The Word today, EpiphanyA
- Admin
- Jan 3
- 3 min read
January 05 - January 10, 2026
St Charles of St Andrew, priest
1 John 3:11-21 Today’s reading illustrates the richness of the First Letter. It is highly realistic — the world hates you. At the same time, it is very inspiring — our love is not to be just words or mere talk, but something real and active.
John 1:43-51 Our Gospel today contains a large number of descriptions of Jesus. If we were to describe what Jesus means to us, what would we say today? (The mention of the fig tree can puzzle. One explanation goes like this. In rabbinic tradition, it had been concluded that the tree of knowledge of good and evil was a fig tree, given that the fig is the first species mentioned. It became a symbol of the Torah, the later “tree” of knowledge, guidance on the part of goodness. Thus, seeing Philip under.
The Epiphany of the Lord (See special notes for the feast.)
1 John 3:22-4:6 Something of the difficult situation of the Johannine community comes to expression here. Clearly, there has been a split over doctrine and there is great anxiety that the true believers might be “contaminated” by false teaching.
Matthew 4:12-17,23-25 Just before the feast of the Baptism, we are presented with the teaching of John the Baptist. Jesus was a follower of John and accepted his baptism. He also took up the teaching of John about the coming kingdom and about conversion / repentance.
1 John 4:7-10 When we speak of the love of God, it could mean two things. The foundational gift is God’s love for us first of all and in the strength of that love we are able to love in turn.
Mark 6:34-44 All the miracles are to be read at two levels. There is the level of a story in the life of Jesus. Then, there is the level of the story in my life today. Already, we hear echoes of the Eucharist in the telling: Jesus said the blessing; then he broke the loaves and handed them to his disciples. We are those disciples today.
1 John 4:11-18 Continuing from yesterday, how could we best respond to God’s astonishing love of us? 1 John explores in a very helpful way the many dimensions of the love affair between God and us.
Mark 6:45-52 One more, the miracle story is to be read at two levels. This is true especially of the walking on them water. When the later community felt the absence of Jesus, this story served to remind them: ‘Courage! It is I! Do not be afraid.’ We are the same today: we too need this word of presence and encouragement.
1 John 5:5-13 1 John 4:19-5:4 How would you know your love of God was genuine? Here’s a practical test. The letter of John — highly spiritual — is also highly practical: man who does not love the brother that he can see cannot love God, whom he has never seen.
Luke 4:14-22 Today we hear Luke’s telling of Jesus’ visit to his hometown and synagogue. Again, Luke “locates” the proclamation of Jesus, using another mighty citation from Isaiah. There can be no separation of the Gospel and the social teaching Jesus — these are one and the same.
References
-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2026, January 4). The Epiphany of the Lord. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010426.cfm
-Sunday readings. (n.d.-s). Hearers of the Word. https://www.tarsus.ie/SundayReadings
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