Roman Catholic The Word Among Us Daily Mass Reading & Daily Meditation for Monday, 5 January 2015

Roman Catholic The Word Among Us Daily Mass Reading & Daily Meditation for Monday, 5 January 2015
Meditation - Matthew 4: Teaching and Healing
12-17 When Jesus got word that John had been arrested, he returned to Galilee. He moved from his hometown, Nazareth, to the lakeside village Capernaum, nestled at the base of the Zebulun and Naphtali hills. This move completed Isaiah’s sermon:
Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
    road to the sea, over Jordan,
    Galilee, crossroads for the nations.
People sitting out their lives in the dark
    saw a huge light;
Sitting in that dark, dark country of death,
    they watched the sun come up.
This Isaiah-prophesied sermon came to life in Galilee the moment Jesus started preaching. He picked up where John left off: “Change your life. God’s kingdom is here.”
23-25 From there he went all over Galilee. He used synagogues for meeting places and taught people the truth of God. God’s kingdom was his theme—that beginning right now they were under God’s government, a good government! He also healed people of their diseases and of the bad effects of their bad lives. Word got around the entire Roman province of Syria. People brought anybody with an ailment, whether mental, emotional, or physical. Jesus healed them, one and all. More and more people came, the momentum gathering. Besides those from Galilee, crowds came from the “Ten Towns” across the lake, others up from Jerusalem and Judea, still others from across the Jordan.
Saint John Neumann, Bishop
When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. (Matthew 4:12)
It must have been unsettling for Jesus to hear that John—a humble man whom Jesus called “more than a prophet”—had been imprisoned for his message of repentance. But rather than letting fear paralyze him, Jesus stepped into action, picking up where his forerunner left off: “From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’ ” (Matthew 4:17).
Jesus’ determination tells us that God is never confounded or frustrated in his plans. As soon as one servant is arrested, another takes his place. As soon as one obstacle shows up, a way through appears. This pattern, which repeats itself through all of history, reveals a God who is always at work, bringing his plan to fulfillment. We see it in the succession of the Old Testament prophets as well as in the stories about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. We see it in the New Testament, in the birth of the Church at Pentecost and the Acts of the Apostles.
Nothing gets in God’s way. He is always moving forward, always inviting us to keep moving forward with him. It may be unsettling when we are able to see only pieces of his plan as it unfolds. Even John, as he sat in prison, was unsure. He sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” (Matthew 11:3). And Jesus did for John what he wants to do for us: he pointed to all that he had done so far as proof of God’s handiwork.
A look back at your life probably demonstrates signs of a God at work. Are you anxious about tomorrow? Take a deep breath, and remember that God is hidden around every corner. He sees the future and is already at work there. Do you feel stuck right now? Don’t worry. God is working a way out for you. Keep believing and trusting in him. Focus on preparing your heart through prayer to hear and respond to him. In his own time and in his own way, he will “release” you so that you can take the next step in following him. And the next. And the next.
“Lord, my future is in your hands. Lead me forward, step-by-step, as your plan for me unfolds.” Amen!
1 John 3:21-24 And friends, once that’s taken care of and we’re no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we’re bold and free before God! We’re able to stretch our hands out and receive what we asked for because we’re doing what he said, doing what pleases him. Again, this is God’s command: to believe in his personally named Son, Jesus Christ. He told us to love each other, in line with the original command. As we keep his commands, we live deeply and surely in him, and he lives in us. And this is how we experience his deep and abiding presence in us: by the Spirit he gave us.
Don’t Believe Everything You Hear
4:1 My dear friends, don’t believe everything you hear. Carefully weigh and examine what people tell you. Not everyone who talks about God comes from God. There are a lot of lying preachers loose in the world.
2-3 Here’s how you test for the genuine Spirit of God. Everyone who confesses openly his faith in Jesus Christ—the Son of God, who came as an actual flesh-and-blood person—comes from God and belongs to God. And everyone who refuses to confess faith in Jesus has nothing in common with God. This is the spirit of antichrist that you heard was coming. Well, here it is, sooner than we thought!
4-6 My dear children, you come from God and belong to God. You have already won a big victory over those false teachers, for the Spirit in you is far stronger than anything in the world. These people belong to the Christ-denying world. They talk the world’s language and the world eats it up. But we come from God and belong to God. Anyone who knows God understands us and listens. The person who has nothing to do with God will, of course, not listen to us. This is another test for telling the Spirit of Truth from the spirit of deception.
Psalms 2:7-9 Let me tell you what God said next.
He said, “You’re my son,
And today is your birthday.
What do you want? Name it:
Nations as a present? continents as a prize?
You can command them all to dance for you,
Or throw them out with tomorrow’s trash.”
10-12 So, rebel-kings, use your heads;
Upstart-judges, learn your lesson:
Worship God in adoring embrace,
Celebrate in trembling awe. Kiss Messiah!
Your very lives are in danger, you know;
His anger is about to explode,
But if you make a run for God—you won’t regret it!
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