HOMILY FOR THURSDAY BEFORE THE FEAST OF EPIPHANY, YEAR B
THEME OF THE HOMILY: We have found the Messiah’
BY: Fr Deotacious Chikontwe SMA
READINGS OF THE DAY
1 John 3:7-10
Psalm 97:1,7-9
John 1:35-42
LITURGICAL COLOUR
WHITE
INTRODUCTION
Good morning my dear brothers and sisters in Christ.Today we celebrate the 4th day of the Year 2024. And on this special day, we mark the Thursday before we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany.
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FROM OUR FIRST READING
In our first reading today, the Apostle John spoke to the faithful of the need for everyone to be truly committed to the path of Christ, that is the path of righteousness and virtue, rejecting the path of disobedience that leads to sin. St. John exhorted all the faithful people of God to stay away from the path of the devil, and strive their best to follow the path of Christ, the Son of God, Who has been manifested in our world through His Incarnation and coming into our midst, born a Man through the Blessed Virgin Mary.
FROM OUR GOSPEL READING
This morning’s gospel suggests that our coming to Jesus is often in and through each other. John the Baptist directs two of his disciples to Jesus, with the words, ‘Look, there is the Lamb of God’. Jesus goes on to personally call these two disciples, saying, ‘Come and see’, but it was John the Baptist who put them in the way of that call. According to the gospel reading, one of these two disciples of John the Baptist was Andrew. He directs his brother, Simon, to Jesus with the words, ‘We have found the Messiah’. Jesus goes on to personally call Simon with the words, ‘You are to be called Cephas’, but it was Andrew who put Simon in the way of that call.
CONCLUSION
The Lord uses all of us in different ways to put others in the way of the call of Jesus. He uses us as intermediaries to bring people to him. We cannot make people respond to the call of Jesus, no more than John the Baptist could have made his disciples respond to the call of Jesus or Andrew could have made Simon respond to Jesus’ call. We can only do so much. We can find ourselves very frustrated at how little we can do. Yet, we can all do something. As we strive to grow in our faith and in living that faith to the full we will inevitably put people in the way of the call of Jesus. We then have to step back and allow the mysterious dialogue between the Lord and others to unfold and take its course.
The Lord be with you.
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