Friday, January 05, 2007
Saturday before Epiphany
January 6, 2007
Saturday before Epiphany
1 JOHN 5:5-13
Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is
the Son of God. This is the one who came by water and blood--Jesus
Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it
is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there
are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the
three are in agreement. We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony
is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about
his Son. Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in
his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a
liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his
Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this
life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have
the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who
believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you
have eternal life.
MARK 1:7-11
And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I,
the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I
baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by
John in the Jordan. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw
heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.
And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I
am well pleased."
REFLECTION
St. John asks a question in the first reading, which sounds like it's
lifted from an examination in world history. He asks, "Who, is it
that overcomes the world?"
There have been many who desired to conquer the world even though none
of them, thank God, succeeded. Alexander the Great many centuries ago,
then Napoleon, and in our day, Hitler and Stalin. Each of these world
leaders possessed the latest technology in warfare, as well as powerful
armies. John is not speaking, however, about any of them. The answer he
wants is not the name of a famous general.
Oddly enough, neither is "Jesus Christ" the answer to John's
question. Jesus has conquered a good part of the world, not with
military force, but by the power of his love. Yet his name is not the
answer John is looking for.
Who then does John proposes as the conqueror of the world? His answer
is, "he who believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."
Why does faith in Jesus as the Son of God enable us to conquer the
world? Anyone who believes in the Incarnation believes that God so
loved the world that he sent his only son into it. It means that Jesus,
Son of God, as the letter to the Hebrews says, became fully human, like
us in all things, sin alone excepted, that he made himself subject to
all our human limitations and weaknesses, even to the temptations that
afflict us all our lives. Once we believe this, we possess the God-man
we believe in. He is, as John says, for us, eternal life. In possessing
him we, here on this earth, possess eternal life.
We have already conquered the world, for the world will pass, but Jesus
and those who believe in him possess here and now eternal life.
PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray ...
- for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the unborn.
- for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Andrea Lim
- Wedding anniversary on January 15 of Willlie & Eda Guina
- for world peace and reconciliation.
Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our
prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.
Have a good day!
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