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Dear Friend,
Fr. Jude Botelho has undergone an
open heart surgery on 17th January 2008. Please pray for his
good health and speedy recovery. The Sunday Reflections will resume after
Fr. Jude is better and able to write them for us all. Fr. Jude Botelho |
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The first reading is part of
the well known Servant Songs. In it the servant himself speaks and tells of
God’s message to him. Before his birth itself he was set apart and chosen by
God to bring In the
second reading from Paul to the Corinthians he speaks to the Corinthians
about how faith has to be lived and practiced amidst the pagan culture that
engulfs them. They should be God’s Church in Willing to sacrifice John wrote his gospel to give his community a
deeper faith in Jesus and a deeper understanding of the kind of Messiah Jesus
was. Today’s Gospel gives us the witness of John the Baptist to Jesus. As
John sees Jesus coming towards him, he points out to Jesus as the Lamb of
God. This expression, which John uses combines many
different conceptions from the Old Testament. Surely the allusion to the Lamb
reminded the Israelites of the many lambs that were sacrificed daily in the
temple and the lamb of the paschal sacrifice. There is the reference that was
made by Isaiah to the Suffering Servant led like a lamb to the slaughter as a
sacrifice for sin. One could recall the sacrifice of Abraham where God
provided the lamb for sacrifice. The Lamb of God challenges us to make
sacrifices similar to his for love of our neighbour.
In referring to Jesus as the Lamb he is also being designated as the Servant
of Yahweh, who became the servant of all. Besides being pointed out as the
Lamb of God and the suffering servant, Jesus is also designated as Lord. As
the Lord he is the goal of human history and the centre of the human race.
John the Baptist would say of him: A man coming after me who ranks before me
because he existed before me. He witnesses to Jesus as the Lamb of God A tourist visited a church in Richard Fairchild. in ‘Sermon and Liturgy’ “To take our baptismal vows seriously we are to follow Jesus as
sacrificial lambs. We Christians must make all kinds of sacrifices. We
sacrifice an easy logical and scientific view of the world and life. We
cannot prove our faith; we make a leap of faith. It is based on reason but
logic cannot take us there. Belief in God and Jesus means we sacrifice the
popular and all too easy way of simple logic. Many call us fools. We are
fools for Christ's sake. We sacrifice conventional wisdom and believe that
power comes from weakness. We Christians are called to be advocates for the
poor and homeless in a society that cherishes lavish lunches and luxurious
living. We support legislation that brings food to the hungry and changes the
system so that no one goes hungry. But Christian lambs are called to do some
other painful and difficult things. We are to love our enemies. We need to
get our political leaders to sit down and talk with so-called terrorists.
There are as many different kinds of terrorists as there are American
citizens. They are not all extremists. They differ widely about proper
tactics and means to carry out their agendas. Our government apparently
treats all so-called terrorists as if they are all the same.” – Rev. Robert Warren Cromey Nathan’s
story- From the Second Book of Samuel Two men were citizens of the same town. The
one man was rich and powerful, the other poor and helpless. The rich man had
great flocks of sheep. He had so many sheep that he lost count of them. The
poor man, on the other hand, had only one tiny sheep. But the poor man’s
children loved the lamb. They played with it all day long. They even brought
it to table to share the little food they had. Nathan says they even taught
the lamb to drink from a cup. The lamb was like a member of the family. One
day an important visitor came to the rich man’s house. But the rich man
didn’t want to kill any of his own lambs to feed the guest. So he had his
servant go over to the poor man’s house, take the poor man’s lamb, and
slaughter it to feed his guest. – This moving story of the rich man’s cruelty
and callousness was one of the images John the Baptist had in mind when he
pointed a bony finger at Jesus and said to his disciples, “there is the lamb
of God.” Nathan’s story of the poor man’s pet lamb certainly fitted Jesus.
Jesus, too, was deeply loved. He too was to be cruelly slain by evil men. -
Mark Link in ‘Sunday Homilies’ The sacrifice A gardener had a cluster of tall bamboos in
one corner of his park. One day the gardener looked over the group of bamboos
stood before the tallest and said, “My dear friend, I need you.” “Sir’ said
the bamboo, “use me in any way you want. I am ready.” “But”, said the gardener, “in order to use
you, I’ve got to split you in half.” “Split me?” reacted
the bamboo. “Why? I’m the nicest bamboo in this garden. No please! Use me as
you like but don’t split me in half.” “Well it’s like this: If I can’t split
you in half, I can’t use you.” The
stately bamboo bowed its head and whispered. “Sir, if the only way to use me
is to split me in half, do it.” “But”, said the
gardener, “that’s only part of it.” “I’m going to cut off all your branches
and leaves too. What’ worse I will have to take away even your heart and your
insides, other wise, I cannot use you.” The bamboo bent all the way to the
ground and said, “Sir, cut and prune me as you wish.” So the gardener cut
down the bamboo, lopped of the branches, and leaves, split it down the
middle, and then hollowed out its insides. Then he carried it out through the
parched fields and brought it to a spring of water. He connected the bamboo
with the spring and let it carry the water to the fields and make them
fruitful. And so it was that when the bamboo had been cut down, dismembered
and split right down the middle it became a source of great blessing to the
people. Willi Hoffsuemmer
in ‘Tonic for the heart’ May we give witness to Jesus as Lord by sacrificial lives! Fr. Jude Botelho |
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Other Sunday Homily Websites Daily Reflections Immaculate Heart Retreat Center Gospel Commentary from Ireland Daily Scripture
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Recent
Sunday Reflections First Sunday of the Year 13-Jan. 2008 Feast of the Epiphany 06-Jan. 2008 Feast of Holy Family 30-Dec. 2007 Fourth Sunday of Advent 23-Dec. 2007 Third
Sunday of Advent 16-Dec. 2007
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