December 27, 2019 Feast of Saint John, Apostle and evangelist

2019년 12월 27일 성 요한 사도 복음사가 축일

오늘의 복음 : http://info.catholic.or.kr/missa/default.asp

제1독서
요한 1서 1,1-4
사랑하는 여러분, 1 처음부터 있어 온 것, 우리가 들은 것
우리 눈으로 본 것, 우리가 살펴보고 우리 손으로 만져 본 것,
이 생명의 말씀에 관하여 말하고자 합니다.
2 그 생명이 나타나셨습니다. 우리가 그 생명을 보고 증언합니다.
그리고 여러분에게 그 영원한 생명을 선포합니다.
영원한 생명은 아버지와 함께 계시다가 우리에게 나타나셨습니다.
3 우리가 보고 들은 것을 여러분에게도 선포합니다.
여러분도 우리와 친교를 나누게 하려는 것입니다.
우리의 친교는 아버지와 또 그 아드님이신 예수 그리스도와 나누는 것입니다.
4 우리의 기쁨이 충만해지도록 이 글을 씁니다.

 

복음
요한. 20,2-8
주간 첫날, 마리아 막달레나는 2 시몬 베드로와
예수님께서 사랑하신 다른 제자에게 달려가서 말하였다.
“누가 주님을 무덤에서 꺼내 갔습니다. 어디에 모셨는지 모르겠습니다.”
3 베드로와 다른 제자는 밖으로 나와 무덤으로 갔다.
4 두 사람이 함께 달렸는데,
다른 제자가 베드로보다 빨리 달려 무덤에 먼저 다다랐다.
5 그는 몸을 굽혀 아마포가 놓여 있는 것을 보기는 하였지만,
안으로 들어가지는 않았다.
6 시몬 베드로가 뒤따라와서 무덤으로 들어가 아마포가 놓여 있는 것을 보았다.
7 예수님의 얼굴을 쌌던 수건은 아마포와 함께 놓여 있지 않고,
따로 한곳에 개켜져 있었다.
8 그제야 무덤에 먼저 다다른 다른 제자도 들어갔다. 그리고 보고 믿었다.

December 27, 2019

Feast of Saint John, Apostle and evangelist

Daily Readings — Audio

Daily Reflections — Video

http://www.usccb.org/bible/

Daily Mass : http://www.catholictv.com/shows/daily-mass

Reading 1

1 Jn 1:1-4

Beloved:
What was from the beginning,
what we have heard,
what we have seen with our eyes,
what we looked upon
and touched with our hands
concerns the Word of lifeB 
for the life was made visible;
we have seen it and testify to it
and proclaim to you the eternal life
that was with the Father and was made visible to usB 
what we have seen and heard
we proclaim now to you,
so that you too may have fellowship with us;
for our fellowship is with the Father
and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
We are writing this so that our joy may be complete.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 97:1-2, 5-6, 11-12

R. (12) Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
The LORD is king; let the earth rejoice;
let the many isles be glad.
Clouds and darkness are around him,
justice and judgment are the foundation of his throne.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,
before the LORD of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his justice,
and all peoples see his glory.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
Light dawns for the just;
and gladness, for the upright of heart.
Be glad in the LORD, you just,
and give thanks to his holy name.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!

Gospel

Jn 20:1a and 2-8

On the first day of the week,
Mary Magdalene ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we do not know where they put him.”
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter
and arrived at the tomb first;
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him,
he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,
and the cloth that had covered his head,
not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in,
the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
and he saw and believed.

http://evangeli.net/gospel/tomorrow

 «He saw and believed»

Fr. Manel VALLS i Serra
(Barcelona, Spain)

Today, the liturgy celebrates the festivity of Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist. The first day after Christmas, the Church celebrates Saint Stephen's day, the first martyr of the Christian faith. And the following day is the feast of Saint John. Saint John is the one who better and most deeply understood the mystery of the Word Incarnate. John was the very first “theologian” and best example for any other true theologian. Today's proposed fragment of his Gospel helps us to consider Christmas from the perspective of the Lord's Resurrection. Indeed, when John arrived to the empty tomb, «he saw and believed» (Jn 20:8). Trusting the Apostles’ testimony, every Christmas we are stimulated to ‘see’ and ‘believe’, too.

We can also find these same words “see” and “believe” in connection with Jesus' birth, the Verb incarnated. Pushed by his heart's intuition —and we should add, by “grace”— John “sees” beyond what, at that time, his eyes cannot yet see. In fact, he believes without “having yet seen” the Christ; and receives the praise of those «who haven't seen me and believe anyway» (Jn 20:29), that ends chapter twenty of his Gospel.

Peter and John “run” together towards the tomb, but the text says John «outran Peter and reached the tomb first» (Jn 20:4). It seems that the desire to be again by the side of the one he loved —Christ— was stronger than that of physically being next to Peter, with whom, however —by waiting for him and allowing him to be the first to enter the tomb— he shows that it is Peter who holds the primacy of the Apostolic College. Yet, it is his ardent heart, full of zeal, John's impassionate love, which impels him to “run” and “outrun”, in a clear invitation for us to equally live our faith with such a fervent desire to see the Resurrection.

http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html

 

John starts his gospel (Chapter 1) with the words “In the beginning.”  His first epistle also commences with similar words today – “What was from the beginning.”  This construct harkens back to Genesis 1 – “In the beginning.”  And the reading today from Chapter 20 is similar in tone, in that the holy women (where were the men??) visited Jesus’ tomb on the first day – the beginning – of the week.  This use of the same phrase/meaning in a variety of writings has been the focus of my reflections for these readings.

We have many beginnings in our lives, some more eagerly anticipated and welcomed than others.  We await the birth of a child or grandchild with joy and love, we anticipate the beginning of a new life without a loved one who is in hospice with some feelings of sadness, discomfort and perhaps dread.  We look forward both positively and negatively to changes in our work environment, to major life events such as marriage or retirements, to the changing of the seasons.

But we also have beginnings every day when we awaken.  We have beginnings every time we encounter a person in the office, or on the street, or in a store.  We have beginnings when we answer the phone (even if it is an aggravating robocall or telemarketer).  We have beginnings when we drive to or from work, or attend a Christmas play, or gather as family for a special dinner.  We have beginnings when we shower, or dress ourselves, or pay our bills.  We have beginnings when we visit a friend who is ill or incapacitated.  We have beginnings when we witness at funerals and pray for the deceased.  We have beginnings when we follow the cycle of the liturgies through the seasons of Advent and Lent.  In preparation for each Christmas and for each Easter we have a beginning.

Each beginning is an opportunity.  A beginning is something new, or a repeat of something we have done before.  But if we think of each recurring event as a new beginning (is that redundant?), we have an opportunity to improve from our last “beginning.”  There is a wonderful movie from 1993 titled “Groundhog Day.”  In the movie the protagonist, Bill Murray, is inexplicably caught in a time loop in which every new day starts the same no matter what happens during the day.  At first Murray engages in all sorts of selfish and bad behaviors with no lasting consequences, because the next morning his slate is wiped clean and he starts again unaffected by the actions of the prior day.  It is not until he realizes that this loop is perpetuating, and he can choose to be better himself or be selfish, that he actually starts to change his life in each of these one-day increments and a path out of the loop becomes feasible and eventually he is freed from the loop entirely.

I think in each of our many beginnings we have a gift from God to try to get it better this time around.  I think each day, each encounter, each moment is a gift from which we can learn to be more faithful in loving God and God’s creation, or more selfish in putting ourselves first.    Each re-start is an opportunity to reflect on what we have done, and what we could do, and what we didn’t do.  In each moment we have a choice to move closer God by following the example of Jesus, or to move farther away by focusing on ourselves. 

And so my prayer today is to express my profound gratitude for the freshness that each new beginning can bring, and also for the strength to learn from my mistakes and weaknesses, so I can use each beginning as a generous response to God’s gifts and not as a selfish focus on my own desires. 

 http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp

EYE IN THE SKY

"He saw and believed." �John 20:8

Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. John the Evangelist. John is the author of the fourth Gospel, three letters in the New Testament, and the Book of Revelation. He is one of the twelve apostles and remained with Jesus at the foot of the cross as He was crucified. God blessed St. John with a special gift뾞 heavenly perspective on the plan of salvation. His Gospel especially emphasizes the divinity of Christ. I find the following image helpful when explaining the divine viewpoint of St. John's Gospel. Picture Jesus standing in the center of a room with three doors. He is facing one door, and there are doors to His right and His left. Imagine St. Matthew standing in the door to Jesus' left, St. Mark in the doorway facing Jesus, and St. Luke in the doorway to His right. Each of these three evangelists faithfully portray Jesus from their particular vantage point. They each see a unique perspective of Jesus, and describe Jesus a bit differently from the other evangelists. Picture St. John, however, gazing down upon the Lord from a skylight in the roof. John has the divine perspective in mind throughout His Gospel. All four evangelists are describing the same Jesus, but from a different perspective. Thus, different aspects of Jesus emerge in each Gospel. St. John looks at Jesus from the heavenly perspective of the Father. Much of John's Gospel describes Jesus' relationship with His Father. He was sent from the Father (Jn 5:36) and lives in the Father (Jn 10:38). I challenge you to read the Gospel of John during the Christmas season. Keep St. John's heavenly perspective in mind. Believe that Jesus and the Father are one (Jn 10:30).

Prayer: "My Lord and my God!" (Jn 20:28)

Promise: "We speak of the Word of Life." —1 Jn 1:1

Praise: "I have written this to you to make you realize that you possess eternal life뾷ou who believe in the name of the Son of God" (1 Jn 5:13). Thank you, Lord, for the ministry of St. John the Evangelist.

 http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/

 John saw the Word of God made flesh and believed

What was it like for those who encountered the only begotten Son of God in human form? John, the beloved disciple of Jesus, wrote his Gospel account as an eye-witness of the Word of God who became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:1,14), and who died and rose for our salvation. John was the first apostle to reach the tomb of Jesus on Easter Sunday morning. Like the other disciples, he was not ready to see an empty tomb and to hear the angel's message, Why do you seek the living among the dead (Luke 24:5)? 

The Lord Jesus came to set us free from sin and death and give us everlasting life
What did John see in the tomb that led him to believe in the resurrection of Jesus? It was certainly not a dead body. The dead body of Jesus would have dis-proven the resurrection and made his death a tragic conclusion to a glorious career as a great teacher and miracle worker. When John saw the empty tomb he must have recalled Jesus' prophecy that he would rise again after three days. Through the gift of faith John realized that no tomb on earth could contain the Lord and giver of life.

Jesus is the eternal Son of the Father and the Savior who died and rose for us
John in his first epistle testifies: What we have seen, heard, and touched we proclaim as the word of life which existed "from the beginning" (1 John 1:1-4). John bears witness to what has existed from all eternity. This "Word of Life" is Jesus the Word Incarnate, but also Jesus as the word announced by the prophets and Jesus the word now preached throughout the Christian churches for all ages to come. one thing is certain, if Jesus had not risen from the dead and appeared to his disciples, we would never have heard of him. Nothing else could have changed sad and despairing men and women into people radiant with joy, hope, and courage.

The reality of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the central fact of the Christian faith. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Lord gives us "eyes of faith" to know him and the power of his resurrection. The greatest joy we can have is to encounter the living Jesus Christ and to know him personally as our Savior and Lord.

"Lord Jesus Christ, you have triumphed over the grave and you have won new life for us. Give me the eyes of faith to see you in your glory. Help me to draw near to you and to grow in the knowledge of your great love and power that sets us free to love and serve you now and forever in your everlasting kingdom."

Psalm 97:1-2, 5-6, 11-12

1 The LORD reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!
2 Clouds and thick darkness are round about him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
5 The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.
6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness; and all the peoples behold his glory.
11 Light dawns for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart.
12 Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!

Daily Quote from the early church fathers: The Word of Life was seen and touched, by Severus of Antioch (488-538 AD)

"Given that this same John also said, 'No one has ever seen God' (John 1:18, 1 John 1:4:12), how can he assure us that the living Word of Life has been seen and touched? It is clear that it was in his incarnate and human form that he was visible and touchable. What was not true of him by nature became true of him in that way, for he is one and the same indivisible Word, both visible and invisible, and without diminishing in either respect he became touchable in both his divine-human nature. For he worked his miracles in his divinity and suffered for us in his humanity." (excerpt from CATENA)

  

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