January 8, 2013

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Tuesday after Epiphany

Here is a beautiful parable to read during this time of Epiphany.

Lectionary: 213

Reading 1
1 Jn 4:7-10

Beloved, let us love one another,
because love is of God;
everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.

Love is a mystery which I don't think men will ever comprehend.

It is only in the mysterious equations of love that any logic or reasons can be found.
Quote from a Beautiful Mind

Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.

The reason being that God is Love.  And God is a mystery which men will never comprehend.

Colossians 1:26-27
King James Version (KJV)
26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

In this way the love of God was revealed to us:
God sent his only-begotten Son into the world
so that we might have life through him.

God was revealed to us in His Son:

2 Corinthians 4:4
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

In this is love:
not that we have loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.

And God's love was revealed to us in the death of His Son upon the Cross:

John 10:9-11
King James Version (KJV)
9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.  10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. 

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 72:1-2, 3-4, 7-8

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.

The mountains shall yield peace for the people,
and the hills justice.
He shall defend the afflicted among the people,
save the children of the poor.

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

Justice shall flower in his days,
and profound peace, till the moon be no more.
May he rule from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.

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

A prophecy of the coming of our Lord.  This prophecy is partially fulfilled in the Catholic Church, which has evangelized the entire world.  But it will be completely fulfilled in the end of days.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Mark
Mk 6:34-44

When Jesus saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them,
for they were like sheep without a shepherd;
and he began to teach them many things.

Sheep without a shepherd.  In olden times, shepherds kept sheep together and guided sheep to grazing land and water.  They also protected sheep from predators.  Today, farmlands are fenced in, water and feed are shipped in and predators have been eradicated in many places so that shepherds are rarely necessary.  However, in Biblical times, things were far different.  Therefore, the idea of people being as sheep without a shepherd, is the idea of people who were left without guidance and protection.

By now it was already late and his disciples approached him and said,
“This is a deserted place and it is already very late.
Dismiss them so that they can go
to the surrounding farms and villages
and buy themselves something to eat.”
He said to them in reply,
“Give them some food yourselves.”

This is a very familiar passage to most Catholics.  The symbolism here which is frequently understated is the fact that Jesus instructed His disciples to "Give them some food yourselves."  This brings me to the Priesthood.  Our Priests are like these disciples.  They give us the food which God provides.

It is also why we call them "fathers".  Fathers are traditionally they who provide our food at the family table.

But they said to him,
“Are we to buy two hundred days’ wages worth of food
and give it to them to eat?”
He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.”
And when they had found out they said,
“Five loaves and two fish.”

The disciples were incredulous that He expected them to feed the multitude with such a small amount of food.

So he gave orders to have them sit down in groups on the green grass.
The people took their places in rows by hundreds and by fifties.
Then, taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples
to set before the people;
he also divided the two fish among them all.

But Christ had them all sit and had His disciples serve the people.  Again, the image of the Priest continues.

They all ate and were satisfied.
And they picked up twelve wicker baskets full of fragments
and what was left of the fish.
Those who ate of the loaves were five thousand men.

And when they were done, there was more food left over than that with which they had begun.

Sincerely,

De Maria