20150106 MANIFESTATION OF THE LORD AS THE GOOD SHEPHERD WHO LAYS
DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS SHEEP
Readings at Mass
|
First reading
|
1 John 4:7-10 ©
|
My dear people,
let us love one
another
since love comes from
God
and everyone who
loves is begotten by God and knows God.
Anyone who fails to
love can never have known God,
because God is love.
God’s love for us was
revealed
when God sent into
the world his only Son
so that we could have
life through him;
this is the love I
mean:
not our love for God,
but God’s love for us
when he sent his Son
to be the sacrifice
that takes our sins away.
|
Psalm
|
|
Psalm 71:1-4,7-8
©
|
All nations shall
fall prostrate before you, O Lord.
O God, give your
judgement to the king,
to a
king’s son your justice,
that he may judge
your people in justice
and your
poor in right judgement.
All nations shall
fall prostrate before you, O Lord.
May the mountains
bring forth peace for the people
and the
hills, justice.
May he defend the
poor of the people
and save
the children of the needy.
All nations shall
fall prostrate before you, O Lord.
In his days justice
shall flourish
and peace
till the moon fails.
He shall rule from
sea to sea,
from the
Great River to earth’s bounds.
All nations shall
fall prostrate before you, O Lord.
|
Gospel
Acclamation
|
cf.Mt4:23
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
Jesus proclaimed the
Good News of the kingdom
and cured all kinds
of diseases among the people.
Alleluia!
|
Or
|
Lk4:17
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord has sent me
to bring the good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty
to captives.
Alleluia!
|
Or
|
Lk7:16
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
A great prophet has
appeared among us;
God has visited his
people.
Alleluia!
|
Or
|
cf.1Tim3:16
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
Glory to you, O
Christ,
proclaimed to the
pagans;
glory to you, O
Christ,
believed in by the
world.
Alleluia!
|
Or
|
Mt4:16
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
The people that lived
in darkness
has seen a great
light;
on those who dwell in
the land and shadow of death
a light has dawned.
Alleluia!
|
Gospel
|
Mark 6:34-44 ©
|
As
Jesus stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them because
they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at
some length. By now it was getting very late, and his disciples came up to him
and said, ‘This is a lonely place and it is getting very late, So send them
away, and they can go to the farms and villages round about, to buy themselves
something to eat.’ He replied, ‘Give them something to eat yourselves.’ They
answered, ‘Are we to go and spend two hundred denarii on bread for them to
eat?’ How many loaves have you?’ he asked ‘Go and see.’ And when they had found
out they said, ‘Five, and two fish.’ Then he ordered them to get all the people
together in groups on the green grass, and they sat down on the ground in
squares of hundreds and fifties. Then he took the five loaves and the two fish,
raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessing; then he broke the loaves and
handed them to his disciples to distribute among the people. He also shared out
the two fish among them all. They all ate as much as they wanted. They
collected twelve basketfuls of scraps of bread and pieces of fish. Those who
had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.
MANIFESTATION
OF THE LORD AS THE GOOD SHEPHERD WHO LAYS DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS SHEEP
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: 1 Jn 4:7-10; Mk 6:34-44
We are
celebrating the liturgy in the context of the feast of the Epiphany. On
the second day after Epiphany, the liturgy reveals to us another manifestation
of the Lord. Jesus is revealed as the Good Shepherd who came to
lay down His life for His sheep. The gospel describes Jesus as the shepherd who
came to look for His lost sheep. He is just the Shepherd foretold by Ezekiel
when God condemned the bad shepherds. Jesus is the shepherd sent by God
after His own heart. He manifests the love and mercy of God for us.
Hence, St Mark wrote, “As Jesus stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he
took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set
himself to teach them at some length.”
But
this shepherd is not simply contented to give us things or even heal us of our
infirmities; He came to give us nothing less than Himself. It is
important to note that when “it was getting very late, and his disciples came
up to him and said, ‘This is a lonely place and it is getting very late, so
send them away, and they can go to the farms and villages round about, to buy
themselves something to eat.’ He replied, ‘Give them something to eat
yourselves.’” Yes, Jesus the Good Shepherd never shirked His responsibilities.
He wanted the disciples to learn from Him. Love requires that we give
something of ourselves, not just gifts that are but external signs of our
interior giving. What is even more important is to give our time, our
love and ourselves to others.
Indeed,
the multiplication of loaves is but an anticipation of the passion, death and
resurrection of Jesus, for the miracle of the loaves anticipates Jesus’
giving of His life and Himself to us in the Eucharist. This explains
why the Eucharist is contemplated upon in the fifth luminous mystery of the
Rosary. The Eucharist is yet another revelation of Jesus as Lord and
Saviour. The Eucharist, which is a celebration of the Paschal Mystery of
Christ, His passion, death and resurrection, sums up Christ who is the
inexhaustible gift of God. In multiplying the loaves, Jesus revealed His
divine power. In the Eucharist, He continues to give Himself to us
especially after His death and resurrection. He bequeaths the Eucharist
to His Church so that we will never bereave of His presence. In the
Eucharist, Jesus becomes bread for us to eat. In other words, the
multiplication of the loaves, which is an anticipation of Jesus’ desire to give
Himself to us in the Eucharist upon His death and resurrection, truly manifests
the love of God in Jesus.
We too
must now, like Jesus, become bread for others. St John in the
first reading makes it clear that those who love and know God must love his
neighbours. True love of God is not measured simply in terms of religious
piety or knowledge but in love of neigbour. That is why he wrote,
“everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Anyone who fails to love
can never have known God, because God is love.” Yet the fact remains that many
of us fail in the love of God and neighbour. We find ourselves inadequate
in love because of human limitations and our human selfishness. Much as
we desire to give ourselves completely to our neighbours, we inevitably fall
short in giving. The disciples said to Jesus when He told them to give
the crowd something to eat themselves, “Are we to go and spend two hundred
denarii on bread for them to eat?” Indeed, we feel helpless and
inadequate when asked to give more of ourselves.
Thus,
it is important to take note that John began by saying, “My dear people, let us
love one another since love comes from God.” This implies that we cannot
love each other unless we receive the love of God first. Without a
prior experience of God’s love, there is no question of our ability to
love our neighbours after the heart of God. Without the love of God,
we cannot love. Indeed, without the power of love, how can there be
sharing among the people?
So
where is this love of God to be found? Precisely, in Jesus! John said, “God’s
love for us was revealed when God sent into the world his only Son so that
we could have life through him; this is the love I mean: not our love for God,
but God’s love for us when he sent his Son to be the sacrifice that takes our
sins away.” Hence, when we celebrate the feast of Epiphany, we are
celebrating the manifestation of God’s love for us in Jesus. It must be
Jesus’ love for the people and the way He shared the five loaves and two fish
that opened the hearts and minds of the people to share with each other
whatever they had. In sharing, all had more than sufficient.
For us,
Christmas and Epiphany is not an event that is past. Indeed, for
us, Catholics, every time we celebrate the Eucharist, Jesus becomes present to
us and become bread for us. In receiving Jesus into our lives, we receive
the strength to become bread for the world. Hence, the Church invites us to
continue to contemplate on the manifestation of the Lord in our lives, especially
in the Eucharist and when we reach out to others in love and mercy. Only
when we have seen the Lord in the Eucharist, can we then see God in our
fellowmen whom Jesus has identified with. For in His compassion for them,
Jesus is saying to us the same thing as He said to His disciples, “Give them
something to eat yourselves.” Yes, we must give Jesus to them and give
ourselves to them in love and service.
If we
find ourselves lacking in the capacity to love, let us give whatever little we
can. The Lord accepts our imperfections and inadequacies. If we
turn to Him in prayer and self-surrender, He will work wonders in our lives and
give us that grace, the capacity to do more than we can imagine or think
of. Like the disciples, let us not rely on our own strength and
capacity. We must turn to the Lord who will transform our meager efforts
into something marvelous. Like the Lord, we must offer what we have to
the Father in thanksgiving and He will multiply the resources we
have. Perhaps the greatest giving that we are called to give is the
act of faith and trust in God. Will we surrender ourselves to Him and
allow Him to show His love for us by not obstructing His desire to work
miracles in our lives?
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No comments:
Post a Comment