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INTENTIONS OF THE HOLY FATHER FOR
JANUARY 2009
| Church HomePage
| St.ThereseParish Page |
INTENTIONS OF THE HOLY FATHER FOR
JANUARY 2009
1) General Intention:
1) That the family may become more and more a place of training in charity, personal growth and transmission of the faith;
2) Mission Intention:
2) That the different Christian confessions, aware of the need for a new evangelization in this period of profound transformations, may be committed to announcing the Good News and moving towards the full unity of all Christians in order to offer a more credible testimony of the Gospel.
The BAPTISM of the LORD
JANUARY 11, 2009
All you who are thirsty, come to the water!
~ Isaiah 55:1 ~
READINGS:
Daily
Bible Readings
For VIETNAMESE >> Bai Doc CN & Suy
Niem & NgheBaiGiang
For VIETNAMESE
>> Bai Doc Hang
Ngay
KINH THANH : CUU UOC / TAN UOC
New
American Bible
It is one of the glories of the Bible that it can embrace many meanings in
a single passage.
— St. Thomas Aquinas —
“I am profitably engaged in reading the Bible.
Take all that you can of this book upon reason and the balance by faith,
and you will live and die a better person...
the Bible is the best book which God has given to man."
— Abraham Lincoln —
. A Few Minutes of Prayer in the Home
.
. RETREAT HOUSE - USA .
. ON-LINE RETREAT .
SUNDAY READINGS & REFLECTION:
Isaiah 55:1-11 Come to the water ...
Isaiah 12:3 “You will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation.”
1John 5:1-9 To love God is to keep God’s commandments . . .
Mark 1:1-8 The Spirit of God descends on Jesus like a dove . . .
GOSPEL MEDITATION
THE WATERS OF BAPTISM
When new sod is put in, it needs constant saturation with water. Landscapers say that this “knits” the sod to the soil. The same when a branch is grafted onto a tree: the poultice that joins them at the splice must be kept wet at all times. Water is the stuff that binds the very cells of our bodies
together. No wonder religions throughout all times and cultures have used it so prominently.
When Jesus stepped into the Jordan for baptism, He “knit” Himself to what had come before Him. By going to the Jordan, He made Himself one with the people of Israel who had crossed it into their
Promised Land. With John the Baptist, Christ wove Himself into the prophetic tradition that heralded the coming reign of God. He had become fully human in the waters of Mary’s womb, and by partaking in the rite of the baptism of repentance, Jesus identified Himself with our sinful, frail
humanity. It is through the waters of Baptism that Christ continues to graft new members onto His
Body, the Church; through these waters we are cleansed from sin and filled with the promise of
grace, given our destiny for eternal life. For us, as for Jesus, it is also the waters of baptism that
inaugurate our mission to proclaim the Good News.
TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION
One of the most ancient and enduring sites for baptism in Rome is the church of San Giovanni in Fonte. This church is in fact a baptistery, and houses the font for the Lateran Basilica, the Cathedral of Rome. The Emperor Constantine sponsored its construction in the year 315, and it is therefore the oldest baptistery in the world. It is the model for nearly all later baptisteries. In the fourth century, churches didn’t contain baptismal fonts. Baptism was a once-a-year event, at Easter, and mostly for adults.
Within a century, new practices soon masked the original purpose of Constantine, and later popes made additions, like a nave and altars, and even side chapels.
High above the place where the immersion baptism pool once stood, an inscription in mosaic tile is a lyrical expression of our baptismal tradition. It speaks of the font as the “womb of the church,” and encourages the sinner not to be afraid of the water.
“Though your sins be many and great, do not draw back afraid. Reborn from this stream, a Christian you shall be.” The actual font is very old, but it is not the ancient flowing pool. As you often see in Italy, there are smaller pools carved into the marble railing of the font, just big enough to dip an infant. The present font has a carving of the baptism of Constantine, leading some to think that he was baptized here. That’s not the case, since he waited until the last minute for a deathbed baptism, as people often did in the fourth century. It’s not on the usual tourist path in Rome, but just a few steps from the Lateran Basilica is the best place in Rome to renew your baptismal vows and to marvel at the life-giving stream that has “washed the whole earth” over the centuries.
Readings for the week:
Monday: Heb 1:1-6; Mk 1:14-20
Tuesday: Heb 2:5-12; Mk 1:21-28
Wednesday: Heb 2:14-18; Mk 1:29-39
Thursday: Heb 3:7-14; Mk 1:40-45
Friday: Heb 4:1-5, 11; Mk 2:1-12
Saturday: Heb 4:12-16; Mk 2:13-17
Sunday: 1 Sm 3:3b-10, 19; Ps 40; 1 Cor 6:13c-
15a, 17-20; Jn 1:35-4
Readings for next Sunday: 1/18/2009
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time1st reading: 1 Samuel 3:3-19
Response: Psalm 40
2nd reading: 1 Corinthians 6:13-20
Gospel: John 1:35-42
For SAINT OF THE DAY, Go to:
http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/SaintofDay/default.asp
Saint Index => http://www.catholic.org/saints/stindex.php
.