Address January 17, 2021
Homily for January 17, 2021
Today, in all the Catholic churches of the world the gospel according to Saint John, chapter 1, verses 35 to 42, is heard.
(GOSPEL)
Deacon Junior Antonio tells us this biblical text:
Of the confession of John the Baptist we can say what the Lord said of that of Peter in Caesarea Philippi: “No one of flesh and blood has revealed this to you, but my Father in Heaven.” Moved by the Holy Spirit, the greatest of prophets presents the Lord to us as the Lamb of God. It is then this Word of the prophet, the revealed Word of God: the Word that is him and has been fully manifested in his son Jesus Christ. He is the only savior; He is the only God, and there is no other, as the psalmist proclaims, the only God who has become a companion on the road in his Son, true God and true man, savior of his brothers.
The Christmas Liturgy of the Word, which we recently celebrated, and through which we too were able to experience the renewing joy of having found the Messiah, presented us with some titles that reveal the identity of Jesus: the Emmanuel, the Word, the Word. of God incarnate, among others.
Also the gifts of the wise men of the East, in this sense, help us understand who in Jesus, why he has come to this world. The incense indicates that he is God, the gold that he is king, but the myrrh is a peculiar gift, it speaks for itself of his identity, but referring to his mission. The myrrh will be to honor their sacrifices. This gift predicts the mission of Jesus, the same one that John the Baptist announces to him when he points him out in the presence of his disciples as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
In the Old Testament, in the book of Genesis, God provides the sacrificial lamb in Isaac’s place and saves his life. There is also the image of the lamb at the Passover dinner; and the blood marked the lintels of the houses of the Israelites and saved their firstborn from the exterminating angel. With the blood of the lamb the alliance between God and his people was sealed.
Lamb of God is a title that expresses a mission. Jesus, who is considered by many to be the prophet, the Teacher, is the Messiah, the anointed one, the Christ, the Word of God, the incarnate body, the Emmanuel, God with us, the definitive lamb of God, who like a sheep led to the slaughterhouse, has come to give himself for you and me, for us, in our place so that, with his death, he can conquer our death and with his resurrection he can give us new life. He is the one who with his shed blood frees us from evil, from the daily deaths in which our selfishness bury us, and seals the new and definitive alliance of God with men.
The Letter to the Hebrews that we are reading and meditating on this week reveals to us precisely that Christ, our Lord, is the Lamb of God, the one who sacrificed himself to free us from evil, to free us, in the words of Saint Teresa, “from us.” ourselves”, of our inclination to sin.
The Evangelist Saint John says that the Baptist noticed Jesus passing by. Saint Augustine said, “I am afraid of Christ who passes by,” because distracted, worried, he might not notice that the Lord was knocking at his door, as Saint John of Jesus also says in the Apocalypse to illustrate to us that the Lord always seeks us.
Wouldn’t it be worth asking ourselves, and we look at Him? How many of us seek Jesus? Since the day of baptism we have encountered Jesus, the Christ. But perhaps we do not remember that first meeting because we were baptized as children. Those who have been baptized as adults remember that moment perfectly, and perhaps like the evangelist they have in their memories even the time it happened, for what it has meant for their lives. The same thing happens to those who perhaps do not go to Church every Sunday, but one day they went for the first time, they felt blessed and with great peace they fell exhausted like Jacob until they said “God is in this place.” So… why don’t you come back? You, as Saint Ambrose says, “should not fear,” because you have already been healed.
Today we are invited to renew our encounter, the one that marked our lives and made us discover, like the Baptist, Jesus before us. Priests, deacons, men and women religious, seminarians, today we relive that meeting in which we said our yes as sent witnesses of the gospel. Let us seek the Lord in prayer, and when we meet our people they will see our face shining like that of Moses when he came down from his meeting with God. Married couples, renew the yes of the day you held hands in front of the altar, and deeply experienced that you had found the Messiah of your love, of your family.
Today, in this pandemic situation, in the face of doubts, uncertainties, restrictions, scarcity, confinement, the Lord also asks us: what are you looking for? Certainly we look for food, hygiene, medicine, goods to live on, but even if with heroic efforts we could gather them, it will happen to them like the water that the Samaritan woman went to look for at the well again and again, it runs out. Saint Teresa of Calcutta said that this world, more than material hunger, hungers for God. We are invited to meet the one who lasts forever, the one who spiritually nourishes our person. Finding Him is safe, because it is He who passes by, continues to make Himself found. God always has the initiative. As Pope Francis says, that meeting at four in the afternoon, of the disciples and the Baptist with the Lord, happens every day in the greatest of miracles: the Eucharist. And the confession of John is the confession of the Church spoken by the priest until the end of time, the confession of the full, definitive and saving truth. This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
The Son of God entered the history of man so that man would understand history, the history of his saving step that leads us to eternity. Christ passes by our side and invites us to follow him. Come and see. Come and you will see that with Jesus Christ you are always better off, that bread is shared more and that we can be poor, yes, but brothers, family. It is then when we understand and live the gift of the beatitudes and with renewed hope we dream as we sow good and love what we pray in the Lord’s Prayer: Your Kingdom come. And we can go and tell our family, neighbors, friends, we have found the Messiah.
Let us then be infected with this salvation, and like the Baptist let us continue announcing to the world that Jesus Christ is the only one who takes away sin.
(SINGING)
In the face of difficulties, Pope Francis invites us to praise God as Christ did. The Pope says in the audience on January 13: “There is a great teaching in this prayer that for eight centuries has never stopped beating, which Saint Francis composed at the end of his life: the ‘Canticle of Brother Sun’ or ‘ of Creatures’. The Poor Man did not compose it in a moment of joy, of well-being, but on the contrary, in the midst of difficulties. Francisco is now almost blind, and feels in his soul the weight of a loneliness that he had never felt before; The world has not changed since the beginning of his preaching, there are still those who allow themselves to be destroyed by quarrels, and also feel that the steps of death are approaching. It could be the moment of disappointment, of extreme disappointment and of the perception of one’s own failure. But Francis in that moment of sadness, in that dark moment he prays, how does he pray? ‘Laudato yes, my Lord…’. Pray praising. Francis praises God for everything, for all the gifts of creation and also for death, which he boldly calls ‘sister’, ‘sister death’. These examples of the Saints, of Christians, also of Jesus, of praising God in difficult moments, open the doors of a very great path towards the Lord and always purify us.”
(SINGING)
In difficult times the best thing is to share. A journalist asked a farmer why the wheat he grew was the best in the region and allowed him to win the annual agricultural contests. The farmer replied that the secret of his success was that he shared his seeds with his neighbors. Why do you do that, don’t you see that your neighbors can compete with you in the contest? Look, sir, the farmer pointed out. The wind carries pollen from ripe wheat from one field to another. If my neighbors grew wheat of lower quality than mine, pollination would end up damaging my own crop, and my wheat would lose quality. If I want to harvest good wheat, I have to help my neighbors do it too-
The same thing often happens in our lives. Those who want to be successful must ensure that their neighbors are also successful. Those who decide to live well must help others to do so too. Because the value of a life is measured by the lives it modifies. Those who choose to be happy must help others to be happy too, because one’s well-being is linked to that of others.
(SINGING)
Saint Teresa of Jesus comes to our aid in the midst of our worries and we listen to her lyrics
“Nothing is troubled, nothing frightens you, whoever has God, lacks nothing… Nothing is troubled, nothing frightens you, only God is enough.”
“Patience achieves everything, he who has nothing lacks God, only God is enough.”
“Elevate your thoughts, ascend to heaven, do not be distressed by anything, nothing will disturb you. Follow Jesus Christ with a big chest, and, come what may, nothing scares you.”
“Do you see the glory of the world? It is vain glory; There is nothing stable about it. Everything passes. Aspire to the celestial, which always lasts; faithful and rich in promises, God does not change.”
“Love her who deserves immense kindness; but there is no fine love without patience.”
“Trust and living faith keep the soul, for whoever believes and hopes achieves everything. Hell besieged even if it is seen, he who has God will mock its fury. Avenge helplessness, crosses, misfortunes; Since God is his treasure, he lacks nothing.”
“Go therefore, worldly goods; Go, vain happinesses, even if I lose everything, only God is enough.”
(SINGING)
May the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit descend upon you, upon your families, upon the sick, upon those who care, and remain forever. Amen
(SINGING)