09 January,
2020, Thursday after Epiphany
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: White.
First reading
|
1 John 4:19-5:4 ©
|
Anyone who loves God must also love his brother
We
are to love,
because
God loved us first.
Anyone
who says, ‘I love God’,
and
hates his brother,
is a
liar,
since
a man who does not love the brother that he can see
cannot
love God, whom he has never seen.
So
this is the commandment that he has given us,
that
anyone who loves God must also love his brother.
Whoever
believes that Jesus is the Christ
has
been begotten by God;
and
whoever loves the Father that begot him
loves
the child whom he begets.
We
can be sure that we love God’s children
if we
love God himself and do what he has commanded us;
this
is what loving God is –
keeping
his commandments;
and
his commandments are not difficult,
because
anyone who has been begotten by God
has
already overcome the world;
this
is the victory over the world –
our
faith.
Responsorial
Psalm
|
Psalm 71(72):1-2,14-15,17
|
Gospel
Acclamation
|
Lk7:16
|
Alleluia,
alleluia!
A
great prophet has appeared among us;
God
has visited his 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:
|
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!
Or:
|
cf.Mt4:23
|
Alleluia,
alleluia!
Jesus
proclaimed the Good News of the kingdom
and
cured all kinds of diseases among the 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!
Gospel
|
Luke 4:14-22 ©
|
'This text is being fulfilled today, even as you listen'
Jesus, with the
power of the Spirit in him, returned to Galilee; and his reputation spread
throughout the countryside. He taught in their synagogues and everyone praised
him.
He
came to Nazara, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on
the sabbath day as he usually did. He stood up to read and they handed him the
scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it
is written:
The
spirit of the Lord has been given to me,
for
he has anointed me.
He
has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to
proclaim liberty to captives
and
to the blind new sight,
to
set the downtrodden free,
to
proclaim the Lord’s year of favour.
He then rolled up
the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. And all eyes in the
synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to speak to them, ‘This text is
being fulfilled today even as you listen.’ And he won the approval of all, and
they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips.
LOVING IN THE
POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ 1 JOHN 4:19-5:4; PS 72:1-2, 14-15, 17; LUKE 4:14-22]
St John’s measure of our
love for God is our love for our brothers and sisters. “Anyone who says, ‘I love
God’, and hates his brother, is a liar, since a man who does not love the
brother that he can see cannot love God, whom he has never seen. So this
is the commandment that he has given to us, that anyone who loves God must also
love his brother.” Indeed, the Lord has made it clear that there are only
two commandments and they are intertwined. “The first is, ‘Hear, O
Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and
with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor
as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mk 12:29-31)
This criterion of
determining how much we love God is based on the principle of affinity. “Whoever believes that Jesus is the
Christ has been begotten by God; and whoever loves the father that begot him
loves the child whom he begets.” If we claim to love God the
Father, then necessarily, we must also love His Son, Jesus Christ. It is
the basic principle of life that we also love those whom our beloved
loves. If we love the parents, we will also love their children. If
we love our friends, we will also love their friends. If we love our
friends, we will also love their pets. This is how love works. To
love Jesus would also mean that we are called to love everyone since our Lord
identifies Himself with all men and women. “Jesus is not ashamed to call
them brothers and sisters, saying, ‘I will proclaim your name to my brothers
and sisters, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.'” (Heb 2:11f) He even identified with
strangers and the outcasts for He said, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it
to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”
The second criterion of
love is when we obey.
Loving God must not be reduced to mere sentimentalism and emotions.
Obedience is always the consequence of love. Jesus was obedient to the
Father’s will not because He had to but because He wanted to do. When we
love someone, we seek to do everything to please the person. “For this
reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up
again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have
power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received
this command from my Father.” (Jn 10:17f) Jesus also said, “My food is
to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.” (Jn 4:34) Hence, St John said, “We can be sure
that we love God’s children if we love God himself and do what he has
commanded us; this is what loving God is – keeping his commandments.”
However, while we all
agree that a true lover of God must be seen in his love for his fellowmen, we
are also aware that we all fall short of our love not just for God but also for
our fellowmen. We
all know that we are far therefore from claiming that we love God with all our
heart, soul and strength simply because we love ourselves more than we love our
brothers and sisters. We protect our own interests, comfort and security
before we reach out to others. Most of the time, we give from our
abundance. Few of us would give totally of ourselves at the expense of our life
and security, unlike the Widow at the Temple who gave away even the last mite
that she had. So how could we claim that we truly love God? No
matter how much we do for our brothers and sisters, help the poor, serve the
Church and the community, we also know that we do not have pure motives in
service. Unconsciously, it is about fulfillment, self-worth, being
appreciated and recognized. We do not love others the way God loves us
totally and unconditionally. So how could St John still say, “His
commandments are not difficult”? If it were so, we would be able to
fulfill them. The fact that all of us sinned means that we cannot fulfill
the laws.
Indeed, justification is
through grace by faith alone.
“We have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by
faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one
will be justified by the works of the law.” (Gal 2:16) It is the free gift of
God. Unless we are conscious that salvation is purely the gift of God, we
will not be filled with gratitude and joy. To be begotten by God means to
say that we are given a new birth in Christ through Jesus’ death and
resurrection when He bestows the Holy Spirit upon us. Hence, St John
wrote, “anyone who has been begotten by God has already overcome the world;
this is the victory over the world – our faith.” It is our faith in
Christ’s love for us at His death on the cross that is the basis of our love
for God and for our brothers and sisters.
To be able to love
requires therefore that we must first have faith in God’s love. St John wrote, “This is the victory over
the world – our faith.” Victorious faith presumes we have faith in Jesus
as the Son of God who has come to give us life through the forgiveness of our
sins. Faith in Jesus is our victory because it is directed to Jesus who
wins the victory for us. This faith requires us to trust in God the way
children trust their parents. The call to faith and love are ultimately one
because faith in God presumes we have been loved by Him. Knowing
His love for us empowers us to love like Him. That is why, the call of St
John to love our brothers and sisters is not so much a commandment imposed from
without but rather a response to His love for us.
So if we want to truly
be lovers of God and man, we must be like Jesus, be filled with God’s love. We must allow the Spirit of God to
dwell in us. Through faith in Christ, “God’s love has been poured into
our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” (Rom 5:5) Only when we are filled with
His Spirit of love, can we then find the capacity to love as He has loved us.
St John reiterates this point when he said, “We are to love, then, because God
loved us first.” We cannot love unless we are loved first. We are
never asked to love as if love comes from our will and our efforts.
Rather, it is because God loves us first, that we are then capable of
love. “In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and
sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved,
since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.” (1 Jn 4:10)
Indeed, we can love like
God only when we receive the same Spirit that empowered Jesus to love as His
Father loved. The gospel tells
us that “Jesus, with the power of the Spirit in him, returned to Galilee; and
his reputation spread throughout the countryside. He taught in their synagogues
and everyone praised him.” It was the Spirit that descended on Him at His
baptism, making Him fully aware of His Father’s love for Him, that enabled Jesus
to feel the call to announce the Father’s love to all. The Spirit that
anointed our Lord for His mission is the same Spirit of His Father.
Reading from the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah, he said, “The Spirit of the Lord
has been given to me, for he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the good
news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight,
to set the downtrodden free, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour.”
Jesus saw Himself as
being anointed by the same Spirit of His Father to bring liberation to
all. Filled
with the love and compassion of His Father, He was sent forth to do the
same. His mission was to make present the prophecy of Isaiah as He
remarked, “This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.” Jesus
was no longer just reading a prophecy. He was the prophet Himself that
would realize the dream of God for Israel, liberating those under bondage,
giving sight to the blind and proclaiming the Good News to the poor.
Jesus came to teach us about the Father’s love but it was not simply some
theoretical doctrinal input He delivered. He came to show us concretely
how the Father cares for us through the miracles He performed, especially the
healing miracles and exorcism. He also showed the Father’s mercy and
forgiveness through eating and welcoming sinners, the marginalized and the
tax-collectors. Jesus’ love of His Father was not just focused on Him
alone but is concretized in His love for His fellowmen. We, too, then
filled with His compassion and love, will do the same for others as He had done
for us.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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