One Minute Reflection – 10 January – Fifth Day after Epiphany and the Memorial of Bl Dolores Rodríguez Sopeña (1848-1918), Readings: 1 John 5:5-13, Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20, Luke 5:12-16
“Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him” … Luke 5:13
REFLECTION – “Christ said when He came into the world: ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire but a body you prepared for me (…) Then I said: Behold I come to do your will’ ” (Heb 10:5.7; Ps 40:7-9 LXX). Can it be true that God wanted to become man to save us from our wretchedness (…) and conquer our love? Yes, it is so true that it is an article of faith: “Who for us and for our salvation came down from heaven… and was made man” (Creed) (…) Yes, this is what God has done, so to be loved by us! (… ) This is how He wanted to make known the immensity of His love for us: “the grace of God our saviour has appeared to all” (Ti 2:11). It is, as though, our Lord said: “Man does not love Me because he cannot see me, I am going to make Myself visible and talk to him, in that way I shall surely make Myself loved”: “He has appeared on earth and spoken with us” (cf. Bar 3:38).
God’s love for humankind is vast, vast from all eternity: “with age-old love I have loved you; so in mercy I have drawn you to myself” (cf. Jer 31:3). But we have not yet seen how great and incomprehensible He is. When the Son of God was seen in the form of a child lying on the straw in a stable then He was made known indeed: “the kindness and generous love of God our saviour appeared” (Ti 3:4). As Saint Bernard observed: “The creation of the world made God’s power shine out, the ordering of the world, His wisdom but the incarnation of the Word, caused His mercy to break forth in the sight of all.” (…)
“By showing disdain towards God,” Saint Fulgentius said, “man was separated from Him forever and, since man could no longer return to God, God deigned to come to find him on earth.” And as Saint Augustine had already said: “We were unable to go to the doctor, therefore the doctor had the graciousness to come to us.” … St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787) – Bishop and Doctor of the Church – 1st address for the Octave of Christmas
PRAYER – Almighty God and Father, by the guidance of a star, You revealed the Birth of the Saviour of the world. Open our minds and hearts to that revelation and may it bear fruit in our lives. May Your nearness, be understood in our hearts and minds, ‘may the Lord Jesus touch our eyes, as He did those of the blind’ and may the prayers of Bl Dolores Rodríguez Sopeña, grant us strength on our journey. We make our prayer, through Christ, our Lord in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever, amen.
AnaStpaul 