January 7,
2005 - Friday
after
Epiphany
Life Through Faith in Jesus
What
John says in his letter about faith in Jesus is exemplified
in the gospel. Faith consists in believing in Jesus Christ,
“who came by water and blood”; when he was baptized in the waters
of the Jordan, he was proclaimed Son of God; by shedding his
blood on the cross, he accomplished his mission. This Jesus
has eternal life. By believing in him, we encounter him as a
person and share in his life.
The
leper believes in him: “You can cure me,” he says. Jesus restores
the man’s health and thus manifests once more that God’s power
and life is in him.
Lord
God of life,
we believe with all that is in us
that Jesus is your Son and our Savior.
He can heal us from the leprosy of sin
and give us a share in the fullness of his life.
Deepen our faith in him and let it change our lives.
Let us encounter your Son from person to person,
that he may live in us
and that we may bear witness
that he is our Lord and Savior,
who lives with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Liturgy
of the Word
First
Reading: 1
Jn 5:5-13
Who has overcome the world? The one who believes that Jesus
is the Son of God.
Jesus Christ was acknowledged through water, but also through
blood.
Not
only water but water and blood.
And the Spirit, too, witnesses to him for the Spirit is truth.
There are then three testimonies:
the Spirit, the water and the blood, and these three witnesses
agree.
If
we accept human testimony, with greater reason must we accept
that of God, given in favor of his Son. If you believe in the
Son of God,
you have God's testimony in you.
But
those who do not believe make God a liar, since they do not
believe his words when he witnesses to his Son.
What has God said? That he has granted us eternal life and this
life is in his Son. The one who has the Son has life, the one
who do not have the Son of God do not have life.
I write you, then, all these things that you may know that you
have eternal life, all you who believe in the Name of the Son
of God.
Responsorial
Psalm: Ps 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20
R
(12a) Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
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 (12a) Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
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 (12a) Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
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 (12a) Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
Gospel
Reading: Lk
5:12-16
One
day in another town, a man came to Jesus covered with leprosy.
On seeing him he bowed down to the ground, and said, "Lord,
if you want to, you can make me clean."
Stretching out his hand, Jesus touched the man and said, "Yes,
I want it. Be clean." In an instant the leprosy left
him. Then Jesus instructed him, "Tell this to no one.
But go and show yourself to the priest. Make an offering for
your healing, as Moses prescribed; that should be a proof
to the people."
But
the news about Jesus spread all the more, and large crowds came
to him to listen and be healed of their sickness. As for Jesus,
he would often withdraw to solitary places and pray.
Commentary
THIS
is what setting the captives free and lifting those oppressed
look like-touching lepers and those cast off, unclean, unacceptable
because of their sickness, or sin or history to others in
society. This is the will of God in Jesus. The will of God
is welcoming, forgiving, healing and touchable. No one is
beyond the reach of Jesus. And Jesus breaks all the laws
that shun people, curse them or punish them for who they
are or what they have done.
Leprosy
was a disease that was made a curse because of peoples'
fear. Who are the people we curse and condemn to a life
without pity, or touch or hope because of our fear of them-public
sinners, pedophiles, those who have HIV-AIDS, those who
might be tainted with association with people we are afraid
of and punish instead of being willing to help them return
to the community? Do we stand with Jesus and say: "I
do will it, be clean."
–
That all Christians, especially our leaders of the Church,
may by their goodness and their spontaneous joy bear forceful
witness that Jesus Christ is our risen Lord, we pray:
–
That all peoples of the earth may hear where the Lord
can be found and come to know his name and pray to him, we pray:
–
That the faith and hope of the sick and the dying may
be firmly anchored in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the resurrection
and the life, we pray:
Lord
our God,
in these signs of bread and wine
we remember that Jesus shed his blood
to let us share in his life and love.
Renew us by his body and blood,
that we may grow in his likeness
and that you may recognize in us
the face of your own Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Lord
God, loving Father,
your Son has been with us
and we entrust ourselves to him in faith.
Let this faith so mark our lives
that whatever the future brings,
we keep trusting and hoping
that he is our life and joy and healing,
and that with him and on account of him
we will live in your love
for ever and ever.
Blessing
“Whoever has Jesus,
the Son, has life,” says the apostle John to us today.
May Jesus’ life keep growing
in all of us, and may God bless you, the Father,
and the Son, and the Holy
Spirit.
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