Dear friends,
Your Thought for the week.
Weekend of 18th/19th January 2020.

In this weekends Gospel passage, John the Baptist refers to Jesus as the “lamb
of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John was the first person to
refer to Jesus as ‘Lamb of God’). The lamb as a symbol for Christ is deeply
rooted in the Old Testament. For centuries, people worshipped God by
sacrificing animals; for the Jews, the lamb was the main animal of sacrifice.
The sacrifice of a lamb played a key role in the biblical story of the Exodus,
in which God led the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery.

Jesus is revealed in the New Testament as the new Passover Lamb,
sacrificed for us, His body broken on the cross for our sins. It is fitting that,
at Mass, at the symbolic action by the Priest of the breaking of bread, we
invoke Jesus as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins on the world”.
Today we pray:

‘Jesus, Lamb of God and source of life, Jesus loving bearer of our sins:
hear our prayer, have mercy; hear our prayer, have mercy;
grant us your peace.