Monday after Epiphany : Mt 4,12-17, Mt 4,23-25
Dear
William,
Monday
of Epiphany skips leaps the Weekdays of the Christmas Season the Rome anchored
on Epiphany on 6th January.
Happily
you observe that the Commentary of Saint Chrysostom illuminates further the
epiphanic (Ben xvi) dimension powerfully illustrates the Gospel.
Thank
you.
Donald
----- Forwarded Message ----
From: William J
Sent: Mon, 3 January, 2011 11:39:44
Subject: The Lord's baptism... such a perfectly simple explanation!
From: William J
Sent: Mon, 3 January, 2011 11:39:44
Subject: The Lord's baptism... such a perfectly simple explanation!
Dear Father Donald,
I have often pondered over Jesus' baptism, perhaps requiring that
I should always look for theological reasons. DGO has a perfectly
simple explanation today:
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Saint
John Chrysostom (c.345-407), priest at Antioch then Bishop of Constantinople,
Doctor of the Church
Sermon on the Baptism of Jesus Christ and on the Epiphany
Doctor of the Church
Sermon on the Baptism of Jesus Christ and on the Epiphany
Christ was manifested to all, not at his birth but at his baptism.
Before then, few knew him; almost no one knew he existed or who he was. John
the Baptist said: “There is one among you who you do not recognise,” (Jn 1,26).
John himself shared the same ignorance of Christ up until his baptism: “I did
not know him, but the one who sent me to baptise with water told me: ‘On
whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will
baptise with the Holy Spirit”…
Indeed, what is the reason John gives for the Lord’s baptism? It was, he said, so that he might be made known to all. Saint Paul says the same thing: “John baptised with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him,” (Ac 19,4).
This is why Jesus receives baptism from John. To have gone from house to house presenting Christ and saying he was the Son of God would have made John’s testimony extremely difficult; to have led him to the synagogue and designated him as the Saviour would have made his testimony hardly credible. But that, in the midst of a large crowd gathered on the banks of the Jordan, Jesus should have received this testimony clearly expressed from heaven above and that the Holy Spirit should have descended on him in the form of a dove: this indeed confirmed John’s testimony without any shadow of doubt. “I myself did not know him,” John said. Who made him known to you, then? “He who sent me to baptise.” And what did he say to you? “On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptise with the Holy Spirit.” Thus, it is the Holy Spirit who reveals to all he whose wonders John had proclaimed, by coming down to designate him, so to speak, with the touch of his wing.
http://www.dailygospel.org
Indeed, what is the reason John gives for the Lord’s baptism? It was, he said, so that he might be made known to all. Saint Paul says the same thing: “John baptised with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him,” (Ac 19,4).
This is why Jesus receives baptism from John. To have gone from house to house presenting Christ and saying he was the Son of God would have made John’s testimony extremely difficult; to have led him to the synagogue and designated him as the Saviour would have made his testimony hardly credible. But that, in the midst of a large crowd gathered on the banks of the Jordan, Jesus should have received this testimony clearly expressed from heaven above and that the Holy Spirit should have descended on him in the form of a dove: this indeed confirmed John’s testimony without any shadow of doubt. “I myself did not know him,” John said. Who made him known to you, then? “He who sent me to baptise.” And what did he say to you? “On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptise with the Holy Spirit.” Thus, it is the Holy Spirit who reveals to all he whose wonders John had proclaimed, by coming down to designate him, so to speak, with the touch of his wing.
http://www.dailygospel.org
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