24 June/Monday/ Birth of John the Baptist

Isa 49,1-6/Psa 139,1-3.13-14ab.14c-15/Acts 13,22-26/Luke 1,57-66.80

 

First Reading   Isaiah 49:1-6

I will make you the light of the nations so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth

 

Islands, listen to me,

pay attention, remotest peoples.

The Lord called me before I was born,

from my mother’s womb he pronounced my name.

He made my mouth a sharp sword,

and hid me in the shadow of his hand.

He made me into a sharpened arrow,

and concealed me in his quiver.

He said to me, ‘You are my servant (Israel)

in whom I shall be glorified’;

while I was thinking, ‘I have toiled in vain,

I have exhausted myself for nothing’;

and all the while my cause was with the Lord,

my reward with my God.

I was honoured in the eyes of the Lord,

my God was my strength.

And now the Lord has spoken,

he who formed me in the womb to be his servant,

to bring Jacob back to him,

to gather Israel to him:

‘It is not enough for you to be my servant,

to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back the survivors of Israel;

I will make you the light of the nations

so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.’

 

Responsorial Psalm   Psalm 138(139):1-3,13-15

 

I thank you for the wonder of my being.

 

O Lord, you search me and you know me,

    you know my resting and my rising,

    you discern my purpose from afar.

You mark when I walk or lie down,

    all my ways lie open to you.

 

For it was you who created my being,

    knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I thank you for the wonder of my being,

    for the wonders of all your creation.

 

Already you knew my soul,

    my body held no secret from you

when I was being fashioned in secret

    and moulded in the depths of the earth.

 

Second Reading   Acts 13:22-26 ·

Jesus, whose coming was heralded by John

 

Paul said: ‘God deposed Saul and made David their king, of whom he approved in these words, “I have selected David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will carry out my whole purpose.” To keep his promise, God has raised up for Israel one of David’s descendants, Jesus, as Saviour, whose coming was heralded by John when he proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the whole people of Israel. Before John ended his career he said, “I am not the one you imagine me to be; that one is coming after me and I am not fit to undo his sandal.”

‘My brothers, sons of Abraham’s race, and all you who fear God, this message of salvation is meant for you.’

 

 

Gospel Acclamation    cf. Luke 1:76

 

Alleluia, alleluia!

As for you, little child, you shall be called

a prophet of God, the Most High.

You shall go ahead of the Lord

to prepare his ways before him.

Alleluia!

 

Gospel                                                                                                                 Luke 1:57-66,80

'His name is John'

 

The time came for Elizabeth to have her child, and she gave birth to a son; and when her neighbours and relations heard that the Lord had shown her so great a kindness, they shared her joy.

Now on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother spoke up. ‘No,’ she said ‘he is to be called John.’ They said to her, ‘But no one in your family has that name’, and made signs to his father to find out what he wanted him called. The father asked for a writing-tablet and wrote, ‘His name is John.’ And they were all astonished. At that instant his power of speech returned and he spoke and praised God. All their neighbours were filled with awe and the whole affair was talked about throughout the hill country of Judaea. All those who heard of it treasured it in their hearts. ‘What will this child turn out to be?’ they wondered. And indeed the hand of the Lord was with him.

Meanwhile the child grew up and his spirit matured. And he lived out in the wilderness until the day he appeared openly to Israel.

 

Reflection

There is something particularly interesting about the Gospel Reading and the solemnity of the birth of John the Baptist. We would have expected that the Gospel Reading would narrate the story of his birth but to our great surprise not much is said about the birth itself. We are only told that Elizabeth gave birth to a son. The first event that is reported at length is the naming ceremony that took place on the eighth day, which is also the day of the circumcision of the young child. The practice of naming the child on the eighth day when he was circumcised is a late tradition in Jewish culture. In the time of the patriarchs, the naming of a child took place at birth (Gen 25,25-26).  

Luke focuses our attention on the name given to the child. Elizabeth told the people the child is to be called John but the people protested. We recall that the name John is the name the angel Gabriel gave Zachariah when he appeared to him in the Temple to announce the conception of a son by the wife Elizabeth. We are not informed that when Zachariah went home he told the wife about the name but the coincidence does not surprise the reader that much. We also need to understand the reaction of those gathered for the circumcision and naming ceremony. The tradition was that the first-born son should be given the name of the grandfather or the father. This is because the first-born son had the responsibility of carrying on the tradition and religion of the family. There must be a reason for the deviation from the tradition in the case of John the Baptist.

At times, we think the reason for the change is in the name itself. The name John means “Yahweh (God) is gracious”. While this reason may be applicable, it is also possible to see other reasons for the change from the tradition. Zachariah accepted the name proposed by the angel Gabriel because it marked a break with the lineage characterised by sterility and emptiness. The graciousness of God not only revealed a new beginning in the life of Zachariah and Elizabeth but also had consequences for the nation that the two of them represented. Israel that had become a rebellious and sinful nation was to see a change in her relationship with God.

The change brought by the birth of John the Baptist was to be seen in the canticle of praise of Zachariah that we normally call the Benedictus. Zachariah did not only praise God for what he has done to his family and nation; he also disclosed the mission of his son. His mission is one of transformation and restoration as he prepared the way for the Messiah to come into the world. From this perspective, we can understand why the solemnity of John the Baptist does not speak principally about his birth but what he stands for in the life of his parents and of the people of Israel. His birth is meaningful to us Christians because of his mission as precursor of Jesus. The words of the prophet Isaiah in the First Reading sound like a remote introduction of John the Baptist. The elements of the prophecy characterize John the Baptist in his mission. In the Second Reading, Paul refers to John as the herald of Jesus, thus affirming what we know the Gospel.  The Psalmist speaks in the name of John the Baptist, thanking God for how wonderfully he created him.

The celebration of the birth of John the Baptist is therefore an invitation to identify him with his mission and listen to him when he starts his public ministry. May we heed his call to conversion so that we may be prepared to welcome Christ into our lives when we encounter him in our daily lives. 

23 June/Sunday/12th Sunday of Year B

            Job 38,1.8-11/Psa 107,23-24.25-26.28-29.30-31/2Cor 5,14-17/Mark 4,35-41

 

First Reading         Job 38:1,8-11 ·

From the heart of the tempest the Lord gives Job his answer

 

From the heart of the tempest the Lord gave Job his answer. He said:

 

Who pent up the sea behind closed doors

    when it leapt tumultuous out of the womb,

when I wrapped it in a robe of mist

    and made black clouds its swaddling bands;

when I marked the bounds it was not to cross

    and made it fast with a bolted gate?

Come thus far, I said, and no farther:

    here your proud waves shall break.

 

Responsorial Psalm   Psalm 106(107):23-26,28-32

 

O give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures for ever.

 

Some sailed to the sea in ships

    to trade on the mighty waters.

These men have seen the Lord’s deeds,

    the wonders he does in the deep.

 

For he spoke; he summoned the gale,

    tossing the waves of the sea

up to heaven and back into the deep;

    their souls melted away in their distress.

 

Then they cried to the Lord in their need

    and he rescued them from their distress.

He stilled the storm to a whisper:

    all the waves of the sea were hushed.

 

They rejoiced because of the calm

    and he led them to the haven they desired.

Let them thank the Lord for his love,

    for the wonders he does for men.

 

Second Reading   2 Corinthians 5:14-17 ·

We do not judge anyone by the standards of the flesh

 

The love of Christ overwhelms us when we reflect that if one man has died for all, then all men should be dead; and the reason he died for all was so that living men should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised to life for them.

From now onwards, therefore, we do not judge anyone by the standards of the flesh. Even if we did once know Christ in the flesh, that is not how we know him now. And for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here.

 

Gospel Acclamation     cf. Eph 1:17,18

 

Alleluia, alleluia!

May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

enlighten the eyes of our mind,

so that we can see what hope his call holds for us.

Alleluia!

 

Gospel   Mark 4:35-41

'Even the wind and the sea obey him'

 

With the coming of evening, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let us cross over to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind they took him, just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him. Then it began to blow a gale and the waves were breaking into the boat so that it was almost swamped. But he was in the stern, his head on the cushion, asleep. They woke him and said to him, ‘Master, do you not care? We are going down!’ And he woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Quiet now! Be calm!’ And the wind dropped, and all was calm again. Then he said to them, ‘Why are you so frightened? How is it that you have no faith?’ They were filled with awe and said to one another, ‘Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him.’

 

Reflection

The Gospel Reading begins with a simple invitation of Jesus to his disciples to cross the lake of Galilee from the Galilean region to the shore in the territory of the Gerasenes. It was a normal practice for the people living and working along the lake to travel from one end to the other by boat. Jesus and his disciples were already in the boat because of the large crowds. Mark already informed us of this at the beginning of Chapter Four of his gospel. The sudden rise of a storm while they were crossing the lake frightened all the disciples.

Heavy storms are a common phenomenon on the lake of Galilee. The geographical position of the lake is a major contributing factor to this phenomenon. The surface of the lake is about 213 meters below sea level. This makes it the lowest freshwater lake on earth. In addition to its depth below sea level, it is also surrounded by steep hills and mountains. The valleys between these hills and mountains funnel winds from the Mediterranean Sea in the west or the desert in the west. Upon reaching the surface of the lake, these winds provoke strong and dangerous storms. It is obvious that if there is a storm during the day, it is less frightening than when it occurs at night. The episode that Mark describes in the Gospel Reading took place in the evening, so we can understand even more the reaction of the disciples. 

What surprised the disciples and certainly the readers is how Jesus was able to fall asleep in such a climatic condition. With the wind tossing the boat about and water entering the boat, Jesus was asleep on a cushion. For many of us we would say that such an action is only possible in a calm weather. Jesus was asleep because he was not disturbed by the climatic condition of the sea. He could take his calm because he was master over the wind and the waters. He would manifest this power again in another episode when he walks on the waters of the lake and the disciples thought they were seeing a ghost. It is no surprise that the disciples woke Jesus up and asked him if he did not care that they were about to perish. They have witnessed in the area around Capernaum his miraculous powers in healing sick people and driving demons out of those who were possessed. Certainly, he must have the power to calm the storm, so his inaction must have been of concern to the disciples. The reaction of the disciples produced a positive result. Jesus rebuked the wind and there was great calm. His word was enough to turn a tumultuous situation into a serene one.

The action of Jesus reminds us of what God told Job in the First Reading. God is the one who set the boundaries for the tumultuous sea. If we consider the power of the mass of water contained in the sea yet it does not swallow up the earth, we have to imagine that there is a power greater than the sea that holds it in place. Job came to the realisation that the one who holds all things in place is the Almighty God. The discovery of the identity of God helped Job to realise that none of what was happening to him was beyond the control of God. The moment he identified God as the all-powerful One and placed himself under his care, things changed for Job. He was restored to his previous glory more than a hundredfold. It is as if in the words of the Psalmist, Job could invite those listening to him to give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever.

The Gospel Reading has the identity of Jesus as its focus but we do not get this message until the end of the reading. Unfortunately, Mark does not provide an answer to the question of the identity of Jesus. This question would not be fully answered for the curious reader because the identity of Jesus is not an issue of intelligence but of faith. One comes to know who Jesus is not by learning about him but by believing in him. The one who reads or learns about Jesus may identify him as a powerful miracle worker and a powerful teacher. The one who encounters him by faith identifies him as the Son of God. The disciples did not obtain an answer to their interrogation in the Gospel Reading but we have the answer through our personal encounter with Jesus.

We are invited to place all our trust in Jesus. In this way, we are sure that he would calm all the storms that we encounter in our lives. It is important to know how to call on him in prayer and wait for his response in faith.