DAILY- HOMILY

December 30, 2014

Tuesday, Sixth Day within the Octave of Christmas 

1 Jn 2: 12-17 / Ps 96: 7-8a, 8b-9, 10 / Lk 2: 36-40 

Reading: 1 Jn 2: 12-17

My dear children, I write this to you: you have already received the forgiveness of your sins through the Name of Jesus. Fathers, I write this to you: you know him who is from the beginning. Young men, I write this to you: you have overcome the Evil One. My dear children, I write to you because you already know the Father. Fathers, I write to you because you know him who is from the beginning. Young men, I write to you because you are strong and the Word of God lives in you who have indeed overcome the Evil One. Do not love the world or what is in it. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world— the craving of the flesh, the greed of eyes and people boasting of their superiority— all this belongs to the world, not to the Father. The world passes away with all its craving but those who do the will of God remain for ever.

Gospel: Luke 2:36-40

There was also a prophetess named Anna, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. After leaving her father's home, she had been seven years with her husband, and since then she had been continually about the Temple, serving God as a widow night and day in fasting and prayer. She was now eighty-four. Coming up at that time, she gave praise to God and spoke of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem. When the parents had fulfilled all that was required by the law of the Lord, they returned to their town, Nazareth in Galilee. There the child grew in stature and strength and was filled with wisdom: the grace of God was upon him.

Reflection:

     The soul has three enemies – the flesh, the world and Satan. St. John, in the first reading defines flesh as the sensual body, when we are governed by unrestrained desires, passions or sensual appetites, we become slaves to sex, food, drinks, drugs and even violence. The world has a lot to offer us like money, prestige, honor, adulation, etc. It presents to us a life of happiness based on these seductions. Our identity then comes from what we possess and not anymore from being children of God.  St. John tells us not to love this passing world or anything in it because they are all coming to an end.  "But the one who does the will of God remains forever." Death is inevitable, we will all depart from this world naked. So we must have proper discernment of what is good and evil for us or we can easily fall into the deception of Satan who is also called the "angel of light," the father of deceit.  He always tries to lead us to love fleshly pleasures and succumb to the allurements of the world.  And when we are swallowed up by these, he takes away hope and leads us to sadness and despair.  When life has no meaning, suicide becomes a possibility. To be able to resist we must put on God's armor – truth as our belt, integrity for a breastplate, the eagerness to spread the gospel as our footwear, our helmet is the salvation of God and the Word of God is our sword.  Why do we need these weapons? Because a new year is coming.  We will end the year with fireworks and revelry. Then when all the fun is over, we must go back to reality – work, studies, bills to pay, a family to support, etc.  We will need spiritual weapons to fight the enemies of the soul.  

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

… for families who are in need of healing

… 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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