Sunday:       Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Date:         January 28, 2007
Year:         C
The readings: [Jer. 1:4-5, 17-19; 1 Cor. 12:31-13:13; Lk. 4:31-30]
The message:  The manifestation of Divine Love.
Prepared by:  CATHOLIC DOORS MINISTRY
Total words:  1348

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Welcome my brothers and sisters in Christ to today's celebration of the Holy Mass in remembrance of the infinite goodness and love of the Lord Jesus who has revealed the Heavenly Father to us. Today, progressing through the early development of the Liturgical Calendar, we are celebrating the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time. At this stage, our hearts are progressively opening to the manifestation of Divine Love.

During today's First Reading, in the dialogue between Yahweh and the prophet Jeremiah, we heard a perfect example of Divine Love. Some of the Words that the Heavenly Father spoke are very touching. Yahweh said, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you"

In His infinite knowledge, the Almighty Lord God knew Jeremiah before He formed him in the womb of his mother. There is no doubt that before each and everyone of us were formed in the womb of our mothers, the Lord God also knew us.

Then, the Lord God said, "Before you were born, I consecrated you." When studying the biblical history of the term to consecrate something or someone, we learn that it means to set it aside for a Divine service. Consequently, we can conclude that Yahweh had set Jeremiah aside for His prophetic mission to the nations.

While we are not all called to be prophets, by the grace of God, through our Baptism, we also have been set aside for a Divine service. Our Divine calling, as revealed to us through Jesus Christ, is to adore the Lord God, to obey His commandments, to share the good news in all four corners of the world, to serve one another and to shine in love towards others for the glory of God.

When the Lord God told Jeremiah "gird up your loins," He was emphasizing the necessity to be prompt to accomplish the order [1 Kings 18:46] of being a prophet to the nations. To gird up your loins means to be in an immediate state of preparation. [Job 38:3, 40:7]

In the same way, in our calling to serve the Lord Jesus, we must always be in a state of preparation. We must always be prompt to accomplish what God has commanded us to do through Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, "Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour." [Mt. 25:13] No one knows which will come first, if the Lord Jesus will return in His glory with His angels at the end of time or if we will be called to appear before the Lord God at the end of this earthly life.

The Apostle Peter said, "Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you." [1 Pet. 5:6-10]

During today's Second Reading, St. Paul was addressing the Corinthians. Based on the content of the First Letter to the Corinthians, it is believed that the faithful were debating as to which gift of God was the greatest. Was it speaking in tongues? Was it the gift of prophecy? Was it understanding the mysteries of God? Or was it faith? In answer to those questions, St. Paul stated that the best gift of God is the gift of love.

The type of love that St. Paul was speaking about is called "agape" in Greek. This is the kind of love that flows to us from God through Jesus Christ. It is creative and unmotivated. It seeks nothing. It is not attracted by goodness because God loves us as sinners in Jesus. As such, we must open ourselves to the Divine love of God to allow it to be active in us. Then and only then will our love towards others always be pure and unmotivated.

One of the reasons that love is so important is because it is eternal. It will always be with us. The love that we show towards God and our brothers and sisters in Christ, it will be with us for eternity. The manner in which we love one another today in this world, in Heaven, we will be required to continue to manifest this love.

While all the gifts of the Holy Spirit will come to an end, love will not. While our limited knowledge and understanding of things will come to an end, love will persist forever. Why will love persist forever? It is because "God is love." [1 Jn. 4:8] It is because "Love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God." [1 Jn. 4:7] "All who obey His Commandments abide in Him, and He abides in them. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit that He has given us." [1 Jn. 3:24]

Some of you may have realized that some versions of the Holy Scripture uses the word "love" while other versions use the word "charity." The word "charity" echoes active love. No Christian actions can be performed without active love. If you are kind to someone, it is because you love the person in Christ. If you are feeding the hungry or clothing the sick, such charitable acts are acts of love. Love is perfected by our charitable acts towards others. What we do to others, we do to Christ.

During today's Gospel Reading, thinking spiritually, we were able to perceive how God manifested His Divine love in a very personal way. Through the incarnation in Jesus Christ, God came to dwell among us. What great love God has for us, that He set aside His divinity, took human form upon Himself, and dwelled in our midst so we may come to know Him as He truly is, holy, perfect, eternal, merciful, forgiving, etc... There are no other like Him.

When God came down from Heaven to dwell upon us, not all accepted the manifestation of His Divine love. As the prophets of the Old Testament were rejected in their hometown, the Lord Jesus also found rejection among His own. In the eyes of the people of His hometown, He did not meet their standards. Because they knew Him since His childhood, He was nothing special to them. How judgmental and blind the human nature can be at times.

In our daily Christian lives, we must always be aware of our thoughts, our words and our actions. Do we misjudge and condemn others as the villagers judged and condemned Jesus? Do we discriminate against others because of their colour, their race, their nationality, their education, their gender, their age or the way they dress? None of these judgments perceive the soul of others, all souls being equal in the eyes of God.

To manifest Divine love towards others, we must be prepared to make ourselves little so others may be raised. We must be prepared to serve so others may be served. We must be prepared to take the back seat so others may have the front seat. We must be prepared to honour others as we would like to be honoured. We must die in Christ so Christ may shine in others. That is what Divine love is all about.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, this week, let us take time to assess our personal status in the world. Are we gladly serving versus demanding service? Are we humble versus being proud? Are we giving love versus always expecting to receive it? Are we at the giving end of charity versus taking advantage of receiving it? These are holy reflections. May our hearts feed upon them so we may always glorify the Lord God in all things.

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The readings...

[The readings were taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (C) 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the United States of America.]

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First Reading...

"Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

Therefore, gird up your loins; stand up and tell the people everything that I command you. Do not break down before them, or I will break you before them. And I for my part have made you today a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall, against the whole land - against the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of the land.

They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you.'" [Jer. 1:4-5, 17-19]

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Second Reading...

"Brothers and sisters, strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.

For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.

For now we see in a mirrow, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Now faith, hope and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love." [1 Cor. 12:31-13:13]

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Gospel Reading...

"Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. He went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom, and read from the prophet Isaiah. The eyes of all were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, 'Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.' All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, 'Is not this Joseph's son?'

Jesus said to them, 'Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself!' And you will say, 'Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.'

And he said, 'Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.'

When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove Jesus out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But Jesus passed through the midst of them and went on his way." [Lk. 4:21-30]

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