Before the Solemnity of Epiphany
January 2 - The Messiah In Our Midst
Other Celebrations for this Day:
Liturgical Cycle: A | Lectionary Cycle: II
Introduction
In his first letter, John, probably reacting against the Gnostics, strongly asserts that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ in our midst.
Like John the Baptist in the gospel, we, and the whole Church, have to assert strongly that we are not the Christ, though he stands among us, but we have to be his voice, most of all by the way we live. Our lives have to point to him
Opening Prayer
God,
Your Son stands among us,
but we don’t know him enough
and people may not know him enough
because they don’t see him in us or among us.
Make us his voice,
perhaps a silent and timid voice,
because we show a bit of his goodness,
of his compassion and forgiveness
by the way we live.
We are not Christ,
But let us be his humble sign and voice,
For he is our Lord forever.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (3cd) All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
R. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
R. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
break into song; sing praise.
R. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
Alleluia Verse
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
In times, past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets:
in these last days, he has spoken to us through his Son.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Prayers of the Faithful
– That the Church and all of us may be one voice pointing to Christ as our life and the source of our faith and happiness, we pray:
– Especially for our priests, catechists, and religious, who are by vocation road signs to Christ, that their word and life style may lead people to him, we pray:
– For people to whom Christ is still unknown, that they may discover Christ as the meaning of their lives, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Our loving God,
you come among us as a person,
human like us and close to us in your Son Jesus Christ.
Give us a deep and living faith in him,
that we may live in him
and be close to him in all we say and do.
For he is our Lord and God,
and yet our brother who loves us.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Father of Jesus Christ,
your Son has spoken to us
and he has nourished us
with himself, with his body and blood.
Though we know him now a bit better,
we ask you insistently
that we may come to love him more,
for in many ways he is still a stranger to us
and we are still very much unlike him.
Let Jesus live in us, now and for ever.
Blessing
If only we could be better voices and signs of Christ! We wish that we, and the whole world, would know him better. May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
REFLECTIONS
Who are you?
At the beginning of a drama, you need to get to know the characters. Three times the spiritual leaders of the people anxiously asked John the same question: “Who are you?”. John answered by saying who he was not (which is just as important as saying who you are). Then he said, “I am a voice....” It was enough. He was a voice speaking of God, a finger pointing to the new thing that God was doing in the world. That was his deepest identity.
To be precise, this was his identity, as well as ours.
‘Who are you?’ ‘How do you see yourself?’ These are questions we ask one another to this day. But today, we ask these questions, especially of ourselves; ‘Who am I?’ ‘How do I see myself?’ In our complex world, these are not trivial questions. Many are willing to offer us ready-made identities.
‘Among you stands one whom you do not know.’ We do not know him because we cannot get away with imposing an identity on him - though we try all the time. Jesus the Catholic, Jesus the Protestant, Jesus the Baptist….
Yes, John, we too are unworthy to untie the strap of his sandals. This statement of John is commonly understood as a statement of John’s humility. But it had bigger meanings for the readers of the time of John, when the gospel was written. It meant appropriating the right to marry a woman who belonged to another. (Deut 25:5-10; Rt 4:7).
By declaring himself unworthy to untie the straps of the sandals, the Baptist states that he has no right to steal the bride of Christ. Meaning to say, people should not mistake him for the Messiah or a prophet. There is nothing worth comparing him with the Christ. “I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. Only the bridegroom has the bride, but the friend of the bridegroom stands by and listens and rejoice to hear the bridegroom’s voice. My joy is now full” (Jn 3:28-29).
We share the same mission of the Baptist and it would be worth learning from him in our life and Mission, his attitude of being nothing more than a voice – being the Voice of Christ in the world.
Jn 1: 19-28
Treasure your word in our lives
Jews sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you?” He said, “I am not the Messiah.”…. Then they said to him, “Tell us who you are, so that we can give some answer to those who sent us. How do you see yourself?” Although he comes after me, I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal.”
Bernardo Hurault had worked for 19 years in France before he went to Chile as a priest “on loan” to a diocese there. It was there that he saw the need for a Bible that was accessible to the people in terms of their language and understanding, so he began a new translation of the Bible—the Latinamerican Bible, which eventually became the Bible of the entire continent. After another 19 years in Chile, he felt called to Asia, where towent to the Philippines, and with the Claretians did other translations of the Bible into English, Tagalog, Cebuano, and Chinese, and finally in his mother tongue, French.
He always lived a very simple life, preferring to live with the ordinary poor people, preparing his own meals and doing his laundry. He considered all the resources God had given him not his own but used them all for the different Bible projects he continued to do. He saw himself as God’s messenger to bring God’s word to the people.
O God, you too called us to bring your word to others. Send us your Spirit that we may treasure your word in our life, and in turn, proclaim this life-giving word to our sisters and brothers through our words and deeds. Amen.
1 John 2:22-28
Knowing the scriptures is not enough
Today’s first reading from the first Letter of John continues with the warnings about the antichrist and false teachers in the community. St. John defines “antichrist” as someone who denies that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ. The antichrist is a “liar”; he is totally opposed to Jesus, who is “the Way, the Truth and the Life.”
To deny the identity of Jesus as the Son of God is also to deny God the Father. John was confronting the group of heretics who taught that the Son of God entered the man Jesus only at his baptism and left the body of Jesus before the Passion.
At the time when he wrote the Letter, the Gnostic teachers insisted that the apostles’ teaching needed to be supplemented with the “higher knowledge” that the Gnostics claimed to possess. But John warns them to be careful not to be deceived, and the teaching they have received from the apostles is the only reliable source of the true message. He appeals to his readers to remain faithful to the teaching they heard from the beginning and not to be led astray.
This could be the most important message for our reflection today - knowing the content of the scriptures is not enough to walk in the light of Christ (The Gnostics claimed knowledge was everything). This is a challenge for us preachers of the Gospel today. We may have the most in-depth understanding of the scriptures, but if we fail to assimilate it and make the Word of God part of our whole life, our words, actions, and relationships, we will still be walking in darkness, and we will have no life in us.
Through this assimilation of the Word, we become “new” persons. John repeats the promise that he heard from the mouth of Jesus: “You…will remain in the Son and in the Father.” When united with the Father and the Son, we will also be “anointed” by the Holy Spirit, who helps us understand all we need to know to live the life that Jesus proposes. Let us pay attention to the vital warning of John the Evangelist: Beware of false teachers and false doctrines! Anything opposite to the commandment of Love is a false doctrine.