -- Pope Francis Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. -- St. Jerome The Father uttered one Word; that Word is His Son, and He utters Him forever in everlasting silence; and in silence the soul has to hear it. -- St. John of the Cross
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 01:15:21 +0000
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