Sunday
January 5th

Epiphany
St. John Neuman

1st Reading: Is 60:1-6:
Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you. See, darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds cover the peoples; but upon you the LORD shines, and over you appears his glory. Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance. Raise your eyes and look about; they all gather and come to you: your sons come from afar, and your daughters in the arms of their nurses. Then you shall be radiant at what you see, your heart shall throb and overflow, for the riches of the sea shall be emptied out before you, the wealth of nations shall be brought to you. Caravans of camels shall fill you, dromedaries from Midian and Ephah; all from Sheba shall come bearing gold and frankincense, and proclaiming the praises of the LORD.

2nd Reading: Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6:
Brothers and sisters: You have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for your benefit, namely, that the mystery was made known to me by revelation. It was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Gospel: Mt 2:1-12:
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it has been written through the prophet: And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; since from you shall come a ruler, who is to shepherd my people Israel.” Then Herod called the magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage.” After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.

Reflection:
For most people, history is just a series of events happening in time and space, events which follow each other with no apparent direction or purpose. But Christians read history in a far different manner. They read history as God’s story. And they interpret history as God’s slow and patient bringing together of all his human children under the headship of his Son. This is how it works, At the beginning of time you have isolated clans and tribes, more or less in conflict. Then you have these combined into villages and towns and cities. Then you see cities wanting to form kingdoms.

Then you see kingdoms forming empires. Then you see continents exploring other continents and engaging in trade and commerce. In all this vast movement of world unification, today’s feast marks a decisive step when the pagan world (represented by the Magi) joined the Chosen People to form one Christ People. God’s plan continues apace: to bring all his children under the gentle kingship of his Son Jesus. Each one of us can hasten or delay this magnificent saga by our free choices. What will we decide to do? Hold back or run with God?

Monday
January 6^th

St. André Bessette

1st Reading: 1 Jn 3:22–4:6:
Beloved:
We receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And his commandment is this: we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us. Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them, and the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit whom he gave us.

Beloved, do not trust every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they belong to God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can know the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh belongs to God, and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus does not belong to God. This is the spirit of the antichrist who, as you heard, is to come, but in fact is already in the world. You belong to God, children, and you have conquered them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They belong to the world; accordingly, their teaching belongs to the world, and the world listens to them. We belong to God, and anyone who knows God listens to us, while anyone who does not belong to God refuses to hear us. This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.

Gospel: Mt 4:12-17, 23-25:
When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled:

Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen.

From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people. His fame spread to all of Syria, and they brought to him all who were sick with various diseases and racked with pain, those who were possessed, lunatics, and paralytics, and he cured them. And great crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan followed him.

Reflection:
The arrest of John the Baptist marks a significant turn in the gospel “plot.” For Jesus, this marks the signal to begin his own ministry, while also foreshadowing the ultimate price he will pay. Understandably, he is moved to withdraw “into Galilee,” perhaps to discern his next steps. Those who arrested John had hoped they were silencing his proclamation. But they soon learn their mistake, when Jesus steps forward to repeat the very words from John’s lips: “Change your ways: the kingdom of heaven is near.”

But if there is continuity with John’s mission, there is also something new. If John delivered a message of coming judgment, Jesus’ proclamation is tempered by works of mercy and compassion: not only the sick, but “the possessed, the deranged, the paralyzed” are healed. In “curing all kinds of sickness and disease” Jesus is advancing far beyond John’s message; the “kingdom of heaven” is not simply “near” but is actually breaking forth in Jesus’ words and deeds.

Tuesday
January 7^th

St. Raymond of Peñafort

1st Reading: 1 Jn 4:7-10:
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only-begotten Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.

Gospel: Mk 6:34-44:
When Jesus saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. By now it was already late and his disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already very late. Dismiss them so that they can go to the surrounding farms and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” He said to them in reply, “Give them some food yourselves.” But they said to him, “Are we to buy two hundred days’ wages worth of food and give it to them to eat?”

He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out they said, “Five loaves and two fish.” So he gave orders to have them sit down in groups on the green grass. The people took their places in rows by hundreds and by fifties. Then, taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; he also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied. And they picked up twelve wicker baskets full of fragments and what was left of the fish. Those who ate of the loaves were five thousand men.

Reflection:
The apostle John tells us in today’s first reading: “Everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.” Now the verb “to know” has a very strong meaning in biblical Hebrew. For example, when a man has sexual intercourse with his wife, he is said to “know” her (v.g. Gen 4:1; 17:25; Nb 31:18, 35; Jdg 21:12; etc.). In other words, to “know” is synonymous with: to experience in depth. It is not, like in Western philosophy, a merely intellectual process. It is an activity which involves the whole person.

Now, because of this, sincere atheists who are ready to sacrifice themselves for other people’s welfare, despite their intellectual denial of God’s existence (often based on inadequate notions about God), are actually very much attuned to God, because the very nature of God is to love, as John tells us (“God is love“), and such atheists truly love.

Thus we have such cases as that of Nelson Mandela (died in 2013), who spent 27 years in jail for his political convictions and emerged from there a most loving person who rid his country, South Africa, of the scourge of apartheid (racial segregation)— and yet was a communist to his dying day. True, his mind denied God, but he “knew” God at the very core of his being. And that is what ultimately matters.

Wednesday
January 8th

1st Reading: 1 Jn 4:11-18:
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us. This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us of his Spirit. Moreover, we have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world.

Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. In this is love brought to perfection among us, that we have confidence on the day of judgment because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love.

Gospel: Mk 6:45-52:
After the five thousand had eaten and were satisfied, Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and precede him to the other side toward Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. And when he had taken leave of them, he went off to the mountain to pray. When it was evening, the boat was far out on the sea and he was alone on shore. Then he saw that they were tossed about while rowing, for the wind was against them.

About the fourth watch of the night, he came toward them walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them. But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out. They had all seen him and were terrified. But at once he spoke with them, “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid!” He got into the boat with them and the wind died down. They were completely astounded. They had not understood the incident of the loaves. On the contrary, their hearts were hardened.

Reflection:
“There is no fear in love,” John tells us in today’s first reading. And why is this? Because, John explains, “perfect love drives away fear, for fear has to do with punishment; those who fear do not know perfect love.” The key word in this sweeping statement of John’s is the word “punishment.” One would venture to say that 99% of Christians fear God—not Jesus Christ, whom they love dearly, but God the Father. And apparently for good reasons.

This is because the Old Testament is replete with stories staging a God who gets angry, destroys entire populations (think of the Great Flood), kills women and children indiscriminately (think of the Holy Wars), and murders children with abandon (think of the Tenth Plague of Egypt). But such a God is a projection from primitive minds who knew no better. Such a God never existed. When Jesus came, he told us: “The Father judges no one” (Jn 5:22). And, therefore, God punishes no one. God is pure love. Period. And we have to purge our minds of all Old Testament texts which betray God’s heart. At one point Jesus said: “Philip, who sees me has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9). Did Jesus ever punish?

Thursday
January 9th

1st Reading: 1 Jn 4:19–5:4:
Beloved, we love God because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from him: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God, and everyone who loves the Father loves also the one begotten by him. In this way we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith.

Gospel: Lk 4:14-22:
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all. He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind,  to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.

Reflection:
There is a charming Irish ditty which goes like this: To live above With the saints we love, Ah! that is purest glory! But to live below With the saints we know, Ah! that is another story. At first blush, this little poem seems to be simply describing reality: it is easy to love saints but difficult to love those we rub shoulders with and whose weaknesses are so glaring. In reference to such a state of affairs, John’s implied statement that it is easier to love humans (we see) than God (we don’t see) is startling and almost non-sensical.

Yet, when we think in greater depth on all this, we realize that the problem with our difficulty in loving our companions is that we do not really see them in their full dimension as God’s loved children. We see their outward mannerisms, ugliness, bad temper, narrow-mindedness, etc., but that is just their exterior shell. If we accept to go beyond that and love them as God’s children, then we really see them. And that happens when we ask God to pour his love into our hearts. When that happens, we see everyone with God’s loving eyes.

Friday
January 10^th

1st Reading: 1 Jn 5:5-13:
Beloved:

Who indeed is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

This is the one who came through water and Blood, Jesus Christ, not by water alone, but by water and Blood. The Spirit is the one who testifies, and the Spirit is truth. So there are three who testify, the Spirit, the water, and the Blood, and the three are of one accord. If we accept human testimony, the testimony of God is surely greater. Now the testimony of God is this, that he has testified on behalf of his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar by not believing the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever possesses the Son has life; whoever does not possess the Son of God does not have life.

I write these things to you so that you may know that you have eternal life, you who believe in the name of the Son of God.

Gospel: Lk 5:12-16:
It happened that there was a man full of leprosy in one of the towns where Jesus was; and when he saw Jesus, he fell prostrate, pleaded with him, and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I do will it. Be made clean.” And the leprosy left him immediately. Then he ordered him not to tell anyone, but “Go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.” The report about him spread all the more, and great crowds assembled to listen to him and to be cured of their ailments, but he would withdraw to deserted places to pray.

Reflection:
There is something infinitely touching in today’s gospel scene. And it is the tone of the leper’s request for healing. “Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean.” We do not have here the usual shouts for attention, the frenzied requests accompanied with theatrical bowings and scrapings, the great shows of devotion (artificial or real). What we have is a surprisingly low-keyed request. In fact, it hardly sounds like a request at all. “If you want…” It is difficult to imagine a more restrained approach, a more low-pitched attitude.

One senses that the leper has reached, so to speak, a state of “indifference” in reference to his leprosy. It might be that he lived with it for so long that, eventually, he has learned to find God in it—so much so that, now, he is not sure if a cure would be so spiritually beneficial after all. So he lets Jesus decide the issue. “If you want…” Obviously he trusts Jesus’ decision unreservedly. And Jesus is obviously won over by this extraordinary trust. Would we approach Jesus in like manner if we suffered, say, from cancer? Would we let him decide the outcome with a quiet heart?

Saturday
January 11th

1st Reading: 1 Jn 5:14-21:
Beloved:
We have this confidence in him that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in regard to whatever we ask, we know that what we have asked him for is ours. If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly.

There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly. We know that anyone begotten by God does not sin; but the one begotten by God he protects, and the Evil One cannot touch him. We know that we belong to God, and the whole world is under the power of the Evil One. We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us discernment to know the one who is true. And we are in the one who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Children, be on your guard against idols.

Gospel: Jn 3:22-30:
Jesus and his disciples went into the region of Judea, where he spent some time with them baptizing.  John was also baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was an abundance of water there, and people came to be baptized, for John had not yet been imprisoned.  Now a dispute arose between the disciples of John and a Jew about ceremonial washings.  So they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing and everyone is coming to him.”

John answered and said, “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven.  You yourselves can testify that I said that I am not the Christ, but that I was sent before him.  The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice.  So this joy of mine has been made complete.  He must increase; I must decrease.”

Reflection:
It is strange that, when we take a global view of the entire Bible from cover to cover, so few characters are found to be faultless. The ones who spontaneously come to mind are: Abel, Jacob’s son Joseph (Gen:39—45), David’s friend Jonathan (1 S:18—2 S:1), Ruth, Tobit and his son Tobiah, Esther, Job. So much for the Old Testament. But in the New Testament there are far fewer faultless figures—if we remember that at one point all the disciples abandoned Jesus at Gethsemane (Mt:26, 56) and that Paul, through his blind prejudices, did persecute the Church for a while.

And so, besides Jesus and Mary, who stands out flawless in the New Testament? The sole figure of John the Baptist. He rings true from start to finish. His only “weakness”, if that is the correct term, is that he was not sure about Jesus‘ true personality. But he cleared this honest doubt (Mt:11, 2-6). And Jesus himself praised John unreservedly by calling him “more than a prophet” (Mt:11, 9). In today’s gospel reading this luminous figure has only one desire: to decrease so that Jesus can increase. Should this not be the secret desire of all of us?