January 4,
2005 -
Tuesday after
Epiphany
Here comes the great theme of the apostle John, almost like an obsession,
both in his letter and in the gospel: God is the origin of all love.
For he is love: alove that is giving, a love, as the gospel shows,
that is compassionate. Self-communication is the mark of love: within
God, from God to people and the world. He gives us his Son, who
showed in his person that to love is to give up oneself out of love.
And on the part of people, love means also to receive, to be willing
to accept love as a pure gift, both from God and from one another.
Lord God, our Father,
you took the initiative of loving us
before we could ever love you,
for love is your name
and you are a God of people.
Help us to recognize this love
become flesh in Jesus your Son.
Let him stir and transform
the very depths of our hearts,
that we too may offer to you and to people
all the love of which you have made us capable
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
First Reading: 1 Jn 4:7-10
My dear friends, let us love one another for love comes from God.
Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
Those
who do not love have not known God, for God is love.
How
did the love of God appear among us? God sent his only Son into
this world that we might have life through him.
This
is love: not that we loved God but that he first loved us and sent
his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms
72:1-2,
10, 12-13
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 (see 11) Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
The kings of Tarshish and the Isles shall offer gifts;
the kings of Arabia and Seba shall bring tribute.
R (see 11) Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out,
and the afflicted when he has no one to help him.
He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor;
the lives of the poor he shall save.
R (see 11) Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
Gospel Reading: Mk
6:34-44
As Jesus went ashore he saw a large crowd, and he had compassion
on them for they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began
a long teaching session with them.
It
was now getting late, so his disciples came to him and said, "This
is a lonely place and it is now late. You should send the people
away and let them go to the farms and villages around here to buy
themselves something to eat."
Jesus
replied, "You yourselves give them something to eat."
They answered, "If we are to give them food, we must go and
buy two hundred silver coins' worth of bread." But Jesus said,
"You have some loaves: how many? Go and see." The disciples
found out and said, "There are five loaves and two fish."
Then
he told them to have the people sit down together in groups on the
green grass. This they did in groups of hundreds and fifties. And
Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish and, raising his eyes
to heaven, he pronounced a blessing, broke the loaves and handed
them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided
the two fish among them.
They
all ate and everyone had enough. The disciples gathered up what
was left and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces of bread and
fish. Five thousand men had eaten there.
Commentary
JESUS
is a shepherd who has long teaching sessions with the sheep! And
then when it gets late and they are far from home, he feeds them.
Or he has his own disciples model what he has been teaching. He
takes their food, blesses and breaks it and has them distribute
it among the crowd. The crowd learns the lesson and shares from
their own small stores of food. They find that they have more
than enough to feed everyone and enough leftover for twelve baskets-for
all the tribes of Israel.
All those
broken pieces of bread and fish, leftovers from feeding 5,000
men and 5 or 6 times that many women and children (from crowd
counting) 30,000 in all. This is a new Exodus, a going out from
slavery. The way out is sharing in gratitude. This is one of Jesus'
primary lessons. It is Eucharist and a way of being in the world.
Elizabeth Ann Seton followed in her Master's footsteps, feeding
and teaching her own family and then many thousands of students
through her community. Do we teach through sharing of our resources?
– For the Churches groping
for unity, that one day they may eat together from the same table
the one bread of the Lord, we pray:
–
For all people of good will, that they may build up together
a just society based on fairness and love where there is no room
for any discrimination, we pray:
–
For all of us here, that we may form a community of service,
love and hope, open to all needs and all just aspirations, we pray:
Lord God, loving Father,
in every eucharistic celebration
you let us experience again and again
your self-giving love.
Accept in this bread and this wine
our own meager efforts
to become to people
bread broken and shared,
together with Jesus Christ our Lord.
Lord, our God and Father,
accept our thanks for loving us
even before we could love you.
Prepare us not only to give love
but also to receive it
from you and from one another
in all simplicity and gratitude.
For this is the way you
taught us
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
We have broken bread with the Lord. This commits us to call on all
human resources to share with those in need food, justice, culture
and freedom. May God strengthen and bless you for this task, the
Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
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