January 4^th 2015. Second Sunday of Christmas.

Gospel: John 1:1-18

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

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GOSPEL                          John 1:1-18

In the beginning was the Word:
and the Word was with God
and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things came to be,
not one thing had its being but through him.
All that came to be had life in him
and that life was the light of men,
a light that shines in the dark,
a light that darkness could not overpower

A man came, sent by God.
His name was John.
He came as a witness,
as a witness to speak for the light,
so that everyone might believe through him.
He was not the light,
only a witness to speak for the light.

The Word was the true light
that enlightens all men;
and he was coming into the world.
He was in the world
that had its being through him,
and the world did not know him.
He came to his own domain
and his own people did not accept him.
But to all who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God,
to all who believe in the name of him
who was born not out of human stock
or urge of the flesh
or will of man
but of God himself.
The Word was made flesh, he lived among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory that is his
as the only Son of the Father,
full of grace and truth.
John appears as his witness. He proclaims:
‘This is the one of whom I said:
He who comes after me ranks before me
because he existed before me’

Indeed, from his fullness we have, all of us, received –
yes, grace in return for grace,
since, though the Law was given through Moses,
grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God;
it is the only Son, who is nearest to the Father’s heart,
who has made him known.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . Over Christmas some of us may have seen the film “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Don Fabio tells us that Sunday’s readings provide the key to a wonderful life for each one of us! The first reading speaks of a wisdom that is not an intellectual or abstract thing. It is something that exists with God and has made its home in people – it is the science of living in loving communion with others. The Gospel tells us that this same wisdom – the Word of God – is what gives life to everything that exists. This is not a wisdom that I can study in a book. It is a wisdom that comes to us and asks to be welcomed or rejected as a person. To accept this wisdom is not an abstract affirmation of an idea. It involves entering into communion with the Lord. Once I do this, once I accept Jesus, the Word of life who is coming into the world, then I do nothing less than rediscover what Adam had lost! Adam lost communion with God, lost faith in God as a loving Father. Jesus reveals who the Father really is. As a consequence, the Holy Spirit implants an intuition in my heart that God is love. Once I accept this, then my real life as a child of God begins to be unveiled. I start to live in a state of peace, free from the anxieties that accompany a life based on possessions and self-affirmation. When I gain merely human wisdom, I attain something on an intellectual level. But when I welcome the wisdom of God that is Jesus, I become a new person. The wisdom of God incarnates himself into the world, becoming flesh. We too must incarnate ourselves into reality. Let us stop living in virtual realities, false paradises based on illusions! The only true paradise is that which consists in accepting reality as it is and abandoning myself to the providential life of the Father.

What is wisdom? The power of an individual intellect to synthesize ideas? Or is it the science of knowing how to live in communion?

As 2015 begins, we wish all of our listeners a year full of the graces of the Lord.

The Gospel for Sunday is the same as we heard on Christmas Day and comes from the Prologue of St John’s Gospel. We will look at this passage from the point of view of the first reading from the Book of Ecclesiastes.

“From eternity, in the beginning,
he created me, and for eternity I shall remain.
I ministered before him in the holy tabernacle,
and thus was I established on Zion.
In the beloved city he has given me rest,
and in Jerusalem I wield my authority.
I have taken root in a privileged people,
in the Lord’s property, in his inheritance.”

There is a dual aspect to this text insofar as the first phrases speak of wisdom as being in heaven with God, but the latter phrases speak of wisdom as being in the midst of the people. The wisdom that is in God descends to the people of God. It is interesting to note the claim of being present in an entire people. We think of wisdom as being an individualistic thing, a synthesis of ideas and information by a single intellect. But this is incomplete. Wisdom is something that resides in the life of a people, even the lives of a poor people like those the Lord had chosen. It is not merely knowledge or comprehension, but is the art of living in communion with others. Some of the most erudite people are illiterate when it comes to relating with others. Wisdom is love, it is is knowing how to live in communion.

Jesus is the wisdom of God, but this is not a wisdom to be studied in books. It is a wisdom to be accepted or rejected as a person. Accepting the wisdom of God means to enter into communion with him, and we are transformed in the process

Let us see how wisdom is presented in the Gospel. We are told that the Word was with God in the beginning and that the Word is God. The Word is also life, and everything that was made was done so by means of this fundamental key of the internal life that exists in God. This life is coming into the world, was announced by John the Baptist, and is the true light that enlightens every person. When all is said and done, when we have considered all the options in front of us, the only light that illuminates us is the Lord Jesus. He is wisdom, but not a wisdom to be studied in books. Rather, he is someone who comes to us and can be rejected. He is love and does not impose himself. Wisdom is the true authentic love that is not violent or aggressive. But whoever welcomes this wisdom discovers a new identity. When I possess human wisdom, I merely have extra information. But when I have the Wisdom of God I become a new person. I uncover my potential to be a child of God because that is what I do when I accept him and welcome his power, his tenderness in my life.

Living a life in communion with this wisdom is not an abstract thing. It involves incarnating ourselves in reality.

“The Word became flesh”. This wisdom is not an abstract thing. He enters into our affairs. We too are called every day to incarnate ourselves in reality. There is a constant temptation to remain encapsulated within our own schemes, ideas and projects, but the Word pitches his tent among human beings. We too must live real lives, not hang around expecting who-knows-what. When we enter into things, living the life we are called to, we receive grace upon grace.

Jesus pitches his tent among us and shows us what the Father is like. This is the principal thing that Jesus does – he reveals the Father. He unveils the communion that Adam had lost and shows God to be a loving Father who calls us into life-changing communion with him

The principal point of this beautiful poetic Prologue to St John’s Gospel is that Jesus is the revelation of the Father. “No one has ever seen God; it is the only Son, who is nearest to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.” All the things Jesus has done – becoming flesh, pitching his tent among us, offering us life – all these things reveal the nature of the Father. Jesus shows us what Adam had lost, reveals something that Adam knew only in theory or in an abstract sense. Adam is one who lives by projections, idols, false expectations, illusions. The human being is a being fundamentally dissatisfied with his own reality. What makes life incomplete is the fact that he does not enter into communion with the Father, and he does not enter into communion because he refuses to believe that God is Father. Jesus reveals to us that the Father is love. There is an intuition in my heart which is a gift of the Holy Spirit. When I welcome this intuition that God is a tender Father who cares for me providentially, then I achieve a state of inner peace. I attain the capacity to abandon myself to him and live a wonderful life without becoming anxious, without seeking to base my life on possessions or self affirmation. I attain the ability to live life truly, to incarnate myself in that which God sends my way. May the year 2015 be a year in which we incarnate ourselves in what God sends, a year in which we entrust ourselves to the Lord. There is no happiness outside of reality so let us live within it. Paradise cannot be found in empty dreams or virtual realities! The only paradise that exists is the reality in which each one of us is to be found, that happy reality that consists of entering into communion with the Father