HOMILY FOR TUESDAY WITHIN THE CHRISTMAS PERIOD.
THEME: John said, ‘Look, there is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
BY: Fr. Deotacious Chikontwe SMA.
HOMILY FOR JANUARY 3RD.
*READINGS OF THE DAY*
1 John 2:29-3:6
Psalm 97:1,3-6
John 1:29-34
*LITURGICAL COLOUR*
WHITE
*INTRODUCTION*
Some of the words of Scripture have become a fixed part of the language of the church’s liturgy. The opening words of today’s gospel reading are a good example of that. The words of John the Baptist, ‘Look, there is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world’ are more or less the words the celebrant speaks at Mass just before communion, when he holds up the host. Jesus came among us, according to John’s gospel, to take away the sin of the world, the sin of us all.
*FROM THE FIRST READING*
Today’s first reading speaks of eternal life as that eternal moment when we shall be like God because we shall see God as God is. Elsewhere in this letter, Saint John writes that ‘God is Love’. In eternity, we will see God as God is, as Love, and we shall become what we behold, like God, as loving as God is loving. It is a wonderful way of speaking about eternal life.
RELATED: HOMILY FOR THE MEMORIAL OF THE HOLY NAME OF JESUS
*FROM THE GOSPEL READING*
In the gospel reading, John the Baptist identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus is the expression of God’s love working to reconcile all of humanity to himself. Jesus is the fullest human revelation possible of God’s love for the world. The closest we can come to seeing God as Love in this life is to look upon Jesus, especially as he comes to us in the gospels.
*CONCLUSION*
In eternity, according to the first reading, we will become like God, as loving as God is loving, but each day we are called to grow more fully into Jesus, God’s love in human form, through looming upon Jesus with the eyes of faith. Something of our eternal destiny can become a present reality when we grow up into Christ and allow him to live in and through us. According to the gospel reading, Jesus came to baptize us with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God’s love. Jesus gives us his own Spirit to empower us to become as loving as he is and, thereby, to anticipate in the here and now our glorious destiny to be like God, as loving as God is loving.
The Lord be With You?http://catholicforlife.com/homily-for-tuesday-within-the-christmas-period-1/
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