Tuesday, January 6 2015; Tuesday after Epiphany

Lectionary: 213

Reading 1
1 Jn 4:7-10

Beloved, let us love one another,
because love is of God;
everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.
Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.
In this way the love of God was revealed to us:
God sent his only-begotten Son into the world
so that we might have life through him.
In this is love:
not that we have loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.

Responsorial Psalm
PS 72:1-2, 3-4, 7-8

R. (see 11) Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
O God, with your judgment endow the king,
and with your justice, the king’s son;
He shall govern your people with justice
and your afflicted ones with judgment.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
The mountains shall yield peace for the people,
and the hills justice.
He shall defend the afflicted among the people,
save the children of the poor.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
Justice shall flower in his days,
and profound peace, till the moon be no more.
May he rule from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

Alleluia
Lk 4:18

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Lord has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor
and to proclaim liberty to captives.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel
Mk 6:34-44

When Jesus saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them,
for they were like sheep without a shepherd;
and he began to teach them many things. 
By now it was already late and his disciples approached him and said,
“This is a deserted place and it is already very late. 
Dismiss them so that they can go 
to the surrounding farms and villages
and buy themselves something to eat.” 
He said to them in reply,
“Give them some food yourselves.” 
But they said to him,
“Are we to buy two hundred days’ wages worth of food
and give it to them to eat?” 
He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” 
And when they had found out they said,
“Five loaves and two fish.” 
So he gave orders to have them sit down in groups on the green grass. 
The people took their places in rows by hundreds and by fifties. 
Then, taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, 
he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples
to set before the people;
he also divided the two fish among them all. 
They all ate and were satisfied. 
And they picked up twelve wicker baskets full of fragments
and what was left of the fish. 
Those who ate of the loaves were five thousand men.

REFLECTION
SOURCE: One Bread One Body
THEME: THE FEAST OF CHRISTMAS

"You give them something to eat." –Mark 6:37

"Beloved, let us love one another because love is of God" (1 Jn 4:7). "The man without love has known nothing of God, for God is Love" (1 Jn 4:8). "Beloved, if God has loved us so, we must have the same love for one another" (1 Jn 4:11). Jesus said: "This is how all will know you for My disciples: your love for one another" (Jn 13:35). If we have not love, we are nothing (1 Cor 13:2).

Do you love Jesus? Then feed His sheep (Jn 21:17), physically and spiritually. Feed people with God's Word, for "not on bread alone is man to live but on every utterance that comes from the mouth of God" (Mt 4:4). "Teach them at great length" (Mk 6:34). Proclaim God's Word "in any and every way" (Phil 1:18), "whether convenient or inconvenient" (2 Tm 4:2). Do your best to feed people with the nourishment of God's Word. Even if your work seems inadequate, the Lord will multiply it to feed the masses (see Mk 6:41ff).

Christmas is a celebration, a feast. Feed the nourishment of God's Word to those who are spiritually starving. Give to others the Word of life, the Bread of Life (Jn 6:35), the Christ of Christmas.

PRAYER: Father, may the Christmas cards, greetings, celebrations, and presents I give to others be spiritually nourishing.

PROMISE: "Love, then, consists in this: not that we have loved God but that He has loved us and has sent His Son as an Offering for our sins." –1 Jn 4:10

PRAISE: St. André, orphaned at the age of twelve, developed a lifelong devotion to St. Joseph, the foster-father of Jesus. He consistently attributed the many miracles and healings he worked to the intercession of St. Joseph.