READING OF THE DAY First reading from the Book of Isaiah IS 40:1-5, 9-11
Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.
A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; the rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley. Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Go up on to a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news! Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God! Here comes with power the Lord GOD, who rules by his strong arm; here is his reward with him, his recompense before him. Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.
Second reading from the Second Letter of Peter 2 PT 3:8-1
Do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard “delay,” but he is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar and the elements will be dissolved by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be found out.
Since everything is to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be, conducting yourselves in holiness and devotion, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved in flames and the elements melted by fire. But according to his promise we await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you await these things, be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY From the Gospel according to Mark MK 1:1-8
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins. John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He fed on locusts and wild honey. And this is what he proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
"Psalms, 85 Yahweh, you are gracious to your land, you bring back the captives of Jacob, you take away the guilt of your people, you blot out all their sin.Pause You retract all your anger, you renounce the heat of your fury. Bring us back, God our Saviour, appease your indignation against us! Will you be angry with us for ever? Will you prolong your wrath age after age? Will you not give us life again, for your people to rejoice in you? Show us, Lord, your faithful love, grant us your saving help. I am listening. What is God's message? Yahweh's message is peace for his people, his faithful, if only they renounce their folly. His saving help is near for those who fear him, his glory will dwell in our land. Faithful Love and Loyalty join together, Saving Justice and Peace embrace. Loyalty will spring up from the earth, and Justice will lean down from heaven. Yahweh will himself give prosperity, and our soil will yield its harvest. Justice will walk before him, treading out a path." Psalms, 85 -
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER John the Baptist’s testimony invites us to start out again and again on our journey of faith: to start afresh from Jesus Christ, the Lamb full of mercy that the Father gave for us. Let us be surprised once again by God’s choice to be on our side, to show solidarity with us sinners, and to save the world from evil by taking it on fully. (Angelus, 19 January 2020) FAUSTI The " beginning" of the Gospel of Jesus Christ Son of God, the origin of the new creation, with which Scripture opens (Gen 1:1) is only the anticipated echo as promise, is embodied by the attitude of the Baptist who sees reality as God's judgment and salvation for man. For this reason the Baptist is not only a prophet, but "more than a prophet" (Mt 11:9), because he introduces into that absolute novelty of the Gospel that the prophets, only from distant horizons, had predicted. He closes the old time, and waits, pointing to the "new" that appears in Jesus Christ. In Him, the entire Old Testament's expectation, of which the prophets had announced the fulfillment in the future, is concentrated and hovered at last in its realization. Mark expresses all this with a brief citation, attributed to Isaiah, which is understandable only in the context from which his two parts are removed. The first part of the citation refers to the coming fulfilled of God's judgment, foretold by Malachi (3:1-9) which will destroy and crush all injustice on earth. Nothing can escape the "Behold, I make all things new" (Rev 21:5) of the coming kingdom. The second part of the quotation is taken from the book "of consolation" of Isaiah, it resounds in it, the hymn of freedom of the people saved by the Lord, the oppression is finally over! The Baptist urges us to see reality with new eyes in these terms. The Lord is here, His judgment on the present is to be grasped in the destruction, sighed and feared, of oppression and on the other in the liberation, dreamed and sung, of the oppressed one. The Lord is present and allows Himself to be found. He is near. To Him we must now turn: "Behold your God" (Is 40:9) in your midst! From this comes the vigorous call to conversion that the Baptist addresses to us and the call to a new exodus. In fact, "The whole region of Judea and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem rushed to him. Judea and Jerusalem are the sacred place from which one must now leave, passing through a new Red Sea, to free oneself from the slavery of the law and to welcome the Spirit who lives. That is why the message of the Baptist is that of waiting. Not like that of the ancient prophets, but rather of attention to see the present God. "In the midst of you stands One whom you do not know..."
-->-->The Baptist knows that behind the present reality there is something greater, a stronger One, to which we must give way and which comes immediately after: all our attention is turned to this "after", represented by Jesus, the Son who has walked the path of God among men, opening it to us all, with the effusion of the Spirit, so that we too can set out on the same path. Thus, the theme of following of Jesus emerges, felt so strongly by the Apostles and the first Christians, that it is the leading thread of the Gospel of Mark, who introduces us to Him Who must be followed. Jesus is the expected. He is the Lord who comes to immerse us in His Spirit, fulfilling His righteousness and leading us home from exile. The disciple must grow those desires within himself: desires are the need for brotherhood and freedom, the courage to go out, the strength to confront the desert, the knowledge of sin and the desire for forgiveness, the desire for conversion, the expectation of "He who is stronger" who comes and the gift of His Spirit. Everything that Jesus will do and say in the rest of the Gospel will be gradually understood and experienced by these desires, whether they are already within the disciple or induced by Jesus' teachings and example.
READING OF THE DAY
RispondiEliminaFirst reading from the Book of Isaiah
IS 40:1-5, 9-11
Comfort, give comfort to my people,
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her
that her service is at an end,
her guilt is expiated;
indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD
double for all her sins.
A voice cries out:
In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!
Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!
Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill shall be made low;
the rugged land shall be made a plain,
the rough country, a broad valley.
Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together;
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Go up on to a high mountain,
Zion, herald of glad tidings;
cry out at the top of your voice,
Jerusalem, herald of good news!
Fear not to cry out
and say to the cities of Judah:
Here is your God!
Here comes with power
the Lord GOD,
who rules by his strong arm;
here is his reward with him,
his recompense before him.
Like a shepherd he feeds his flock;
in his arms he gathers the lambs,
carrying them in his bosom,
and leading the ewes with care.
Second reading from the Second Letter of Peter
2 PT 3:8-1
Do not ignore this one fact, beloved,
that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years
and a thousand years like one day.
The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard “delay,”
but he is patient with you,
not wishing that any should perish
but that all should come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief,
and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar
and the elements will be dissolved by fire,
and the earth and everything done on it will be found out.
Since everything is to be dissolved in this way,
what sort of persons ought you to be,
conducting yourselves in holiness and devotion,
waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God,
because of which the heavens will be dissolved in flames
and the elements melted by fire.
But according to his promise
we await new heavens and a new earth
in which righteousness dwells.
Therefore, beloved, since you await these things,
be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
From the Gospel according to Mark
MK 1:1-8
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;
he will prepare your way.
A voice of one crying out in the desert:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.”
John the Baptist appeared in the desert
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
People of the whole Judean countryside
and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem
were going out to him
and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River
as they acknowledged their sins.
John was clothed in camel’s hair,
with a leather belt around his waist.
He fed on locusts and wild honey.
And this is what he proclaimed:
“One mightier than I is coming after me.
I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.
I have baptized you with water;
he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
"Psalms, 85
RispondiEliminaYahweh, you are gracious to your land,
you bring back the captives of Jacob,
you take away the guilt of your people,
you blot out all their sin.Pause
You retract all your anger, you renounce
the heat of your fury.
Bring us back, God our Saviour,
appease your indignation against us!
Will you be angry with us for ever?
Will you prolong your wrath age after age?
Will you not give us life again,
for your people to rejoice in you?
Show us, Lord, your faithful love,
grant us your saving help.
I am listening.
What is God's message?
Yahweh's message is peace for his people,
his faithful, if only they renounce their folly.
His saving help is near for those who fear him,
his glory will dwell in our land.
Faithful Love and Loyalty join together,
Saving Justice and Peace embrace.
Loyalty will spring up from the earth,
and Justice will lean down from heaven.
Yahweh will himself give prosperity,
and our soil will yield its harvest.
Justice will walk before him,
treading out a path."
Psalms, 85 -
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
RispondiEliminaJohn the Baptist’s testimony invites us to start out again and again on our journey of faith: to start afresh from Jesus Christ, the Lamb full of mercy that the Father gave for us. Let us be surprised once again by God’s choice to be on our side, to show solidarity with us sinners, and to save the world from evil by taking it on fully. (Angelus, 19 January 2020)
FAUSTI The " beginning" of the Gospel of Jesus Christ Son of God, the origin of the new creation, with which Scripture opens (Gen 1:1) is only the anticipated echo as promise, is embodied by the attitude of the Baptist who sees reality as God's judgment and salvation for man.
For this reason the Baptist is not only a prophet, but "more than a prophet" (Mt 11:9), because he introduces into that absolute novelty of the Gospel that the prophets, only from distant horizons, had predicted.
He closes the old time, and waits, pointing to the "new" that appears in Jesus Christ.
In Him, the entire Old Testament's expectation, of which the prophets had announced the fulfillment in the future, is concentrated and hovered at last in its realization. Mark expresses all this with a brief citation, attributed to Isaiah, which is understandable only in the context from which his two parts are removed. The first part of the citation refers to the coming fulfilled of God's judgment, foretold by Malachi (3:1-9) which will destroy and crush all injustice on earth.
Nothing can escape the "Behold, I make all things new" (Rev 21:5) of the coming kingdom.
The second part of the quotation is taken from the book "of consolation" of Isaiah, it resounds in it, the hymn of freedom of the people saved by the Lord, the oppression is finally over!
The Baptist urges us to see reality with new eyes in these terms. The Lord is here, His judgment on the present is to be grasped in the destruction, sighed and feared, of oppression and on the other in the liberation, dreamed and sung, of the oppressed one.
The Lord is present and allows Himself to be found. He is near.
To Him we must now turn: "Behold your God" (Is 40:9) in your midst!
From this comes the vigorous call to conversion that the Baptist addresses to us and the call to a new exodus. In fact, "The whole region of Judea and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem rushed to him.
Judea and Jerusalem are the sacred place from which one must now leave, passing through a new Red Sea, to free oneself from the slavery of the law and to welcome the Spirit who lives.
That is why the message of the Baptist is that of waiting. Not like that of the ancient prophets, but rather of attention to see the present God. "In the midst of you stands One whom you do not know..."
-->-->The Baptist knows that behind the present reality there is something greater, a stronger One, to which we must give way and which comes immediately after: all our attention is turned to this "after", represented by Jesus, the Son who has walked the path of God among men, opening it to us all, with the effusion of the Spirit, so that we too can set out on the same path. Thus, the theme of following of Jesus emerges, felt so strongly by the Apostles and the first Christians, that it is the leading thread of the Gospel of Mark, who introduces us to Him Who must be followed.
RispondiEliminaJesus is the expected. He is the Lord who comes to immerse us in His Spirit, fulfilling His righteousness and leading us home from exile.
The disciple must grow those desires within himself: desires are the need for brotherhood and freedom, the courage to go out, the strength to confront the desert, the knowledge of sin and the desire for forgiveness, the desire for conversion, the expectation of "He who is stronger" who comes and the gift of His Spirit. Everything that Jesus will do and say in the rest of the Gospel will be gradually understood and experienced by these desires, whether they are already within the disciple or induced by Jesus' teachings and example.