Tag: john 1:19-28

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One Minute Reflection – 18 December – “The Lord is near. Have no anxiety [at all]” Phil 4:5-6

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 18 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – Ferial Day – Feast of Our Lady of Expectation – Ferial Day – Philippians 4:4-7 – John 1:19-28 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“[One is standing] in the midst of you, … Whom you do not know.” – John 1:26

REFLECTION – “The Lord is near. Have no anxiety [at all]” (Phil 4:5-6). This is what God the Father says in the Prophet Isaias: “I am bringing on My Justice,” – that is to say, His Son; “My Salvation shall not tarry. I shall put Salvation within Zion and give to Israel My Glory” (46:13). It is what today’s Gospel says: “One is standing in your midst, One Whom you do not know” Mediator between God and men, a Man (1 Tim 2:5), Christ Jesus, arises in the camp of this world, to fight the devil. As victor, He rescues man and reconciles him with God our Father. But you do not know Him!

“Sons have I raised and reared but they have disowned Me. An ox knows its owner and an ass, its master’s manger. But Israel does not know Me and My people have not understood” (Is 1:2-3). How close the Lord is to us! And we do not know Him! “I have fed My children with My blood,” He says to us, “as a mother feeds her children with her milk. I have raised the human nature I have taken, to which I am united, above the Choirs of Angels.” Could He show us greater honour? “And they have rejected Me. See whether there is any sorrow like Mine” (Lam 1:12) …

So, then, “have no anxiety at all,” for it is anxiety concerning material things which makes us forget the Lord!” – St Anthony of Padua (1195-1231) Franciscan, Doctor of the Church (Sermons for Sundays and Feast days, 3rd Sunday of Advent).

PRAYER – O God, Who, by the message of an Angel, willed to take flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, grant that we, Thy suppliants, who believe her to be truly, the Mother of God, may be helped by her intercession with Thee. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in ADVENT QUOTES, ADVENT REFLECTIONS, BAPTISM, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the BRIDEGROOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, QUOTES on TIME, St JOHN the BAPTIST, The MOST HOLY REDEEMER, Our SAVIOUR, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 14 December – “ I baptise with water but, in the midst of you, there has stood One Whom you do not know.” – John 1:26

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 14 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – Advent III, Gaudete – Within the Octave – Philippians l 4:4-7 – John 1:19-28 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“ I baptise with water but, in the midst of you, there has stood One Whom you do not know.” – John 1:26

REFLECTION – “I baptise with water but, in the midst of you, there has stood One Whom you do not know.” John did not baptise with the Spirit but, with water, since he was unable to take away the sins of those being baptised. He washed their bodies with water but not their hearts with pardon. Why did one whose baptism did not forgive sins baptise, except that he was observing his vocation as forerunner? He, whose birth foreshadowed a greater birth, by his baptising, foreshadowed the Lord, Who would truly baptise; he ,whose preaching made him the forerunner of Christ, by baptising, also became his forerunner, using a symbol of the future Sacrament.

With these other mysteries he makes known the Mystery of our Redeemer, declaring that He has stood among men and not been known. The Lord appeared in a human body – He came as God in flesh, visible in His Body, invisible in His Majesty. He goes onto say about Him: “He who comes after me, was made before me” (Jn 1:15) … he revealed the reason for this precedence when he said: “because He was before me. ” He means, “Even though He was born after me, He surpasses me, in that the time of His Birth does not limit Him. He, Who is born from His Mother in time, was begotten of His Father before time!”

John reveals the great humility and reverence he owes Christ by saying: “I am not worthy to undo the strap of His sandal.” It was the custom among the ancients, that if someone was unwilling to take the wife, he should be taking, he, who should have come to her as bridegroom, by right of relationship, would undo his sandal. How did Christ appear among men, if not as the Bridegroom of holy Church?… But since people considered John the Christ, a fact which he denied, he was right to declare his unworthiness to undo the strap of Christ’s sandal. It is as if he was saying … “I am not unjustly usurping, for myself, the name of Bridegroom” (Cf Jn 3:29).” – St Gregory the Great (540-604) Pope, Father and Doctor of the Church (Sermons on the Gospels 4).

PRAYER – Lend Thy ear to our prayers, O Lord, we beseech Thee and brighten the darkness of our minds by the grace of Thy coming. Through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on CONSOLATION, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SOLITUDE, St JOHN the BAPTIST

One Minute Reflection – 19 December – ‘ … The Lord will turn your desert into a paradise of delights …’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 19 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – Ferial Day – Philippians 4:4-7; John 1:19-28 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/ –

“I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord” – John 1:23

REFLECTION – “Brethren, before anything else we ought to reflect on the grace of solitude, the blessedness of the desert which, from the beginning of this time of salvation, has deserved to be consecrated to the peacefulness of the Saints. Indeed, the desert was made holy for us by the voice of John, he, who cried out in the desert, who preached there and administered the baptism of repentance. Even before him, the greatest of the Prophets had always made a friend of solitude as being something which assisted the Spirit. However, an incomparably greater grace of holiness became attached to this place, when Jesus followed John there. Before preaching to the repentant in his turn, Jesus considered He ought to prepare a place, in which to receive them; He went into the desert for forty days so as to consecrate a new life in this renewed location … and this, not so much for His Own Sake, as for those who would dwell in the desert afterwards.

So then, if you have decided on the desert, remain there and wait for Him Who will save you from your feebleness of spirit and the tempest … The Lord will satisfy there, you who have followed Him, even more wonderfully than He satisfied the crowd who followed Him into it (Lk 4:42) … At that very moment, you imagine Him to have long forsaken you, even then, mindful of His goodness, He will Come to console you and will say: “I remember you, moved with pity for your youth and your first love, when you followed Me into the desert,” (Jer 2:2). The Lord will turn your desert into a paradise of delights, while you will proclaim (like the Prophet) that the glory of Lebanon has been given to Him, the beauty of Carmel and Sharon (Is 35:2) … Then, from the fullness of your heart, your hymn of praise will rise: “Let them give thanks to the Lord, for His wondrous deeds to the children of men! He has satisfied the longing soul and filled the hungry with good things,” (Ps 106:8).” – Bl Guerric of Igny (c1080-1157) Cistercian Abbot (4th Sermon for Advent).

PRAYER – Put forth Thy power, O Lord, we beseech Thee and delay not and with Thy great might, come to our aid, so that what is hindered by our sins, maybe hastened by Thy merciful goodness. Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in ADVENT, ADVENT REFLECTIONS, CHRIST the LIGHT, CHRIST the SUN of JUSTICE, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, St JOHN the BAPTIST, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 17 December – ‘… The glow of a lantern fades away at the coming of the Sun …’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 17 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – The Third Week of Advent – Ferial Day – Philippians 4:4-7; John 1:19-28 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/ – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“He it is Who is to come after me, Who has been set above me, the strap of Whose sandal I am not worthy to loose. ” – John 1:27

REFLECTION – “When the whole universe was overshadowed by the darkness of the devil and sins’ gloom dominated the world, a new Sun, Christ our Lord, willed in these last days, when night was nearly over, to shine forth the first rays of a new day. But before this Light appeared, that is to say, before the “Sun of righteousness” (Mal 3:20) arose, God had already announced it, like a first gleam through his Prophets: “I sent My Prophets before the Light” (Jer 7:25). Later, Christ Himself, put forth His Rays – that is to say, His Apostles – to make His Light shine out and fill the universe with His Truth, so that none might be lost in darkness…

But so as to finish doing our necessary tasks, before the Sun of this world arises, we mortals anticipate the Light with our lamps. Likewise, Christ the Sun, also has His Lamp to precede His coming, as the Prophet says: “I have prepared a Lamp for My Anointed” (Ps 131:17). And Our Lord shows us what this lamp is, when He says with regard to John the Baptist: “He was a burning, shining light.” And John himself said, as though he were the feeble glimmering of a lantern being carried on ahead: “But One is coming, Who is stronger than I and I am not worthy to undo His sandal strap. He will Baptise you in the Holy Spirit and in fire” (Lk 3:16). And at the same time, knowing that his light was to be eclipsed by the Sun’s Rays, he prophesied: “He must increase; I must decrease” (Jn 3:30). Indeed, just as the glow of a lantern fades away at the coming of the Sun, so the baptism of repentance, preached by John, faded before the coming of the grace of Christ.” – St Maximus of Turin (Died c420) Bishop. Father (Sermon 62, 26).

PRAYER – Put forth Thy power, O Lord, we beseech Thee and delay not and with Thy great might, come to our aid, so that what is hindered by our sins, maybe hastened by Thy merciful goodness. Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in ADVENT QUOTES, ADVENT REFLECTIONS, CHRIST the SUN of JUSTICE, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, franciscan OFM, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on FEAR, Quotes on SALVATION, QUOTES on WORRY/ANXIETY, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 15 December – “The Lord is near. Have no anxiety [at all]” Phil 4:5-6

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 15 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – The Octave Day of the Immaculate Conception – The Third Sunday of Advent “Gaudete” Sunday –Philippians 4:4-7; John 1:19-28 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“[One is standing] in the midst of you, … Whom you do not know.” – John 1:26

REFLECTION – “The Lord is near. Have no anxiety [at all]” (Phil 4:5-6). This is what God the Father says in the Prophet Isaiah: “I am bringing on My Justice,” – that is to say, His Son; “My Salvation shall not tarry. I shall put Salvation within Zion and give to Israel My glory” (46:13). It is what today’s Gospel says: “One is standing in your midst, One Whom you do not know” Mediator between God and men, a Man (1Tim 2:5), Christ Jesus, arises in the camp of this world, to fight the devil. As victor, He rescues man and reconciles him with God our Father. But you do not know Him!

“Sons have I raised and reared but they have disowned Me. An ox knows its owner and an ass, its master’s manger. But Israel does not know Me and My people have not understood” (Is 1:2-3). How close the Lord is to us! And we do not know Him! “I have fed My children with My Blood,” He says to us, “as a mother feeds her children with her milk. I have raised the human nature I have taken, to which I am united, above the Choirs of Angels.” Could He show us greater honour? “And they have rejected Me. See whether there is any sorrow like Mine” (Lam 1:12) …

So, then, “have no anxiety at all,” for it is anxiety concerning material things which makes us forget the Lord!” – St Anthony of Padua (1195-1231) Franciscan, Doctor of the Church (Sermons for Sundays and Feast days, 3rd Sunday of Advent).

PRAYER – Put forth Thy power, O Lord, we beseech Thee and delay not and with Thy great might, come to our aid, so that what is hindered by our sins, maybe hastened by Thy merciful goodness. Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).