The Friday after Epiphany
1 John 5:5-13  +  Luke 5:12-16
January 8, 2016

“So there are three who testify….”

The Christmas Season is a time of beginnings.  During Christmastide we hear a great deal in the Sacred Liturgy from the writings of the Beloved Disciple.  St. John the Evangelist outlived all the other apostles.  The Blessed Mother, who had been entrusted to his care on Calvary, had completed her earthly life.  As he writes his Gospel account and epistles, then, he stresses the fundamentals.

If St. John’s epistles sound at times like he’s repeating himself, perhaps he knew that repetition is the key to learning.  He’s hammering home a message with eternal consequences:  the Good News of Jesus Christ.

In today’s First Reading, St. John speaks of “testimony” about the divine Person of Jesus.  He says something intriguing:  that “there are three who testify, the Spirit, the water, and the Blood.”  More than one Church Father suggests these three refer to the Trinity.  Perhaps it’s an imaginative leap, but whatever St. John’s literal intention in writing these words, we could apply his words to the three Sacraments that initiate a human person into the Body of the Church.  Confirmation, Baptism and the Eucharist initiate one into the life of Jesus Christ, and through Him into the communion of the Trinity.  Say a prayer of thanksgiving today for having received the gifts of Baptism and Confirmation, and resolve during the new year to attend daily Mass whenever possible.