A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 1:29-34
John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one of whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’ I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel.” John testified further, saying, “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and remain upon him. I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”
REFLECTION: Behold, the Lamb of God
Jesus is the Lamb of God. He freely gave up His life as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. He shed His divine blood on our behalf to redeem and take away the sin of the world.
The heart of our Lamb is the PAPA logo. Our PAPA spirituality is the PAPA Prayer. It is the Divine Face of Christ and The Sacred Heart of Jesus. Communion gives you a picture and a taste; it gives you the image of the sacred host. When the priest says, ”Behold the Lamb of God”, he is telling us to look, to stare, to glance at the Face of Christ. To look into His eyes and He looks into ours. God is always present in the human heart and is waiting for us. He enters our innermost being when we connect the Face of Christ and His Heart to ours.
The eyes initiate the contact with God. You connect then communicate with God—talking with God, and He with you. Then we have communion with God. You cannot get to the Heart unless we have seen the Face of Christ.
And how do we continue this beautiful connection with God? Through obedience and following His commandments. The ten commandments are the bridges to God.
If you don’t keep the commandments, then you have no connection to God. The Lord gave us an opportunity to be of one heart, one body and one mind with Him.
The core of The Heart of Christ is the Spirituality of the priest. He brings us into communion with Him. The whole purpose of the Priest is for communion. The power of communion is the power of salvation. This is the miracle we witness at Mass.
Please pray daily for our priests, so we can hear, “Behold, the Lamb of God”.
God bless
