Thursday, January 3, 2008

St. Genevieve

First Letter of John 2,29.3,1-6.

If you consider that he is righteous, you also know that everyone who acts in righteousness is begotten by him.
See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure.
Everyone who commits sin commits lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness.
You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
No one who remains in him sins; no one who sins has seen him or known him.


Psalms 98,1.3-4.5-6.

Sing a new song to the LORD, who has done marvelous deeds, Whose right hand and holy arm have won the victory.
Has remembered faithful love toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.
Shout with joy to the LORD, all the earth; break into song; sing praise.
Sing praise to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and melodious song.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn shout with joy to the King, the LORD.


Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 1,29-34.

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one of whom I said, 'A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.' I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel." John testified further, saying, "I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain upon him. I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the holy Spirit.' Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God."


Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross [Edith Stein] (1891-1942), Carmelite, martyr, co-Patroness of Europe
The marriage of the Lamb, 14/09/1940

"The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world"


In the book of Revelation the Apostle John wrote: “This is what I saw: before the throne… I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain,” (Rv 5,6). When the seer of Patmos had this vision, the unforgettable day on the Jordan when John the Baptist showed him the “Lamb of God” who “takes away the sins of the world” was still fresh in his memory…

But why did he choose the lamb as the preferred symbol? Why did he continue to reveal himself in this form on the eternal throne of glory? Because he was innocent as a lamb and meek as a lamb; and because he came in order to allow himself to be led as a lamb to the slaughter (Is 53:7). This, too, John had witnessed when the Lord permitted himself to be bound at the Mount of Olives and nailed to the cross at Golgotha. There on Golgotha the true sacrifice of reconciliation was accomplished. Thereby the old sacrifices lost their efficacy; and soon they ceased entirely, as did also the old priesthood when the temple was destroyed. John had witnessed all of this, so he was not surprised to see the Lamb on the throne…

Just as the Lamb had to be killed to be raised upon the throne of glory, so the path to glory leads through suffering and the cross for everyone chosen to attend the marriage supper of the Lamb. All who want to be married to the Lamb must allow themselves to be fastened to the cross with him. Everyone marked by the blood of the Lamb (cf Ex 12,7) is called to this, and that means all the baptized. But not everyone understands the call and follows it.

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