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Sunday,
January 11, 2004
Baptism
of the Lord
Readings: Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7: I, the Lord, have made you the light of the nations Psalm 28 Acts of the Apostles 10:34-38: Anointed by God with the power of the Spirit Luke 3:15-16,21-22: You are my beloved Son
The
prophet Isaiah presents us with the mysterious figure of a
servant of God, his chosen one, his preference, destined to
bring into the world his rights, his alliance, his light. We would expect the prophet to speak of
strength and power, arms and armies, but instead he tells
us that the chosen one will come humbly, with only the power
of his convincing word, to open the eyes of the blind and
to free us captives from our chains and prisons. In this passage
Isaiah makes a powerful insistence on the universal character
of the mission of this servant of God: he will be sent to
Israel, but all nations, «the islands» - as the Jews called
the remote countries that they did not know well – also will
be illumined by his light, and for them also will be established
the rights and divine laws; rights and laws that already here,
in our reading, are in favor of the poor and oppressed.
The
second reading, from the book of the Acts of the Apostles,
presents us a fragment of Peter’s discourse in the house of
the centurion Cornelius, an official of the Roman army stationed
in Palestine, to whom God chose to reveal the gospel. Thus the words of Isaiah are fulfilled:
salvation is sent not only to the Jews but to also the pagans,
to all human beings without any distinction.
It is Jesus of Nazareth who brings them peace, wellbeing,
health, liberation. It is Jesus whom John baptized in the
Jordan and whom God anointed, that is, filled completely with
the creative and saving force of his Holy Spirit.
The
Gospel, from Saint Luke, recounts for us the event that we
celebrate: the expectation of the people concerning the condition
of the Baptizer, if he were not the awaited Messiah; the solemn
declaration of John that his baptism is merely the preparation
for a superior baptism, in the Holy Spirit and fire, like
that of the apostles on Pentecost; and the scene itself, described
very briefly, of the baptism of Jesus, humbly among the people,
like the rest of the sinners and penitents who gathered around
John the Baptizer, even though he had no sin at all. His attitude of confident prayer, the
pouring of the Holy Spirit upon his person and the declaration
of the divine voice: “You are my Son, the beloved, the chosen”.
The
sign of consecration of the priests and kings in the Hebrew
Scripture was the anointing with oil poured over the head.
Such an anointing even designated the essence of the office:
that of a king, called “Messiah”, that is, the anointed one. Isaiah announced the coming of a future
servant of God, with royal traits, now not anointed with oil
but rather with the very spirit of God.
Some groups of Jews practiced ritualistic baths of
purification, with an attitude of profound repentance, accompanied
by ascetic practices such as fasting, prayer, life in solitude,
bodily quiet. John
the Baptizer preached at the beginning of our era a unique
baptism of penance, with previous public confession of sins,
as a sign of preparation for the imminent divine judgment
which was coming soon.
Both practices came together in the baptism of Jesus:
his messianic anointing with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit,
and his baptism, not of penance or confession of sins but
rather of solidarity with the sinners and total submission
to the divine will.
Like
Jesus, we too received the Holy Spirit on the day of our baptism.
Thus we were consecrated like He was, to announce the
good news, God’s gospel of love and peace.
Thus we too were made sons and daughters of God, by
adoption, to give witness to His love as Father, to this preference
for the poor, the sinners, the humble, the weak.
As disciples of Jesus, members of his family, of his
community, we commemorate every Sunday his life, passion and
death, and we commit ourselves to give active witness to our
faith. We cannot
excuse ourselves because we were baptized when we were very
young: our parents wanted to communicate to us as soon as
we were born the greatest treasure the possessed: the Christian
faith, the gift of unbreakable confidence in the love of God
manifested in Jesus Christ, in his words and his actions. Now, adults and aware, we are taught by
the Church to take our faith seriously and to prepare ourselves
like Jesus to make the reign of God present in the world,
the sovereign rule of a loving Father who favors the small,
the poor, the humble, the outcasts of our society.
For
our personal conversion:
Today is the first Sunday of «ordinary time»; we have come to the end of the «special times» of the liturgy, Advent and Christmas; we return to the ordinary life… A classic ascetic refrain said: «in ordinariis, non ordinarius», to express the goal of those who strive to become holy (‘extraordinary’) in the ordinary things of daily life… As we begin the «ordinary time» we should renew our desire to live «extraordinarily». For
our group discussion:
-The mission of the Messiah could be understood as “establishing Rights”. Let us reflect: What do Rights have to do with the mission of a Messiah? What relation do Rights have with the mission of every Christian? -How is our world doing from the point of view of Rights? Is it Rights (international, world) that direct the world order? Are we advancing toward a better judicial order, or have be moved backwards toward the law of the jungle, the law of the strongest, the personalized justice (or vengeance)…? -Can the promotion of rights and the demands of the new World Rights be one of the duties of Christians, to bring about the mission of the Messiah in the present world? -What relation has Jesus’ baptism with ours? -Jesus was «baptized as an adult»; in many places the «new spiritual movements» and sects accuse Catholics of invalid baptisms because they are given to children… What do you think? Should the baptismal practice be reformed? For
the Prayer of the Faithful:
That all men and women, of whatever religion, accept and promote Love, Justice and Rights, let us pray to the Lord. For all the followers of Jesus, that they may distinguish themselves always – like the Messiah in whom the believe – by their love and peace, and tolerance, and justice, and defense of human rights, let us pray to the Lord. That we learn from all men and women, of whatever religion, who have discovered the absolute imperative of human rights, which become «divine rights», let us pray to the Lord. That the Church resolve in the best possible manner the inherent problem of infant baptism, let us pray to the Lord. Community
Prayer
God our Father, who in the baptism of Jesus proclaimed him to be your «much beloved Son, the beloved», we beg you to cloak us with your name and allow us to reflect more closely every day your image, making ours your Cause and following your mission to be «light of the nations» and to «sow Rights on earth». We ask this through the same Jesus Christ out Lord |
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