Click Here for the Mass Readings for Today (USA):
The experience of walking into church to offer Mass and discovering that the Mass readings are different from the ones you prepared can be a little unnerving. That was my experience this morning, and it's not the first time that has happened. I had prepared the Mass readings based off the USCCB website (from the links above), only to discover that for this entire week the Mass readings in the States will be different from the readings here in Italy and other places of the world. I guess I didn't put two and two together yesterday. So while those of you in the States are reflecting on passages of Scripture that touch upon the manifestation of Jesus to the world, you'll have the added bonus of further reflections on the mystery of Christmas. Now that's something to get excited about!Today's Gospel passage (Jn 1:35-42) contains the famous revelation of St. John the Baptist: "Behold the Lamb of God." This image of the lamb of God is rich in biblical significance. First off, it is an image which calls to mind the exodus of the Israelite people out of Egypt when they had to sacrifice a lamb and place its blood on their door posts. Secondly, a lamb could be offered in the Jewish temple sacrifices as a way to expiate sins. Finally, this image reappears in Isaiah when it talks about the "suffering servant": "Though he was harshly treated, he submitted and opened not his mouth; like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, he was silent and opened not his mouth." (Is 53:7). The words of the prophet come to fulfillment in Jesus' suffering and death, where Jesus most poignantly reveals Himself to truly be the Lamb of God who will take away the sins of the world and set us free. In Jesus crucified all three of these aspects are drawn together and their full significance revealed.
How does all of this relate to the mystery of Christmas? The image of the Lamb of God speaks of innocence (not ignorance, but innocence), it also speaks to us about self-sacrifice which comes from love. Every time we look at the crib where the baby Jesus lies we ought to recall the purpose of His birth. He has been born into our world to become the Lamb of God, to offer up His life in sacrifice to purify us and set us free - free to receive and give the love of God to both God and neighbor. Throughout His whole life Jesus remains that "spotless lamb".
How does this relate to our life as disciples of Christ? Before answering that question I would like to look at a quote from today's first reading: "Indeed, the Son of God was revealed to destroy the works of the devil." (1 Jn 3:8) When we look around at the expansiveness of sin, evil, and darkness in our world we can be discouraged if we do not understand the power of God, a power that we often underestimate. In the face of so much evil we can begin to doubt the blessing of humility and innocence just as the psalmist did: "How useless to keep my heart pure and wash my hands in innocence" (Ps 73). Yet God was to destroy the power and might of sin and the devil through His humility and self-sacrifice. This is not easy to accept when we realize that this truth requires a change of mentality and heart on our part. When we think of overcoming evil in the world we think of the need to be mightier than the force of evil, and that in order to uproot evil and sin we need so many things. We often forget or do not think according to the Christian precept of overcoming evil with goodness (Romans 12:21). This is because we do not understand the full power of goodness. I know for myself that the most profound moments of conversion come through an experience of God's goodness, either a direct experience of God's goodness, or seeing heroic goodness in the lives of others around me. Those humble acts of goodness, which often involved some sort of self-sacrifice or hardship for someone, were powerful enough to burn themselves into my memory and heart, and they continue to trasform me.
When we look deeply into the mystery of Christmas, into the mystery of God's love and His coming among us, we will find ourselves challenged by His goodness, by His innocence, by His love and self-sacrifice. But all of this, if we accept the fullness of this mystery, has the power to transform us and make us better reflections of God's goodness. Yes, it requires humility and sacrifice on our part, and we are always learning how to do that better - but it also brings the power of God into our world, a power which does not exist in the governments of the world, but within individual hearts. It is a power which the world calls "weakness", but it is this "weakness of God" that has proved to be "stronger than human strength." (1 Cor 1:25) To be "weak" requires tremendous interior strength and a firm understanding of who we are as God's children. There is nothing feeble or squeamish in humility, mercy or innocence. Innocence is, again, not equivalent to ignorance, nor does it signify immaturity or a need to abandon the use of reason or one's intellect. On the contrary, these virtues, or this "weakness" of God, require a firm purpose, and a noble and gallant resolve on the part of each disciple.
I leave you with a stanza from a poem written as a tribute to St. Edmund Campion by St. Henry Walpole - a man who experienced the goodness and love of God and was converted when St. Edmund's blood splashed upon him during the martyr's execution (the same martyrdom that St. Henry would undergo 15 years later).
"Yee thought perhapps, when learned Campion dyes,
his pen must cease, his sugred (sweet) townge (tongue) be still.
But yow forget how lowd (loud) his deathe yt (it) cryes,
how farre beyond the sownd (sound) of tounge or quill.
yow did not know how rare and great a good
yt (it) was to write those precious guiftes (gifts) in bloode."
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