What is this Spirit doing in you that is pleasing to the Father? How is this Spirit serving the kingdom of God through you? Are you giving this Spirit the freedom to continue Christ's ministry in the here and now?
You were baptized into this, but it's the hardships you've endured and the passions you feel that have initiated you into your own particular areas of ministry. This is why children of chronically or terminally ill parents often grow up to become doctors and nurses, why those who escape from and recover from abuses often become ministers of healing for other victims, and why workers who suffer from unjust employers often start their own businesses and create jobs where the staff is treated in the manner of Christ.
Whatever you feel passionate about, you've received this from the Passion of Christ through the Sacrament of Baptism. If you give it attention, it's renewed in the Sacrament of Communion, because the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist reunites you to his ministry. If you take it with you from church, you can change the world, just as Christ did, one day at a time.
And if you feel frustrated because you're not yet doing what you'd like to do, as long as it's something that God wants you to do, you're being prepared, not blocked. You have been chosen by the Father and he is very pleased with you!
Questions for Personal Reflection:What is the Holy Spirit doing in you that's pleasing to the Father? What will you do to give this Spirit the freedom to continue Christ's ministry in your world — in your home, your workplace, your parish, your community — wherever you live, work and play?
Questions for Community Faith Sharing:
Choose one line from Isaiah's scripture and explain how this describes your life in Christ. Take turns sharing on this until all verses have been covered.
For most of us, the Christmas season ended a couple of weeks ago. Decorations are packed away, and some of the kids' toys are already broken. We're into a new year, and trying to reconstruct a daily routine.
But liturgically, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord marks the end of the Christmas season and the transition to "Ordinary Time." Matthew's simple account of the baptism today ends with the heavenly voice introducing "my beloved Son." Recalling his coming, which we've celebrated in the Christmas season, we're invited to welcome the Beloved One into our midst once more. As a community, we will pledge ourselves—through each Sunday celebration which follows—to listen and respond to Christ's proclamation of the Good News.
You've probably heard people express the wish that the spirit of Christmas would last all through the year. Christians really are called to take that responsibility seriously. The meaning of Christmas is the central fact of our lives—we must reflect the fact that God has come to dwell with us in Jesus Christ. It can show on our faces, in our words and in what we do. If you haven't made a New Year's resolution, here's a simple one: let all that we say and do manifest that basic truth that God is with us. And, Merry Christmas, one more time!
On Epiphany, we celebrate the humble adoration of the Magi for the Christ child. The magi were Gentiles, not Jews, and their determination to meet the Jewish savior of the world says much about what the word "epiphany" means. The magi are good examples of believing in the importance of Jesus even without understanding what it would mean to them personally or to the rest of the world.
They worshiped Jesus as the Messiah before they knew how he would become king or how his kingship would change the world. As schol-ars in search of truth, they studied religious writ-ings from beyond the scope of their own culture. Then, they acted on faith in response to the Spirit of God who activated them, and it changed their lives.
Only the Spirit of God can move someone to have faith, because faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit (see 1 Corinthians Chapter 12). The word "epiphany" means discovery, a revelation that changes our lives. Epiphanies are gifts from God, given because we want them.
We can imagine how the magi's epiphany in the presence of the Christ child might have felt. Al-though they did not understand how this baby from a poor, unknown family could become king, they remembered him for the rest of their lives and listened for news from the land of Israel about Jesus. We know that they heard about his crucifixion and learned what his followers were teaching about it, for they became Christians — their relics have been venerated since very early times.
Questions for Personal Reflection:
What sign from God, like the star that the magi followed, are you waiting to see? What signs is God already showing you? These are evidence that he is working in your life. What epiphany — new understanding — is Jesus giving you about what God is doing in your life?
Questions for Community Faith Sharing:
Why is it impossible to understand everything about the ways that Jesus is the Messiah for you and for all the world? God has given you faith to believe in Jesus as the Messiah. How do you act on this faith? And how do these actions evangelize non-believers?
I sat at a computer to write this short reflection, and then someone took it—via the Internet—to edit and prepare so that it might be heard on our Web site or over the radio waves. If you wish, you could download the very text I originally typed. I still marvel at all the ways we can communicate today.
Today's feast of the Epiphany of the Lord is a feast that celebrates communication. The Gospel we read today portrays Jesus, the Word Made Flesh, revealed to the nations, as the wise men arrive to pay him homage. Whatever the historical facts behind the story, the message of faith is that God is reaching out to us, communicating to us the Word Made Flesh. That's communication that has transformed human history.
God's revelation in Jesus has a power surpassing all our modern technological "miracles," because it speaks to our hearts. Are we listening? Are we open to the Word?
Let's become modern channels of God's communication to the world in this new year, using our gifts—whatever they may be—to pass on the message of the Good News, that Love is born in our midst.
Today's Readings:
1 John 2:29--3:6
Ps 98:1, 3-6
John 1:29-34
http://www.usccb.org/nab/010308.shtml
Behold! The Eucharist is the Lamb of God!
In every Mass, we hear the presiding priest say the words of John the Baptist that are quoted in today's Gospel passage: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." Behold what? A wafer of bread? The priest isn't showing us something that's visible to our eyes. "Behold" means "Look with the vision of faith and see Jesus! He is here! Accept him! Worship him! Receive him!"
To which we reply: "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed."
With this healing, we're freed from our sins thanks to the Penitential Rite at the beginning of Mass if we're truly repentant. With this healing, we receive Jesus in all of his humanity and his divinity. With this healing, we can leave church reformed and renewed into the likeness of Jesus. We become tabernacles of his True Presence.
Is Mass that kind of experience for you? It requires full attention for what's going on in Mass — in all parts of the Mass. Jesus is present in the community song that initiates the Mass. Jesus is present in the Penitential Rite, listening for sincerity and genuine awareness of our sinfulness. Jesus is present in the Liturgy of the Word; the Word read and the Word preached, the Word broken open like bread to nourish our spiritual growth (and when the homily is poor or absent, the Holy Spirit preaches to us privately; straying thoughts are often an action of God). Jesus is also present in all the prayers of Mass.
Like John the Baptist, we can say: "I did not know him." In other words: "I saw only bread and wine, but the Holy Spirit revealed to me the presence of my beloved Savior" or "I was sinful and didn't realize the damage I had done, but the Holy Spirit gently exposed my sins and gave me help in overcoming them" or "I was wounded and did not know how to be healed, but the Holy Spirit led me to the right resources, the right counselor, the right doctor."
Today's first reading says that we are God's children now; however, what we shall be after we die in Christ has not yet been revealed. We won't know it or understand it or experience it until we die, and then "we shall be like him." We're only partially like him now, because we only partially understand him. After death, "we shall see him as he is" fully, and then we will want to be like him fully; in whatever ways we are not like him we will gladly purge from us (which is the process called purgatory).
During the Liturgy of the Eucharist, when the bread stops being bread and becomes the Body of Jesus, and the wine becomes his Blood, time disappears and we're united to our Lord who lives in eternity. Through the Eucharist, we experience a taste of heaven. We become like Jesus, and we stay like him after Mass in the ways that we imitate him.
Although St. Paul might claim credit for promoting devotion to the Holy Name because Paul wrote in Philippians that God the Father gave Christ Jesus “that name that is above every name” (see 2:9), this devotion became popular because of 12th-century Cistercian monks and nuns but especially through the preaching of St. Bernardine of Siena, a 15th-century Franciscan.
Bernardine used devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus as a way of overcoming bitter and often bloody class struggles and family rivalries or vendettas in Italian city-states. The devotion grew, partly because of Franciscan and Dominican preachers. It spread even more widely after the Jesuits began promoting it in the 16th century.
In 1530, Pope Clement V approved an Office of the Holy Name for the Franciscans. In 1721, Pope Innocent XIII extended this feast to the entire Church.
Comment:
Quote:Jesus died and rose for the sake of all people. No one can trademark or copyright Jesus' name. Jesus is the Son of God and son of Mary. Everything that exists was created in and through the Son of God (see Colossians 1:15-20). The name of Jesus is debased if any Christian uses it as justification for berating non-Christians. Jesus reminds us that because we are all related to him we are, therefore, all related to one another.
“Glorious name, gracious name, name of love and of power! Through you sins are forgiven, through you enemies are vanquished, through you the sick are freed from their illness, through you those suffering in trials are made strong and cheerful. You bring honor to those who believe, you teach those who preach, you give strength to the toiler, you sustain the weary” (St. Bernardine of Siena).
Published by Jacob Soo
Credits to American Catholic.org and Good News Ministries
Today's Readings:
Num 6:22-27
Ps 67:2-3, 5-6, 8
Gal 4:4-7
Luke 2:16-21
http://www.usccb.org/nab/010108.shtml
Reflecting on our blessings
HAPPY NEW YEAR! On this holy day, which includes an obligation to celebrate Mass because it's as important as Sunday, I pray that you will have a very Jesus-centered year in which you know the joy of his healing love and his emboldening strength that enables you to succeed as his partner in every difficulty.
Use the prayers in Mass to consecrate your new year to the protection and help of his mother Mary and to make this a year of many blessings.
In the first reading, God teaches Moses how to pass blessings onto others. The responsorial Psalm includes a request for God to bless us. Today's second reading describes the greatest blessing we've received: our adoption by God the Father. As his children, we inherit all that belongs to him. He has made available to us eternal life and every blessing under the heavens and in heaven.
Blessings come to us all the time. Every breath and each heartbeat is a blessing of life. But would you like to be amazed by your blessings, like the people in the Gospel passage who heard about what the shepherds had witnessed?
This amazement is an awe that comes from recognizing the presence of Jesus. We are blessed whenever we see, do, hear, or feel something that is Jesus or comes from Jesus or reveals him to us. That means we're even blessed in situations that feel like curses, because he is there, guiding us through it!
We have to keep our eyes on Jesus at all times. Admittedly, this is hard to do, but it's possible with decisive effort and the help of the Holy Spirit. Look past the problems: There is the victorious Jesus! Look past your own emotional reaction to the hardships: There is the peace of Christ! Look past the person who is sinning against you: There is Jesus comforting you!
Be awed by the fact that Jesus is always there and that everything good you do in this world is a good you are doing to Jesus. In hardships, we overcome evil by doing good to Jesus. In this, we become aware of the blessings of God's love and sympathy. And we'll find other blessings, too.
The next time someone fails to be good to you, stop expecting it from them and look for Jesus himself to give you what you need. As you improve at recognizing him, you'll become aware of his blessings even during the heat of the trial.
In every situation, always keep your eyes on Jesus to see his hand reaching toward you, blessing you.
Let us learn from Mary. She observed everything that happened and reflected on it to see what God would do. When Mary looked at the shepherds, did she see scruffy, stinky, unkempt strangers barging in? Of course not. Look at them through her eyes. How many blessings do you see? May your New Year be full of the awareness of your own blessings.
Remember the motto:
Keep your eyes on Jesus!
===================================================================
Some theologians also insist that Mary’s motherhood of Jesus is an important element in God’s creative plan. God’s “first” thought in creating was Jesus. Jesus, the incarnate Word, is the one who could give God perfect love and worship on behalf of all creation. As Jesus was “first” in God’s mind, Mary was “second” insofar as she was chosen from all eternity to be his mother.
The precise title “Mother of God” goes back at least to the third or fourth century. In the Greek form Theotokos (God-bearer), it became the touchstone of the Church’s teaching about the Incarnation. The Council of Ephesus in 431 insisted that the holy Fathers were right in calling the holy virgin Theotokos. At the end of this particular session, crowds of people marched through the street shouting: “Praised be the Theotokos!” The tradition reaches to our own day. In its chapter on Mary’s role in the Church, Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church calls Mary “Mother of God” 12 times.
Comment:
Quote:Other themes come together at today’s celebration. It is the Octave of Christmas: Our remembrance of Mary’s divine motherhood injects a further note of Christmas joy. It is a day of prayer for world peace: Mary is the mother of the Prince of Peace. It is the first day of a new year: Mary continues to bring new life to her children—who are also God’s children.
“The Blessed Virgin was eternally predestined, in conjunction with the incarnation of the divine Word, to be the Mother of God. By decree of divine Providence, she served on earth as the loving mother of the divine Redeemer, an associate of unique nobility, and the Lord’s humble handmaid. She conceived, brought forth, and nourished Christ” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 61).
