5 JANUARY 2021 TUESDAY AFTER EPIPHANY JOHN NEUMANN

 

5 JANUARY 2021

 

TUESDAY AFTER EPIPHANY

JOHN NEUMANN

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

 

Today the mother Church remembers St. John Neumann. He was a catholic priest from Bohemia. He immigrated to the United States in 1836 where he joined the Redemptorist order and became the fourth Bishop of Philadelphia. He was the first male American citizen to be canonized. He was known for his holiness and learning; promoter of parochial schools. He was canonized by Pope Paul VI on June 19, 1977

 

SCRIPTURE LESSONS SUMMARIZED

 

THE FIRST READING 1 John 4:7-10

 

In today’s first reading St. John is reminding us to love one another, for love is from God. Whoever loves others has been born from God and knows God because God is love. It is because of his love that God sent his only son into the world so that we might receive life through him. It is God who loved us first and not we. God sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. 

 

THE GOSPEL READING: Mark 6:34-44

 

In the Gospel reading of today St. Mark tells us saying that Jesus saw a great crowd and had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus began to teach them many things. And when it grew late, the disciples of Jesus came to him to tell him to ask the people to go to nearby villages and get some food for themselves because that was a very lonely place to get some food for the people. Jesus told them that they should give them something to eat. When the disciples confirmed that it was impossible for them to feed such a crowd, Jesus asked them as to how many loaves they had. The disciples found five loaves and two fish. He blessed them and gave the loves and fish to the people to eat. They collected twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. There were five thousand men.

 

LIFE MESSAGES:

 

Every human need is close to God’s heart. The most basic human need is love – love from God and from their fellow human beings. We need to share our love with others.

God manifested his love by sending his only son into the world. Let us manifest our love for God through our little and big sacrifices that we can make according to our state of life.

God sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. We need to be regular for our confession. We need to daily make our examination of conscience and ask pardon from the Lord for all our sins.

God is love. Love is from God. We are asked to love one another. If we love others we know God.

We, human beings usually don’t go according to the plan of God. We violate his commandments. And so God always has his ‘plan B’ ready. His ‘plan B’ is “compassion/mercy. When his ‘plan A’ does not work he uses his ‘plan B’- he has compassion on us.

We are asked not to excuse our duty towards our needy brothers and sisters rather help them in whatever way we can.

We need to show compassion to others as Jesus showed compassion to those needy people who were like sheep without a shepherd.

 Jesus taught them many things.  We need to share our intellectual resources, experiences and learning with others to broaden their worldview.

Today’s gospel reading is asking us to be generous in sharing our resources and gifts with others.

We are told not to waste food. Wasting food is equal to insulting God’s providence and his bounty which comes to us on daily basis.

 Being grateful for present things is a sure means of receiving the new ones from God. We are to thank and praise God like Jesus before having our food and every time something good happens in our life.