January 9, 2014

Thursday after Epiphany
Lectionary: 215
Reading 1 1 JN 4:19-5:4

Beloved, we love God because
he first loved 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.

The two greatest Commandments are,  1) Love God with all your heart and soul.  And 2) Love your neighbor as yourself.

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.

Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of the Father.  But all who love God are brothers in Christ and thus also begotten by the Father in the only begotten Son.

In this way we know that we love the children of God
when we love God and obey his commandments.

Claims of love are not proof of love.  It is those who obey God and His Commandments who are the ones who truly love God.

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.

It is by our faith in God that we keep the Commandments and prove our love 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.

All the world is blessed in our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things were made.  All who recognize His sacrifice of love and turn to Him will not fail to be rewarded.

Gospel 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 Christ returned to Galilee and preached in the power of the Holy Spirit.  And all were amazed and praised His word.

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

Then He returned to His hometown, Nazareth, and there revealed that He is the Messiah. That is what is meant in that passage from Isaiah.