DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION
JANUARY 6, 2024
SATURDAY - CHRISTMAS WEEKDAY
(OPTIONAL MEMORIAL OF SAINT ANDRÉ BESSETTE, RELIGIOUS)
FIRST READING
1 JOHN 5:5-13
5 Who is it that overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 6 This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. 7 And the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is the truth. 8 There are three witnesses, the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree. 9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has borne witness to his Son. 10 He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne to his Son. 11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who has not the Son of God has not life.13 I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
The Word of the Lord
_
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
PSALMS 146(147):12-15, 19-20
Response: Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
Or
R. Alleluia.
Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem!
Praise your God, O Zion!
For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
he blesses your sons within you.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
Or
R. Alleluia.
He makes peace in your borders;
he fills you with the finest of the wheat.
He sends forth his command to the earth;
his word runs swiftly.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
Or
R. Alleluia.
He declares his word to Jacob,
his statutes and ordinances to Israel.
He has not dealt thus with any other nation;
they do not know his ordinances.
Praise the LORD!
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
Or
R. Alleluia.
_
GOSPEL
The Spirit descends upon the Father's beloved Son
MARK 1:7-11 OR (LUKE 3:23-38 / LUKE 3:23, 31-34, 36, 38 / MATTHEW 2:1-12)
7 And he [John the Baptist] preached, saying, "After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." 9. In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove; 11 and a voice came from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased."
The Gospel of the Lord
_
REFLECTION
DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS
The divine - human reconciliation, attributed to Hippolytus, 170-236 A.D.
"Do you see, beloved, how many and how great blessings we would have lost if the Lord had yielded to the exhortation of John and declined baptism? For the heavens had been shut before this. The region above was inaccessible. We might descend to the lower parts, but not ascend to the upper. So it happened not only that the Lord was being baptized - he also was making new the old creation. He was bringing the alienated under the scepter of adoption (Romans 8:15). For straightway 'the heavens were opened to him.' A reconciliation took place between the visible and the invisible. The celestial orders were filled with joy, the diseases of earth were healed, secret things made known, those at enmity restored to amity. For you have heard the word of the Evangelist, saying, 'The heavens were opened to him,' on account of three wonders [appearance of the eternal Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together at the baptism]. At the baptism of Christ the Bridegroom, it was fitting that the heavenly chamber should open its glorious gates. So when the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove, and the Father's voice spread everywhere, it was fitting that 'the gates of heaven should be lifted up.'"
(excerpt from THE DISCOURSE ON THE HOLY THEOPHANY 6)
_
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.