Everyone begotten of God conquers the world, and the victory that has conquered the world is this faith of ours. Who then is the victor over the world? The one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
1 John 5:4-5
1 John 5:4-5
“In the beginning the love song of God is a folksong,” wrote Caryll Houselander. “We always come back to the beginning,” she muses. We come back to the beginning because that’s a very good place to begin. It gives us a chance to see and experience things anew, even something that is already familiar. To start at the beginning gives us a foundation, sets the pace for what is to come. Perhaps you’ve stopped a conversation and said, “Let me backup and start at the beginning,” before you continued so what you had to tell your hearer would make better sense.
Our Gospel writers all do just that. They stop their telling and go back to the beginning. In doing this they are very telling in their recounting of the story of Jesus, the Christ; it anchors Him solidly in the Old Testament and makes better sense to their audience. They all begin at the beginning.
Take a few moments to watch the YouTube video below to walk you through the not at all passive beginning sentence of St. Mark’s Gospel—and I am talking just that first sentence, it’s loaded. Perhaps you will gain a new perspective on Jesus you hadn’t pondered before.
Mark’s folksong is a good place to begin this New Year. Begin your own folksong; sing the folksong of God’s love and victory this year. Beginnings are good. Happy New Year and a blessed feast day of Our Lady, Mary, Mother of God (Theotokos).
Yes, I have always come to the crucifix to pray,
But I never knew Jesus Christ and His love until to-day;
I sought by the feeble ray of the dim light of my mind;
But now it is dark, I learn by touch as they do who are blind…
- Caryll Houselander -