1 John 2:22-28, Psalm 98:1-4, John 1:19-28

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

1 John 2:22-28, Psalm 98:1-4, John 1:19-28

 1 John 2:22-28

 My Beloved, those who have heard the Good News and believe that You are Jesus the Christ, One who save and is anointed by God and sent by Him into the world are saved. There are many false prophets in the world today who preach and teach lies and it is against these that the evangelist warns us. To deny that You were sent into the world to save it is to deny both the Father and You for it was the will of the Father that You take upon Yourself the burden of our sins and its punishment as the Lamb of God, the willing, obedient, humble Victim for our sins.

We are called to keep alive the Good News of our faith, the faith that is Your gift to us at Baptism when being grafted to You we were made children of God. As long as we hold on to this Truth we are assured of life in the Father and in You, and we receive Your promise of eternal life. We are often led astray from the Truth because we are ignorant. We do nothing to seek the Truth, increase our knowledge of the Truth and being strengthened by the Truth because we do not make the time to learn about our faith through reading Scripture and the other means that the Church makes available to us. We do not frequent the Sacraments and as a result we fall by the wayside and become victims of our own spiritual lethargy.

We have received the anointing of Your Holy Spirit at Baptism. He is Your Gift to us to be our Helper, Paraclete, Teacher and Guide. We need no other for He teaches us everything for He is the Spirit of Truth. As long as we remain in Him we have Your guarantee that we will never be led astray.

We are asked to live in You and this is made possible through the Holy Eucharist when You come down from heaven in fullness to make Your home in us for a while and leave us strengthened with the Bread of Angels, food for the journey to eternal life. And when You come again in glory we shall not have to hide in shame like Adam and Eve but look at You with confidence. Our hope and faith in You will be rewarded as we receive a share in Your inheritance as children of God.

 Psalm 98:1-4

We who are living in the first period of the third millennium are living in an age when the worlds of the Psalmist are absolutely true. “All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God”. What then is our response? Are we exultant with praise and what Your Apostles, disciples, and followers have accomplished since that moment when You pierced time and history and was born a Babe in Bethlehem.

Do we tremble with holy joy at the work of redemption and salvation of the whole world, accomplished by Your suffering, passion and death? Strung on the Cross after being brutalized by the wicked sinfulness of all men made manifest in the cruelty of the blows, the mockery and sheer savagery of those who carried out the judgment of those in power? Justice was served when punishment fitting the crimes of all mankind was meted out when You became the Lamb of Sacrifice and took upon Yourself the sentence of eternal death that was ours. God is always faithful to the Covenant of Love He made with Abraham and renewed time and time and made manifest when He  sent You, His only and well beloved Son into the world.

Truly my Beloved,  we believe that, “At various times in the past and in various different ways, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; but in our own time, the last days, he has spoken to us through his Son”. Heb1:1-2

John 1:19-28      

My Beloved, as witnesses to the Good News we have an excellent example in John the Baptist. There are many people who make a lucrative living preaching and teaching the Word of God. Through God given charisms and Gift of the Holy Spirit they heal, preach and teach with great power often accompanied by signs and wonders just as You promised. They become proud, forgetting that it is the power of God working through them in order to spread the Good News. Here we see John  truly humble and aware that he is only the messenger charged with making known the message. He does not claim to be Elijah or a Prophet but says that he is only a voice that is crying in the wilderness making ready the way for the One who was to come. He claims no glory for himself He says clearly he is not the Christ whom the people of God were waiting but in perfect awareness of who he truly was said that he was unworthy to undo the sandal strap of the One who was among them but was yet to them.

When we speak of You and witness to Your love we must always remember that it is You who must increase while we decrease.