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6750 W Montrose Ave :: Harwood Heights, Illinois :: tel (708) 8678817 :: fax (708) 8670774
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The Baptism of the Lord
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January 10, 2010
| | | | | | |  | | | | | | | | | | | "
You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.
"
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The people were filled with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Messiah.
John answered them all, saying, "I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire.
After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened
and the holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased." |
Luke 3:15-16, 21-22.
| | *** | Justice which we expect here, on earth, often leaves within us a feeling of helplessness and insufficiency. For, not only it seems like God does not bless those who do His will but, also, with a certain kind of irony, he seems to bestow with his favor those who have no respect for him and even call themselves his enemies. We ask ourselves a question about the sense of such a justice even more frequently if we happen to experience frequent challenges in practicing our faith in Christ. What we need to do is to make an effort of understanding Lord Jesus in the light of Isaiah's prophecy:
Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one with whom I am pleased,
Upon whom I have put my spirit;
he shall bring forth justice to the nations,
Not crying out, not shouting,
not making his voice heard in the street.
A bruised reed he shall not break,
and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
Until he establishes justice on the earth;
the coastlands will wait for his teaching.
I, the LORD, have called you for the victory
of justice,
I have grasped you by the hand; I formed you,
and set you as a covenant of the people,
a light for the nations,
To open the eyes of the blind,
to bring out prisoners from confinement,
and from the dungeon, those who live in
darkness.
Following Christ's way demands from us the same kind of trust to the Eternal Father. A complete trust that everything which occurs in our lives happens for a reason; it leads us to something, so that finally, enlightened by the light we may see the light of hope. Only then our Baptism, which immersed us in Christ, will gain sense. Only then, together with John the Baptist we will be able to say that we are unworthy to untie the laces of the sandals on the feet of the Servant of God. Only then will we experience the cleansing fire of the Holy Spirit. Only then, freed from the captivity of sin, will we start to build God's Kingdom, the Kingdom of justice and peace, the Kingdom of love and trust, the Kingdom in which the law will be Christ seen in each of us.
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The Baptism of the Lord
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January 10, 2010
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