READING and REFLECTIONS For Tuesday, January 13, 2015 First week in Ordinary Time - Psalter Week 1 (Green) Optional Memorial: St. Hilary, Bishop and Doctor Readings: Heb 2:5-12; Ps 8:2-9; Mk 1:21-28 Response: You have given your Sons rule over the works of your hands. Rosary: Sorrowful Mysteries Verse: Be quiet! Come out of him! SAINT OF THE DAY: Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Bishop and Doctor Patron against snake bites - Death: 368 They didnt know who they were. This is how Hilary summed up the problem with the Arian heretics of the fourth century. Hilary, on the other hand, knew very well who he was -- a child of a loving God who had inherited eternal life through belief in the Son of God. He hadnt been raised as a Christian but he had felt a wonder at the gift of life and a desire to find out the meaning of that gift. He first discarded the approach of many people who around him, who believed the purpose of life was only to satisfy desires. He knew he wasnt a beast grazing in a pasture. The philosophers agreed with him. Human beings should rise above desires and live a life of virtue, they said. But Hilary could see in his own heart that humans were meant for even more than living a good life. If he didnt lead a virtuous life, he would suffer from guilt and be unhappy. His soul seemed to cry out that wasnt enough to justify the enormous gift of life. So Hilary went looking for the giftgiver. He was told many things about the divine -- many that we still hear today: that there were many Gods, that God didnt exist but all creation was the result of random acts of nature, that God existed but didnt really care for his creation, that God was in creatures or images. One look in his own soul told him these images of the divine were wrong. God had to be one because no creation could be as great as God. God had to be concerned with Gods creation -- otherwise why create it? At that point, Hilary tells us, he chanced upon the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures. When he read the verse where God tells Moses I AM WHO I AM (Exodus 3:14), Hilary said, I was frankly amazed at such a clear definition of God, which expressed the incomprehensible knowledge of the divine nature in words most suited to human intelligence. In the Psalms and the Prophets he found descriptions of Gods power, concern, and beauty. For example in Psalm 139, Where shall I go from your spirit?, he found confirmation that God was everywhere and omnipotent. But still he was troubled. He knew the giftgiver now, but what was he, the recipient of the gift? Was he just created for the moment to disappear at death? It only made sense to him that Gods purpose in creation should be that what did not exist began to exist, not that what had begun to exist would cease to exist. Then he found the Gospels and read Johns words including In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God... (John 1:1-2). From John he learned of the Son of God and how Jesus had been sent to bring eternal life to those who believed. Finally his soul was at rest. No longer did it look upon the life of this body as troublesome or wearisome, but believed it to be what the alphabet is to children... namely, as the patient endurance of the present trials of life in order to gain a blissful eternity. He had found who he was in discovering God and Gods Son Jesus Christ. After becoming a Christian, he was elected bishop of Poitiers in what is now France by the laity and clergy. He was already married with one daughter named Apra. Not everyone at that time had the same idea of who they were. The Arians did not believe in the divinity of Christ and the Arians had a lot of power including the support of the emperor Constantius. This resulted in many persecutions. When Hilary refused to support their condemnation of Saint Athanasius he was exiled from Poitiers to the East in 356. The Arians couldnt have had a worse plan -- for themselves. Hilary really had known very little of the whole Arian controversy before he was banished. Perhaps he supported Athanasius simply because he didnt like their methods. But being exiled from his home and his duties gave him plenty of time to study and write. He learned everything he could about what the Arians said and what the orthodox Christians answered and then he began to write. Although in exile we shall speak through these books, and the word of God, which cannot be bound, shall move about in freedom. The writings of his that still exist include On the Trinity, a commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, and a commentary on the Psalms. He tells us about the Trinity, For one to attempt to speak of God in terms more precise than he himself has used: -- to undertake such a thing is to embark upon the boundless, to dare the incomprehensible. He fixed the names of His nature: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Whatever is sought over and above this is beyond the meaning of words, beyond the limits of perception, beyond the embrace of understanding. After three years the emperor kicked him back to Poitiers, because, we are told by Sulpicius Severus, the emperor was tired of having to deal with the troublemaker, a sower of discord an a disturber of the Orient. But no one told Hilary he had to go straight back to his home and so he took a leisurely route through Greece and Italy, preaching against the Arians as he went. In the East he had also heard the hymns used by Arians and orthodox Christians as propaganda. These hymns were not based on Scripture as Western hymns but full of beliefs about God. Back at home, Hilary started writing hymns of propaganda himself to spread the faith. His hymns are the first in the West with a known writer. Some of use may wonder at all the trouble over what may seem only words to us now. But Hilary wasnt not fighting a war of words, but a battle for the eternal life of the souls who might hear the Arians and stop believing in the Son of God, their hope of salvation. The death of Constantius in 361 ended the persecution of the orthodox Christians. Hilary died in 367 or 368 and was proclaimed a doctor of the Church in 1851. READINGS FROM THE NEW AMERICAN BIBLE: READING 1, Hebrews 2:5-12 5 It was not under angels that he put the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6 Someone witnesses to this somewhere with the words: What are human beings that you spare a thought for them, a child of Adam that you care for him? 7 For a short while you have made him less than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honour, 8 put all things under his feet. For in putting all things under him he made no exceptions. At present, it is true, we are not able to see that all things are under him, 9 but we do see Jesus, who was for a short while made less than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because he submitted to death; so that by Gods grace his experience of death should benefit all humanity. 10 It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should, in bringing many sons to glory, make perfect through suffering the leader of their salvation. 11 For consecrator and consecrated are all of the same stock; that is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers 12 in the text: I shall proclaim your name to my brothers, praise you in full assembly; or in the text: RESPONSORIAL PSALM, Psalms 8:2, 5, 6-7, 8-9 2 even through the mouths of children, or of babes in arms, you make him a fortress, firm against your foes, to subdue the enemy and the rebel. 6 made him lord of the works of your hands, put all things under his feet, 7 sheep and cattle, all of them, and even the wild beasts, 8 birds in the sky, fish in the sea, when he makes his way across the ocean. 9 Yahweh our Lord, how majestic your name throughout the world! GOSPEL, Mark 1:21-28 21 They went as far as Capernaum, and at once on the Sabbath he went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22 And his teaching made a deep impression on them because, unlike the scribes, he taught them with authority. 23 And at once in their synagogue there was a man with an unclean spirit, and he shouted, 24 What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God. 25 But Jesus rebuked it saying, Be quiet! Come out of him! 26 And the unclean spirit threw the man into convulsions and with a loud cry went out of him. 27 The people were so astonished that they started asking one another what it all meant, saying, Here is a teaching that is new, and with authority behind it: he gives orders even to unclean spirits and they obey him. 28 And his reputation at once spread everywhere, through all the surrounding Galilean countryside. REFLECTIONS: Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God) OPENING PRAYER: Father of love, hear our prayers. Help us to know your will and to do it with courage and faith. 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: Hebrews 2:5-12 (Jesus, Mans Brother, was Crowned with Glory and Honor Above the Angel) Hebrews 2, 5-9. The saving dimension of the Incarnation is being explored here with the help of quotations from Psalm 2 and other psalms. Christians should stay true to Christ, because in addition to his being the cause and beginning of salvation he has been made Lord of the universe; everything is subject to him. God the Father, in other words, has established Christ--not the angels--as Lord of the world to come. God has put everything under Christ as man. The words of Psalm 8 are quoted as applying to Christ as man, for he is the perfection of manhood, the perfect man, and he merited being crowned with glory and honor because of his obedience, humility, and passion and death (cf. Phil 2:6-11; 1 Pet 2:21-25); even death itself has become subject to him (cf. 1 Cor 15:22-28). His enemies have been made his footstool (cf. Ps 8:6; 110:1; Mt 22:44); he will channel everything back to God, and God will be all in all. Hebrews 2, 5. The world to come was a term the Jews used to refer to the period immediately following the coming of the Messiah. The rabbis distinguished three periods in the history of the world--the present world, the time when they were waiting for the Messiah; the day of the Messiah, the point at which his kingdom would be established; and the world to come, which would begin with the Resurrection of the dead and the judging of the nations. Many teachers of the Law tended to confuse the world to come in some way with the day of the Messiah, which was its initial stage. The author of the epistle seems to be saying that the government of the present world is entrusted by God to angels (cf. Deut 32:8; Dan 10: 13f), but that in the world to come that is, in the definitive Kingdom--God the Creators original plan will be implemented: Christ, true God and true man, with his glorified manhood, will be the King of Creation and the holy angels and the blessed will reign with him. The world to come, although it has begun with the Resurrection and glorification of Jesus, will not reach its fullness until the second coming of Christ and the resurrection of the dead. Until then, there exists a tension between this world and the world to come: the former has received a mortal wound but it is still alive; the latter has begun to exist but it has not yet attained its final full expression. Hebrews 2, 6. Psalm 8 is a hymn praising God for creating all things; particularly man, whom he has made master of all creation. The words of the Psalm quoted here are those which praise Gods caring love, as shown by his making man, despite his limitations, lord of Creation. However, the text of the epistle shows us that the words of the Psalm have a deeper meaning: they refer to Jesus (cf. 1 Cor 15:27; Eph 1:22) and particularly to his degradation. Although these words can be applied to every man, St. John Chrysostom comments they do however most properly apply to Christ. For the words thou hast put everything in subjection under his feet (v. 8 ) are more suitable to him than to us, for the Son of God visited us who were of no account and having taken and loved our condition, he became higher than us all (Hom. on Heb., 4). The author of Hebrews uses Psalm 8 to demonstrate Christs superiority over angels by giving it a deeply messianic interpretation. Thus, the man crowned with glory and honor is the risen Christ, now seated at the right hand of the Father; and the one to whom everything has been subjected is also the same Christ (cf. 1:13), as St. Paul proclaims in 1 Cor 15:27; Eph 1:22; Phil 3:21. Hebrews 2, 8. In keeping with its application to Christ of the words of Psalm 8: 4-6, the epistle says that God the Father has subjected everything to him. This does not mean that there is inequality or difference in power or nature between Father and Son, as if the Son himself were subject to the Father, and the Father had given him, as he would a subordinate, authority over the world. Arius argued in this way, writes St. Thomas: the Father subjected everything to the Son; therefore, the Son is less than the Father. I reply that it is true that the Father subjected everything to the Son according to his human nature, in respect of which he is less than the Father, as St. John says, the Father is greater than I (14:28). But according to his divine nature, Christ himself subjected all things to himself (Commentary on Heb., 2, 2). Christs dominion over the universe is something which men cannot see and it will not become manifest until his second coming as Lord and Judge of the living and the dead. Christ, true God and true man, lives and reigns. He is the Lord of the universe. Everything that lives is kept in existence only through him. Why, then, does he not appear to us in all his glory? Because his kingdom is not of this world (Jn 18 :36), though it is in this world. Those who expected the Messiah to have visible temporal power were mistaken. When Christ began to preach on earth he did not put forward a political program. He said, Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand (Mt 3:2; 4:17). He commissioned his disciples to proclaim this good news (cf. Lk 10:9) and he taught them to pray for the coming of the Kingdom (cf. Mt 6:10) (St. J. Escriva, Christ Is Passing By, 180). Hebrews 2, 9. The words who for a little while was made lower than the angels refer to Jesus in the crisis of his Passion and Death, when he freely humbled himself and lowered himself to suffer punishment and death -- sufferings to which angels are not subject. For a little while is a translation of the Greek word which the New Vulgate renders as paulo minus (a little less than), and which also occurs in Hebrews 2:7 in the quotation from Psalm 8. The RSV translation in both instances is for a little while. Every human creature, including Christ as man, can be seen in some sense as lower than the angels. This inferiority basically has to do with the fact that human knowledge is inferior to that of angels because it is dependent on sense experience, and also because angels cannot experience suffering and death. The angels cannot suffer and are immortal by nature, so that when Christ deigned to submit to his passion and death he made himself lower than them, not because he lost his sublimity or in any way was diminished, but because he took on our weakness. He made himself lower than the angels, not as far as his divinity or his soul were concerned but only in respect of his body (Commentary on Heb., 2, 2). Christs self-abasement is a permanent example to us to strive to respond to his love. St John Chrysostom suggests that we draw from it this practical lesson: If he whom the angels worship consented, out of love for us, to become for a time lower than them, you for your part should endure everything out of love for him (Hom. on Heb., 4). One of the results of Christs passion was his exaltation and glorification. Because Christ attained victory on the Cross, to the benefit of all mankind, the Cross is the only route to heaven: The holy cross is shining upon us, the Church says. In the cross is victory, in the cross is power. By the cross every sin is overcome (Liturgy of the Hours, Exaltation of the Cross, Morning Prayer, Ant. 3). But virtue of Christs passion, the Cross is no longer an ignominious scaffold; it is a glorious throne. Tradition attributes to St. Andrew the Apostle these words in praise of the cross on which he was going to die: O goodly Cross, glorified by the limbs of our Lord, O Cross so long desired, so ardently loved, so tirelessly sought and now offered to me: take me to my Master so that he who redeemed me through thee, may welcome me through thee (Ex Passione S. Andreae, Reading). Through his death, Christ has been crowned with glory and honor; moreover he has died on our behalf. His death and glorification are the cause and model of our salvation and glorification. Sacrifice, atonement and merit are indissolubly linked to the redemptive work of Christ and constitute a grace of God, that is, a gratuitous gift from God. St. Thomas Aquinas explains that the passion of Christ is here alluded to in three ways. Firstly, its cause is referred to, for the text says by the grace of God; then, its usefulness, when it says for every one; thirdly, its outcome, when it says might taste (Commentary on Heb., 2, 3): Jesus did indeed, by the will of the Father, experience or taste death. His death is described as being like a bitter drink which he chose to take in sips, as if savoring it. The cup or chalice of the agony in the garden comes immediately to mind (cf. Mt 26:39; Mk 14:26; Lk 22:42; In 18 :11; cf. also Mt 20:22f and Mk 10:38f). Christian tradition has seen these words about tasting death as underlining that Christ underwent a most severe passion voluntarily, accepting it to atone for all the sins of mankind. These words also show that he accepted death without ceasing to be Lord of life: This expression, St John Chrysostom states, is very precise. It does not say that by the grace of God he might die, for the Lord once he tasted death delayed there only for a moment and immediately rose. All men fear death; therefore, to enable us to take death in our stride, he tasted death even though it was not necessary for him to do so (Hom. on Heb., 4). Hebrews 2, 10. After pointing to the results of Christs death, the text stresses how appropriate it was that he should be abased in this way: he had to make himself in every way like his brethren in order to help them. God the Father, who is the beginning and end of all things, desired to bring men to glory by means of his Son. Christ was to be the author of their salvation and therefore it was fitting that he should be made perfect through suffering. The Father made his Son perfect in the sense that by becoming man and therefore being able to suffer and die, he was fully equipped to be mankinds representative. God has acted in a manner in keeping with his kindness towards us: he has clothed his first-born in a glory greater than that of all mankind and made him outstanding as a champion. Suffering is, therefore, a way to attain perfection and a source of salvation (Hom. on Heb., 4). By perfectly obeying his Father, offering his life and especially his passion and death, Christ offers a perfect and superabundant sacrifice for the forgiveness of the sins of mankind and makes full atonement to the Father. As a reward for his obedience, Christ, as man, is made Head of the Church and King of the universe. It is in that sense that he is made perfect by the Father. Ever since the Redemption, human suffering has become a way to perfection: it acts as expiation for personal sins, it spurs man to assert his spiritual and transcendental dimension, it makes for solidarity with others and links man to Christs sacrifice. Suffering must serve for conversion, that is, for the rebuilding of goodness in the subject, who can recognize the divine mercy in this call to repentance. But in order to perceive the true answer to the why of suffering, we must look to the revelation of divine love, the ultimate source of the meaning of everything that exists. Christ causes us to enter into the mystery and to discover the why of suffering, as far as we are capable of grasping the sublimity of divine love (John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 12-13). Hebrews 2, 11. To accomplish the salvation of men Christ needed to be one of them --to share, with them, a human nature. This is why Christ is the only true sanctifier, that is, the priest who performs rites and sacrifices, taking things stained by sin and making them pure and pleasing to God, that is, holy. Our Lord said something similar in the Gospel: For their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth (In 17:19). Have all one origin. Various interpretations have been given to these words. Most have to do with the parallelism between the first man and Christ (cf. Acts 17:26; Rom 5:15-19), seeing this origin as Adam--in which case the text would mean that Christ and other men are children of Adam. A more usual interpretation sees the one origin as being God, thus stressing that Christs holy humanity and the humanity of men both stem from the one Creator and derive from the first man. In either case, Christ and the rest of men can rightly be called brethren. As to his divine generation he has no brethren or co-heirs, the only-begotten Son of the Father, while we mortals are the work of his hands. But if we consider his birth as man, he not only calls many by the name of brethren, but treats them as such, since he admits them to share with him the glory of his paternal inheritance (St. Pius V Catechism, I, 3, 10). Hebrews 2, 12. Psalm 22, which begins with the words, My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?, speaks of the sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah, as perfect Servant of Yahweh. Christ prayed this psalm on the Cross, applying it to himself and thereby revealing it to be a prophecy of his passion (cf. Mt 27:35, 46; Mk 15:34). For this reason it is a psalm which is highly revered and much used by Christian tradition. It had a special place in divine services in the synagogue and is used by the Church in the liturgical ceremonies of Holy Thursday and Good Friday. The Servant of Yahweh, after being freed by God from the suffering and abuse inflicted on him, expresses his gratitude to his liberator. That is why he wishes to proclaim, that is, extol the name of Yahweh before the faithful who meet in the congregation and whom he calls brethren. The evangelists see this psalm as being fulfilled in our Lords passion (cf. Mt 27:35 and In 19:23-24 compared with Ps 22:18 ). But in Hebrews 2:12 other words of the same Psalm (Ps 22:23) are applied not so much to our Lords passion as to Christs revelation of the Father: he proclaims the name of the true God, that is, his inner life, his mercy and power. This passage of Hebrews echoes the words of Jesus in John 17:6, 26: I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world; thine they are, and thou gavest them to me, and they have kept thy word. I have made known to them thy name, and I will make it known, that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. ON THE GOSPEL: Mark 1:21-28 (Jesus in the Synagogue of Capernaum) Sequence of the Gospels of the days of this week. Yesterday’s Gospel informed us concerning the first activity of Jesus: he called four persons to form the community with them (Mk 1, 16-10). Today’s Gospel describes the admiration of people before the teaching of Jesus (Mt 1, 21-22) and the first miracle when he expels the devil (Mk 1, 23-28). The Gospel of tomorrow narrates the cure of Peter’s mother-in-law (Mk 1, 29-31), the healing of many sick persons (Mk 1, 32-34) and the prayer of Jesus in an isolated place (Mk 1, 35-39). Mark gathers all these episodes which had been transmitted orally in the communities and he joins them together like bricks of one only wall. In the years 70’s, the year in which he writes, the Communities needed orientation. By describing how Jesus began his activity, Mark indicates what they should do and how, to announce the Good News. Mark gives them a catechesis, by telling the Communities the events of the life of Jesus. Jesus teaches with authority, differently from the way the Scribes do it. The first thing that the people perceive is the diverse way in which Jesus teaches. It is not so much the content, but rather the way in which he teaches that impresses the people. For this reason, by his different way, Jesus creates a critical conscience in people concerning the religious authority of that time. The people perceive, they compare and says: He teaches with authority, in a way different from the way the Scribes do it. The Scribes of that time taught quoting the authority. Jesus does not quote any authority, but he speaks beginning with his experience of God and of his life. His word is rooted in the heart. You have come to destroy us! In Mark, the first miracle is the expulsion of the devil. Jesus struggles and expels the power of evil which takes possession of persons and alienated them from themselves. The man possessed by the devil shouts: “I know who you are: You are the Holy One of God!” The man repeated the official teaching which presented the Messiah as the “Holy One of God”, that is as a High Priest, or like a King, Judge, Doctor or General. Even today also, many people live alienated from themselves, deceived by the power of mass media, means of communication, by propaganda of business. They repeat what they hear others say. They live as slaves of consumerism, oppressed by the power of money, threatened by debtors. Many think that their life is not as it should be if they cannot buy what the propaganda announces and recommends. Jesus rebuked the evil spirit: “Be quiet! Come out of him!” The spirit threw the man into convulsions, and with a loud cry went out of him. Jesus restores the person to himself. He gives him back his conscience and his liberty. He makes the person recover his complete judgment (cf. Mk 5, 15). Then it was not easy, it was not easy yesterday, it is not easy today to do in such a way that a person begins to think and to act in a way diverse from the official ideology. A new teaching! He commands even the evil spirits. The first two signs of the Good News are these: his different way of teaching the things of God, and his power over evil spirits. Jesus opens a new road in order that people can attain purity. At that time, a person who was declared impure could not present himself/herself before God to pray and to receive the blessing promised by God to Abraham. He/she should first purify himself/herself. These and many other laws and norms made the life of people very difficult and marginalized many persons who were considered impure, far from God. Now, purified by the contact with Jesus, persons could present themselves before God. This was for them a great Good News! Mark 1, 21. Synagogue means meeting, assembly, community. It was -- and is -- used by the Jews to describe the place where they met to hear the Scriptures read, and to pray. Synagogues seem to have originated in the social gatherings of the Jews during their exile in Babylon, but this phenomenon did not spread until much later. In our Lords time there were synagogues, in Palestine, in every city and town of any importance; and, outside Palestine, wherever the Jewish community was large enough. The synagogue consisted mainly of a rectangular room built in such a way that those attending were facing Jerusalem when seated. There was a rostrum or pulpit from which Sacred Scripture was read and explained. Mark 1, 22. Here we can see how Jesus showed His authority to teach. Even when He took Scripture as His basis -- as in the Sermon on the Mount -- He was different from other teachers, for He spoke in His own name: But I say to you (Matthew 7:28-29). Our Lord speaks about the mysteries of God, and about human relationships; He teaches in a simple and authoritative way because He speaks of what He knows and testifies to what He has seen (John 3:11). The scribes also taught the people, St. Bede comments, about what is written in Moses and the prophets; but Jesus preached to them as God and Lord of Moses himself (St. Bede, In Marci Evangelium Expositio). Moreover, first He does and then He preaches (Acts 1:1)--not like the scribes who teach and do not do (Matthew 23:1-5). Mark 1, 23-26. The Gospels give us many accounts of miraculous cures, among the most outstanding of which are those of people possessed by the devil. Victory over the unclean spirit, as the devil is usually described, is a clear sign that Gods salvation has come: by overcoming the Evil One, Jesus shows that He is the Messiah, the Savior, more powerful than the demons: Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out (John 12:31). Throughout the Gospel we see many accounts of this continuous and successful struggle of our Lord against the devil. As time goes on the devils opposition to Jesus becomes ever clearer; in the wilderness it is hidden and subtle; it is noticeable and violent in the case of possessed people; and radical and total during the Passion, the devils hour and the power of darkness (Luke 22:53). And Jesus victory also becomes ever clearer, until He triumphs completely by rising from the dead. The devil is called unclean, St. John Chrysostom says, because of his impiety and withdrawal from God. In some ways he does recognize Christs holiness, but this knowledge is not accompanied by charity. In addition to the historical fact of this cure, we can also see, in this possessed man, those sinners who must be converted to God and freed from the slavery to sin and the devil. They may have to struggle for a long time but victory will come: the Evil One is powerless against Christ (cf. note on Matthew 12:22-24). Mark 1, 27. The same authority that Jesus showed in His teaching (1:22) is now to be seen in His actions. His will is His command: He has no need of long prayers or incantations. Jesus words and actions already have a divine power which provokes wonder and fear in those who hear and see Him. Jesus continues to impress people in this way (Mark 2:12; 5:20-42; 7:37; 15:39; Luke 19:48 ; John 7:46). Jesus of Nazareth is the long-awaited Savior. He knows this Himself and He lets it be known by His actions and by His words; according to the gospel accounts (Mark 1:38-39; 2:10-11; 4:39) there is complete continuity and consistency between what He says and He does. As Vatican II teaches (Dei Verbum, 2) Revelation is realized by deeds and words intimately connected with each other: the words proclaim the deeds and clarify the mystery contained in them; the deeds confirm the teaching. In this way Jesus progressively reveals the mystery of His Person: first the people sense His exceptional authority; later on, the Apostles, enlightened by Gods grace, recognize the deepest source of this authority: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16). FINAL PRAYERS: Yahweh our Lord, how majestic is your name throughout the world! What are human beings that you spare a thought for them, or the child of Adam that you care for him? (Ps 8,1.4) Dear Jesus, may all that I do be done with your inspiration. Guide me in all that I do, in all that I say, in all that I feel; hold me in your presence and never let me be apart from you. 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: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 20:23:52 +0000
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