“ We should walk as God walks. God walks humbly, and so should we. God’s walk is a humble walk.

A synodal Church should walk with God and follow the Way God walks – In humility.”

                                                               

                                                                          Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle
                                                                          Pro-Prefect for the Section of Evangelization of Dicastery for Evangelization

  

St. André Bessette, religious

 ＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

1 John 5:5-13

Who has overcome the world ?

The one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

Jesus Christ was acknowledged through water, but also through blood. Not only water, but water and blood. And the Spirit, too, witnesses to him, for the Spirit is truth. There are, then, three testimonies: The Spirit, the water and the blood, and these three witnesses agree.

 

If we accept human testimony, with greater reason must we accept that of God, given in favor of his Son. If you believe In the Son of God, you have God's testimony in you. But those who do not believe, make God a liar, since they do not believe his words when he witnesses to his Son. What has God said? That he has granted us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. The one who has the Son has life, those who do not have the Son of God do not have life.

 

I write you, then, all these things, that you may know, that you have eternal life, all you who believe in the name of the Son of God.

 

Ps 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20 Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊      

Mark 1:7-11 (or Luke 3: 23-38)

[John] preached to the people, saying, "After me comes one who is more powerful than I am; I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit."

 

At that time, Jesus came from Nazareth, a town of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And the moment he came up out of the water, heaven opened before him, and he saw the Spirit coming down on him like a dove. And these words were heard from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved, the One I have chosen."

 

Gospel Reflection ：

"The path of integration."

Our journey of faith challenges us to take the path of integration. We are challenged to become integrated persons that we may hear the voice of God more clearly. Aside from the external noise, we also experience the deafening noise within us. We are torn apart from within such that there are times when we can no longer hear God, dwelling within us, speaking to us. Worries, anxieties and hurts, for example, can bother us and make us deaf to hear the words of God.

 

These negative feelings cause the inner noise that hinders us from hearing what God is actually telling us. The Holy Spirit is the one who gives us the needed serenity of heart that we may truly hear God's voice. Indeed, God's presence is felt through his voice speaking within us. The Gospel tells that when Jesus was baptized, heaven was opened, the Holy Spirit descended upon him and the voice of the Father was heard. While God is present in the world, he is also present in the inner recesses of our hearts. There in our inner self he always speaks to us, guiding us to choose whatever would manifest his divine presence in the world.