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| St.John Baptist -Behold Lamb God |
From: Raymond . . .
Sent: Sun, 16 January, 2011 10:12:34
Subject: Gospel 2nd Sunday of Year A
THE BAPTIST AND THE LAMB OF GOD– 2010
Seeing Jesus coming towards him, John said, “Look, there is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world” In this Gospel scene John seems to contradict himself.
He tells us who Jesus is and yet tells us that he did not know who he was.
Until this moment he had only known him as one whose sandals he was not fit to undo; one to whose greatness the Spirit and a heavenly voice had borne witness when he came to John for baptism. But now he is revealed to John fully and clearly as the lamb of sacrifice, a sacrifice that would take away the sin of the world.
“Look, there is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world” We have all grown very familiar with these words over the years.
They are the words pronounced by the priest as he holds up the host before distributing Holy Communion. The Holy Spirit has guided the Church to use these precise words at this very important moment in the lives of her children, the moment immediately before they receive their Lord in Holy Communion.
Since Jesus assured his Apostles – and their successors – that “He who hears you, hears me” we can therefore be very sure that whatever sentiments are hidden in those words, whatever it is they are trying to say to us at that most sacred moment; then that is precisely what is in Jesus mind and heart as he offers himself to us in holy communion.
By these words Jesus wishes to bring home to us the fact that He isn’t offering himself simply as offering an intimate communion with himself. When his priests hold up the host and say: “This is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world” Jesus is saying something more than that. He is wishing to convey to us that he offers himself to us precisely as having sacrificed himself for us; as having given his very life for us.
Indeed the very consecration of the two separate elements of bread and wine are symbolic of the separation of his body and blood for us in his death.
+ + +
Sudden
Death of Prior Bertrand
This morning, in the Mass we remembered
Fr. Bertrand of the community of
Cistercian Priory,
Nsugbe, Nigeria
About
7:30 this morning we received word that
Dom
Bertrand of Nsugbe died.
He had
pneumonia and was at the hospital.
Apparently
he had some x-rays and on his way back to his room died in the Brothers arms.
The Community is in shock.
Dom Bertrand, formerly from Awhum
Abbey, was elected Prior to Nsugbe Priory, only in the Autumn 2010.
We pray for the soul of Betrand and
remember the Community of Nsugbe.
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