January 10, 2013

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Thursday after Epiphany
Lectionary: 215

Reading 1 from the First Letter of St. John
1 Jn 4:19–5:4

Beloved, we love God because
he first loved us.

I don't really know what that means.  Unless he means that God first loved us when He created us out of love.

Or perhaps, because God sent His only begotten Son to die for our sins and thus prove how much He loves 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.

Jesus said:

Matthew 22:35-40
King James Version (KJV)
35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

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.

Everyone who loves God the Father, loves the Son also.

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.

This reiterates the importance of the Commandments of God.  The Sacraments are important.  But the Commandments moreso.  The Sacraments are no avail to us if we do not keep the Commandments of God:


1 Corinthians 7:19
Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 72:1-2, 14 and 15bc, 17

R. (see 11) Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

O God, with your judgment endow the king,
and with your justice, the king’s son;
He shall govern your people with justice
and your afflicted ones with judgment.

R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

From fraud and violence he shall redeem them,
and precious shall their blood be in his sight.
May they be prayed for continually;
day by day shall they bless him.

R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

May his name be blessed forever;
as long as the sun his name shall remain.
In him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed;
all the nations shall proclaim his happiness.

R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the King of Kings.  And through Him the whole world is blessed. 

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke
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.

Jesus preached throughout the whole region of Galilee and was exalted by all who heard Him.

He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up,
and went according to his custom
into the synagogue on the sabbath day.

Jesus went to His hometown of Nazareth and attended the synagogue as He had been accustomed.

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.

And He revealed in His hometown before all of Israel, that the prophecies of the Old Testament were being fulfilled in Him.

Sincerely,

De Maria