{"id":700,"date":"2018-01-04T14:51:32","date_gmt":"2018-01-04T14:51:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/?p=700"},"modified":"2018-01-04T14:51:32","modified_gmt":"2018-01-04T14:51:32","slug":"homily-christmas-season-jan-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/04\/homily-christmas-season-jan-4\/","title":{"rendered":"HOMILY CHRISTMAS SEASON Jan 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Singing A New Song<\/em><\/p>\n

(1 Jn 3:7-10; Ps 98; Jn 1:35-43)<\/p>\n

****************************************<\/p>\n

O sing a new song to the Lord.<\/em><\/p>\n

That first sentence of the first stanza of the psalm today captures the spirit of the readings: We are to live a new life in Christ, the Lamb of God.<\/p>\n

The readings today fit together in a progression. The psalm reminds us that God has won the victory, has done marvellous things, has brought us salvation. Our response is to praise God and joyfully sing a new song.<\/p>\n

John in the first reading points out that it is through Christ that God has won this victory. He is adamant that when we live in Christ, we must be holy, renewed, righteous, reject all sin in our lives, because there is no sin in Christ, and on top of all that, truly love our brothers and sisters.<\/p>\n

The gospel interaction between John the Baptist, Jesus and the disciples builds on the first two readings. First, John proclaims Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That clarifies the psalm \u2013 now we know who has won the victory. The first question that Jesus asks the disciples, \u201cWhat are you looking for?\u201d is a primal question for all people of all times. What truly are we looking for in life, especially when we turn to false gods of money, fame and power to try to fill the void in our lives?<\/p>\n

The reply of the disciples is also critical \u2013 \u201cWhere do you live?\u201d God does not live up above or out there. In Jesus, God lives within us and among us. The invitation from Jesus illustrates that \u2013 \u201cCome and see\u201d \u2013 and they went and stayed with him the rest of that day.<\/p>\n

This interplay provides us with the means to live out the challenge of John in the first reading \u2013 to live in Christ is to be righteous and without sin, because he has no sin in him. When we are looking for Jesus, and staying with Jesus every hour of every day, abiding with him in contemplative prayer, then he will win the victory over sin within us. We simply have to hang on to him and turn to him ever morning for the strength to say no to sin.<\/p>\n

Andrew becomes a model for us \u2013 first, he believes in Jesus as the Messiah, the first one to do what the Jewish religious leaders were never able to do. Then he evangelized \u2013 he brought his brother Simon to the Lord. Simon, in turn, believes and receives a new name, Peter. This newness that Jesus brings to them and to the world, is symbolized by that change of name.<\/p>\n

The Eucharist is our best way of both abiding in Jesus and singing a new song, living a new life. We listen to his word and receive his Body and Blood, and are sent out to be like Andrew and bring others to Jesus.<\/p>\n

So, let us place our faith in Christ, turn and follow him like Andrew and Peter, strive to live in him, and respond to this love by singing a new song through lives of joyful praise and love for others.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Singing A New Song (1 Jn 3:7-10; Ps 98; Jn 1:35-43) **************************************** O sing a new song to the Lord. That first sentence of the first stanza of the psalm today captures the spirit of the readings: We are to live a new life in Christ, the Lamb of God. The readings today fit together […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":701,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700\/revisions\/701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}