January 10, 2014

Friday after Epiphany
Lectionary: 216
Reading 1 1 JN 5:5-13

Beloved:
Who indeed is the victor over the world
but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

The one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God and believes in His promises, will receive Baptism and the Sacraments and be enrolled with the spirits of men made perfect upon Mount Sion.

This is the one who came through water and Blood, Jesus Christ,
not by water alone, but by water and Blood.
The Spirit is the one who testifies,
and the Spirit is truth.
So there are three who testify,
the Spirit, the water, and the Blood,
and the three are of one accord.
If we accept human testimony,
the testimony of God is surely greater.
Now the testimony of God is this,
that he has testified on behalf of his Son.
Whoever believes in the Son of God
has this testimony within himself.
Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar
by not believing the testimony God has given about his Son.
And this is the testimony:
God gave us eternal life,
and this life is in his Son.
Whoever possesses the Son has life;
whoever does not possess the Son of God does not have life.

God the Father testified about the Son when St. John the Baptist baptized Jesus and the Holy Spirit rose like a dove.  Then the Father said, "this is my beloved Son, hear ye Him."

I write these things to you so that you may know
that you have eternal life,
you who believe in the name of the Son of God.

Believing in the Son does not simply mean to claim to believe.  But it entails obedience to His Word.

Responsorial Psalm PS 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20

R. (12a) Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion.
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates;
he has blessed your children within you.

R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He has granted peace in your borders;
with the best of wheat he fills you.
He sends forth his command to the earth;
swiftly runs his word!

R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He has proclaimed his word to Jacob,
his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
He has not done thus for any other nation;
his ordinances he has not made known to them. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
or:
R. Alleluia.

God selected Jerusalem above all other cities of the world.  But the earthly Jerusalem fell away from the goodness of God.  But we have a heavenly Jerusalem, of which we are members who have received the circumcision not made by human hands.  Those who are baptized are members of the heavenly Jerusalem, which is represented in this world, by the Catholic Church.

Gospel LK 5:12-16

It happened that there was a man full of leprosy in one of the towns where Jesus was;
and when he saw Jesus,
he fell prostrate, pleaded with him, and said,
“Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.”
Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said,
“I do will it. Be made clean.”

This leper gives an example of the proper disposition we must have when we approach Jesus Christ in the Sacraments.

And the leprosy left him immediately.
Then he ordered him not to tell anyone, but
“Go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing
what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.”
The report about him spread all the more,
and great crowds assembled to listen to him
and to be cured of their ailments,
but he would withdraw to deserted places to pray.

And Jesus fame grew throughout Israel as news of his signs and miracles spread.