This is the last devotion for the Advent-Christmas season. They should resume as Lent begins on March 5, Ash Wednesday. Thank you for participating in this with me. God bless you.
Today’s readings: Click on today’s date at http://www.usccb.org/bible/
Epiphany gospel
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Twelfth Day of Christmas
Epiphany
Isaiah 60:1
Your light has come! The glory of the Lord shines upon you.
The light of Epiphany does not bleed in around the edges of earthly darkness. It bursts forth and changes everything. Today we recognize that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God. And as John the Baptist proclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
This fully human, fully divine God-man Jesus changes the way we experience God. And you might say he changes the way God experiences us. Now we are free to love and be loved without fear, because Jesus opens our eyes to the love of our Father.
This week a whimsical headline caught my eye: “Pope Francis Has Not Abolished Sin, Confirms the Vatican” (article). We need God’s forgiveness now like we always have. And we have it, as John the Baptist proclaimed. Still … we sin. Self-protection and ambition carve us up and strive to destroy us as they have from the beginning.
In another article Pope Francis speaks of the difficulty priests have when in seminary their hearts are not formed along with their minds. He pulls no punches when he says they can become “little monsters” (article). “We are all sinners, but we are not all corrupt,” he says.
It is common, as most Christians know from their own at least occasional experience, to hear God’s word preached with what the Pope calls “inquisitorial beatings of condemnation.” Ugly. Bring on the fear and self-righteousness. When we are left with labels like “sinners in the hands of an angry God,” we don’t feel like little Christs, but more like left behind losers.
No, says Pope Francis, “the gospel is to be preached gently, fraternally, with love.” The Good News today is that Jesus takes away our sin. And we get to tell this story to our brothers and sisters – that is, to everyone. God will give us the words.
Lord, even just a touch from you gives us a story to tell.  As if endowed with some fourth dimension, life has depth and meaning that were not there before.  I find healing or wholeness or peace in your eyes, and the smile on my face is worth a thousand words. And then you give me words besides!
http://www.christiancounselingservice.com/archived_devotions.php?article_id=1233
(All of these devotions are archived at www.davesandel.net as well as www.christiancounselingservice.com.)
