The People Who Live In Darkness Have Seen A Great Light.

Monday After Epiphany
Reading I
1 John 3:22–4:6
Beloved:
We receive from him whatever we ask,
because we keep his commandments
and do what pleases him.
And his commandment is this:
we should believe
in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another
just as he commanded us.
Those who keep his commandments
remain in him, and he in them,
and the way we know that he remains in us
is from the Spirit whom he gave us.

Beloved, do not trust every spirit
but test the spirits
to see whether they belong to God,
because many false prophets
have gone out into the world.
This is how you can know the Spirit of God:
every spirit that acknowledges
Jesus Christ come in the flesh
belongs to God,
and every spirit that does not
acknowledge Jesus
does not belong to God.
This is the spirit of the antichrist
who, as you heard, is to come,
but in fact is already in the world.

You belong to God, children,
and you have conquered them,
for the one who is in you
is greater than the one who is in the world.
They belong to the world;
accordingly, their teaching belongs to the world,
and the world listens to them.
We belong to God,
and anyone who knows God listens to us,
while anyone who does not belong to God
refuses to hear us.
This is how we know the spirit of truth
and the spirit of deceit.
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Responsorial
Psalm 2
R. I will give you all the nations for an inheritance.
The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;
this day I have begotten you.
Ask of me and I will give you
the nations for an inheritance
and the ends of the earth for your possession.”
R. I will give you all the nations for an inheritance.
And now, O kings, give heed;
take warning, you rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice before him;
with trembling rejoice.
R. I will give you all the nations for an inheritance.
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Gospel
Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25
When Jesus heard that John had been arrested,
he withdrew to Galilee.
He left Nazareth
and went to live in Capernaum by the sea,
in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali,
that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet
might be fulfilled:

Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles,
the people who sit in darkness
have seen a great light,
on those dwelling in a land
overshadowed by death
light has arisen.

From that time on,
Jesus began to preach and say,
“Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

He went around all of Galilee,
teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness
among the people.
His fame spread to all of Syria,
and they brought to him all
who were sick with various diseases
and racked with pain,
those who were possessed,
lunatics, and paralytics,
and he cured them.
And great crowds from Galilee,
the Decapolis, Jerusalem, and Judea,
and from beyond the Jordan followed him.
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Most Holy Name of Jesus

In a world of fiercely guarded corporate names and logos, it should be easy to understand this feast. The letters IHS are an abbreviation of Iesous, the Greek name for Jesus.

Although St. Paul might claim credit for promoting devotion to the Holy Name because Paul wrote in Philippians that God the Father gave Christ Jesus “that name that is above every name”, this devotion became popular because of 12th-century Cistercian monks and nuns but especially through the preaching of St. Bernardine of Siena, a 15th-century Franciscan.

Bernardine used devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus as a way of overcoming bitter and often bloody class struggles and family rivalries or vendettas in Italian city-states. The devotion grew, partly because of Franciscan and Dominican preachers. It spread even more widely after the Jesuits began promoting it in the 16th century.

In 1530, Pope Clement V approved an Office of the Holy Name for the Franciscans. In 1721, Pope Innocent XIII extended this feast to the entire Church.

Comment:
Jesus died and rose for the sake of all people. No one can trademark or copyright Jesus' name. Jesus is the Son of God and son of Mary. Everything that exists was created in and through the Son of God (see Colossians 1:15-20). The name of Jesus is debased if any Christian uses it as justification for berating non-Christians. Jesus reminds us that because we are all related to him we are, therefore, all related to one another.

Quote:
“Glorious name, gracious name, name of love and of power! Through you sins are forgiven, through you enemies are vanquished, through you the sick are freed from their illness, through you those suffering in trials are made strong and cheerful. You bring honor to those who believe, you teach those who preach, you give strength to the toiler, you sustain the weary” (St. Bernardine of Siena).

Saint of the Day
American Catholic.org