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Message of the Day
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For the Word is visible to the heart alone, while flesh is visible to bodily eyes as well. We already possessed the means to see the flesh, but we had no means to see the word. The Word was made flesh so that we could see it, to heal the part of us by which we could see the Word.
- Augustine,
Tractates on 1 John
(What does it mean to you to “see the Word?”)
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Readings of the Day
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1 Jn 1:1-4; Ps 97:1-2, 5-6,
11-12 Jn 20:1a and 2-8 On the first day of the week,
Mary Magdalene ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved,
and told them,
"They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we do not know where they put him."
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but
the other disciple ran faster than Peter
and arrived at the tomb first;
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him,
he went
into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,
and the cloth that had covered his head,
not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in,
the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
and he saw and
believed. USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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“Then the disciple who had arrived first at the tomb went in. He saw and believed.” —John 20:8
“The other disciple (the one Jesus loved)” (Jn 20:2), not only ran to Jesus’ tomb faster than Peter, but also believed faster. However, St. Mary Magdalene was faster than both Sts. Peter and John. She ran to them before they ran to the tomb (Jn 20:2). She was the first one mentioned by the Gospels as having met the risen Christ and expressed faith in Him. We can have “fast faith” as Mary Magdalene did.
When we love someone, we want her/him to accept our love as soon as possible. Jesus is no different. He wants us to believe in His love for us right away. He wants us to grow in our love for Him in an accelerated way. He wants to deepen our love for Him very quickly in the next two weeks of the Christmas season. Christmas celebrates when human beings could touch,
kiss, hold, feel, see, and hear Jesus physically (see 1 Jn 1:1-2). This physical contact with Jesus made possible a deep, personal relationship with Him. We did not lose this when Jesus physically ascended into heaven. By the Holy Spirit and through the Eucharist, we now have even greater opportunities for a close, personal relationship with Jesus. This Christmas season, grow quickly in a deep, intimate love for Jesus. Prayer: Father, may my personal relationship with You through Jesus grow by leaps and bounds this Christmas season. Promise: “Indeed, our purpose in writing you this is that our joy may be complete.” —1 Jn 1:4 Presentation Ministries
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Spiritual Reading
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-Readings from Jesus Alive in Our Lives, by Philip St. Romain. Ave Maria Press, 1985. Contemplative Ministries, Inc. 2011. Part Two, Encountering the Risen Christ Chapter 7: The Cosmic Christ, part
II - Selected quotes What I have been describing in this chapter seems to me to be small tastes of what heaven will be like. Theologians tell us that those in heaven experience the “beatific vision.” This means that they are privileged to participate directly in the life of the
Trinity, enjoying God’s own knowing, loving, and awareness. As members of Christ’s Body, we, too, already stand with him in the Trinity, and are sometimes blessed with foretastes of heavenly blessedness. Through such experiences, we come to know that Christ really is present to and within his Mystical Body, renewing and transforming all who are connected with his Body. He wants us to become as he is, not out of some divine grandiosity and arrogance, but that we might enjoy the
sublime joys that are the mainstay of divine life. That is why he came, and why we go to meet Him in the modes of presence he offers us.
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