The description of a future messenger of God fits any prophets in the Old Testament. Yahweh grants the request of the office of the prophet as the mediator between God and the people. But God will also send a final prophet, the eschatological prophet of the end times. Some see Jesus as the fulfillment of the eschatological prophet. The early Christian community saw Christ as the final prophet.

The 1st reading tells us how God shows infinite mercy even to a pagan nation, as long as they repent their deeds and believe His messenger (Jonah). The people of Nineveh listened to the message of Jonah and repented and showed sincere acts of penance: The people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth. (Jon. 3:5)

One of the characteristics of Everyday Stewardship is to be committed — to persevere daily in a way of life acknowledging that everything belongs to God. I know, I know. Easier said than done.

Just ask Zebedee. It’s quite an image we get from the Gospel, after all. “So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him.” There was Zebedee, about his business, mending nets with his two sons, who were undoubtedly his best workers, they had to have been more dedicated than the hired men, who worked for wages rather than for family. And in an instant off they go, following this strange man.

Our faith is not just about ideas. It’s really about having an encounter with God and, in particular, the Risen Christ! Once we give ourselves over to the notion of God’s presence, we have to train ourselves to listen for God’s voice and be attentive to God’s call. Having companions on our faith journeys is so incredibly important as they can help us fine-tune our listening skills and discern God’s voice from others we may be hearing. Faith is all about having these profound encounters not only with God but with our brothers and sisters, and creation itself. Anyone or anything that is alive with God’s presence becomes an occasion for God to speak and call us to deeper graces and experiences. “Come, and you will see.”

John the Evangelist uses the theme of the Lamb of God a lot in his Gospel and the book of Revelation. For John the Baptist, Jesus is the Lamb of God in the Gospel of John. The symbolism of the lamb as an innocent sacrifice has its origin in the Old Testament. In the Temple liturgy, an innocent lamb is sacrificed as a holocaust or burnt offering. The burnt offering stresses the victim character of the offering.

The lamb is a symbol of innocent, harmless, and endearing sacrifice to depict the Savior, the Lamb of God. The prophets use these unique characteristics of the lamb to refer to the Messiah, the Christ. The lamb’s symbolism has a rich history and is explicitly associated with the temple liturgy with the character of a salvific sacrifice. The life of the Lamb is sacrificed in place of the life of a human person and offered to God instead. In the book of Exodus, a lamb was sacrificed in place of every firstborn son of Israel on the eve of their departure from Egypt. A lamb was also sacrificed at the Last Supper table, on the eve of Jesus crucifixion. Aside from its sacrificial theme, the meat of the sacrificed lamb is food. While the wool and the skin are made cloaks to protect man from the elements of nature.

When God Whispers:

“You don’t need to shout. My hearing works just fine.”

Are you a parent that has used that one on your kids? I’m not sure at what age they realize that the volume of their voice doesn’t correlate to the likelihood of receiving a favorable reply it might be sometime in the teenage years, when the talking slows down altogether.

The Baptism of the Lord is full of mystery and meaning. Jesus Christ a carpenter’s son is the awaited Messiah, the Son of God the Father, the Holy Servant of God who is the perfect instrument to accomplish the plan of God for Salvation. Through the Son, Jesus, the Holy Spirit restfully, the sevenfold fullness as foreseen by the prophets. (Is. 11:13) Fully invested by the Spirit He will accomplish the role of the Messiah and Savior of the world, in gentleness and love, symbolized by a dove (and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him). The Spirit of God symbolized loving kindness, mercy, and compassion.

If you’re on social media, you have probably seen a meme going around that features this quote: “God has a plan for your life. The enemy has a plan for your life. Be ready for both. Just be wise enough to know which one to battle and which one to embrace.”

There were certainly two competing plans for the Magi: God’s and Herod’s. And, wise as they supposedly were, it wasn’t entirely easy for the Magi to discern which was which.

After all, Herod posed as a friend. He offered the Magi hospitality and kindness. Though the Gospel doesn’t say so, he probably flattered them and appealed to every moral weakness he could observe in them. In his palace, they must have felt great physical comfort rest and tables of plenty on what was an otherwise long and treacherous journey.

The entire chapter 1 of the Gospel of Matthew tells us about the origin of Jesus. While chapter 2 deals with Jesus' mission and life's purpose. He is the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecy: He is a King, a new and greater king than David. The prophecies fulfilled - the star that signals His birth (Num. 24 :17), Bethlehem where the Messiah is born: From you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel (Mic. 5:1), kings of the

earth coming to pay honor to God and offering gifts and worship (Is. 49 :23, 60 :5-6; Ps. 72. 10-15). The child to be born is the Son of God who accomplishes the work of salvation that Israel did not accomplished. The Magi (not Jews) visit represents the Gentiles invited to salvation through Jesus Christ.