January 5, 2013

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Memorial of Saint John Neumann, Bishop

Read more about St. John Neumann

On the 12th day of Christmas my True Love said to me...12 drummers drumming.

The 12 drummers drumming represent the 12 points of the Apostles' Creed.  

The 12 points are like drummers drumming because drummers repeat the same rhythm and we repeat the twelve points of the Apostles Creed at every Mass.

Lectionary: 208

Reading 1 from the first letter of St. John
 1 Jn 3:11-21

Beloved:
This is the message you have heard from the beginning:
we should love one another,
unlike Cain who belonged to the Evil One
and slaughtered his brother.

St. John says that we must love one another.  He who does not love his neighbor belongs to the devil.

Why did he slaughter him?
Because his own works were evil,
and those of his brother righteous.

He explains that Cain killed Abel because he is jealous of Abel's righteousness.

Do not be amazed, then, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.

And this is why the world hates us, because the world is jealous of our righteousness in God's eyes.

We know that we have passed from death to life
because we love our brothers.

We know that we are children of God because we love each other.

Whoever does not love remains in death.

Wboever does not love his brother has not been born again to eternal life.

Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer,
and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.

Who ever hates his brother is guilty of killing him and has condemned himself to eternal punishment.

The way we came to know love
was that he laid down his life for us;
so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

Christ suffered for us, giving us an example we should follow in His footsteps.

If someone who has worldly means
sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion,
how can the love of God remain in him?
Children, let us love not in word or speech
but in deed and truth.

Words are cheap.  Doers of the Word are righteous in the eyes of God.

Now this is how we shall know that we belong to the truth
and reassure our hearts before him
in whatever our hearts condemn,
for God is greater than our hearts and knows everything.
Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us,
we have confidence in God.

We must keep a clear conscience.  The way to do that is to keep God's Commandments.  The standard of righteousness.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 100:1b-2, 3, 4, 5

R. (2a) Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.

Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful song.

R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.

Know that the LORD is God;
he made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends.

R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
his courts with praise;
Give thanks to him; bless his name.

R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.

The LORD is good:
the LORD, whose kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness, to all generations.

R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.

All of us in the Catholic Church ought to sing loudly with joy.  Because we are they who have the fullness of grace given to us by God.  We are they who have entered through the door and stand on Mount Sion, with God's Saints.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. John
Jn 1:43-51

Jesus decided to go to Galilee, and he found Philip.
And Jesus said to him, “Follow me.”
Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter.
Philip found Nathanael and told him,
“We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law,
and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”
But Nathanael said to him,
“Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

Jesus found St. Philip and called him.  St. Philip in turn called Nathanael.  But he was suspicious of St. Philip's claims.

Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him,
“Here is a true child of Israel.
There is no duplicity in him.”
Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?”

St. Nahanael must have had a reputation for being very honest, because when Jesus said so, he didn't sound surprised, but asked Jesus how He knew this fact about him.

Jesus answered and said to him,
“Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”
Nathanael answered him,
“Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”

I don't know what he did under the fig tree that so impressed Jesus, but St. Nathanael (also known as St. Bartholomew), was immediately impressed by the response.

Jesus answered and said to him,
“Do you believe
because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree?
You will see greater things than this.”
And he said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you,
you will see the sky opened and the angels of God
ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Jesus then said, "you are easily impressed.  But you are correct and you will one day see the angels of God serving the Son of God."