St. Januarius, bishop & martyr 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

1 Timothy 4: 12-16

  Let no one reproach you on account of your youth.

Be a model to the believers in the way you speak and act, in your love, your faith and purity of life.  Devote yourself to reading, preaching and teach­ing, until I come.Do not neglect the spiritual gift conferred on you with prophetic words when the elders laid their hands upon you.

Think about it and practice it so that your progress may be seen by all.  Take heed of yourself and attend to your teaching. Be stead­fast in doing this and you will save both yourself and your hearers.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

 Luke 7: 36-50

One of the Pharisees ask­ed Jesus to share his meal, so he went to the Pharisee’s home and as usual reclined at the table to eat. And it happened that a woman of this town, who was known as a sinner, heard that he was in the Pharisee’s house.

She brought an alabaster jar of perfume  and stood behind him at his feet, weeping. She wet his feet with tears, she dried them with her hair ; she kissed his feet and poured the perfume on them.

The Pharisee who had invited Jesus was watching and thought, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what sort of person is touching him; isn’t this woman a sinner?” Then Jesus spoke to the Phari­see and said, “Simon, I have something to ask you.” He answered, “Speak, master.” And Jesus said,  “Two people were in debt to the same creditor.

One owed him five hundred silver coins, and the other fifty.  As they were unable to pay him back, he graciously canceled the debts of both. Now, which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, who was forgiven more.” And ­Jesus said, “You are right.”

 And turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this wo­man?  You gave me no water for my feet when I entered your house, but she has washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You didn’t welcome me with a kiss, but she has not stopped kissing my feet since she came in.

 You provided no oil for my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.  This is why, I tell you, her sins, her many sins, are forgiven, because of her great love. But the one who is forgiven little, has little love.”

Then Jesus said to the wo­man, “Your sins are forgiven.”  The others reclining with him at the table began to wonder, “Now this man claims to forgive sins!”  But Jesus again spoke to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

 

Gospel Reflection：

 “HER MANY SINS ARE FORGIVEN.”

Sin ruins human lives; it destroys the natural world. Everything that was made “very good,” any thing that relates to the good-it wants to be destroyed. Sin is the absence of the good; it cannot co-exist with goodness.

Sin breaks the relationship with God, and the relation between humans and their fellow human beings and between humans and the natural world. Sin corrupts the human heart. It brings misery, loneliness and fear. With all these descriptions, we can easily identify its effects and manifestations, its many faces.

Forgiveness is sin’s reversal; it undoes what sin has done. Although in many cases the undoing takes longer time, still forgiveness restores back what has been lost and destroyed. Forgiveness brings about transformation inside the human person and promotes her/his well-being; it effects the flourishing of the natural world through humans.

Forgiveness brings peace; it heals the wounded heart and restores the broken relationship. That is why the sinful woman, having been forgiven her many sins, has poured out her love in gratitude. She was reconnected back to her God and restored to a new “life.”