Thursday.blog
Catholic Calendar for Thursday, January 6, 2005
Thursday after the Epiphany of the Lord
Blessed Andre' Bessette, religious
Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
1 John 4:19--5:4
Psalm 72:1-2,14-15,17
Luke 4:14-22
A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:
Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing. (Luke 4:21)
Today's reading from 1 John speaks of the only source of genuine love, God Himself. We, His children, were created to exist in His love, receiving it and giving it to others, that they might be drawn to Him; for being offered genuine and sincere love is the secret desire of every human heart. Last week we reflected that though the spiritually mature are able to better discern the presence of God in others, all of us have had a variety of experiences upon meeting certain people. Some may seem self-centered, virtually encased in ice, whereas others quietly exude goodness and love, not a mere gushing show of verbal or physical affection. We need not guess who of these genuinely possesses God's love.
This relates to today's Gospel which in its abbreviated form ends by mistakenly creating the impression that Jesus' townspeople reacted warmly toward Him and His reading from the prophet Isaiah. However, when He continues by asserting that the one prophesied in this passage is Himself who will bring salvation to the Israelites, they cannot receive His word. Reading past verse 22, we see that they then drove Jesus out of town to hurl Him headlong down the brow of a hill. What changed their approval into wrath was Jesus' accusing them of faithlessness shown by their inability to discern God's Presence in Him and further proving, by examples, that foreigners had in the past proven themselves more attuned to God than the Israelites, those who had been chosen to reveal Him to the world.
Gracious Redeemer,
pour out Your Spirit upon us
to fill us with Your love and truth,
that we may be enabled to discern what is
and what is not of You. Amen
- Marie Bocko, OCDS
(mlbocko at earthlink dot net)
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