Baptism of the Lord Year C 2019

The Baptism of the Lord (Year C)

(Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7; Acts of the Apostles 10:34-38; Gospel of St. Luke 3:15-16, 21-22)

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We are given precise historical details by St. Luke about the beginning of John the Baptist’s preaching, before he then goes on to tell us the nature of John’s personal calling and the essence of his message for Israel:

The word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness, and he went into all the country around the Jordan preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin.

We see something of the vehemence and utter commitment of John’s character –characteristics he had shown even before his birth by leaping for joy in the womb of his mother Elizabeth at Jesus’ proximity in Mary -- in John’s preaching which had been long-matured before God alone in the desert where John had, incidentally, become well acquainted with vipers; for, when brush fires broke out in the heat of summer, they could be seen scurrying into the open to escape the flames before hiding themselves again.  And so, by the grace of his calling to learn from and commune with God in the desert, John learned to recognize vipers of all varieties, ultimately and most especially those of a human kind whom he addressed directly even though they were trying to hide themselves among the crowds now surrounding him:

He said (began saying) to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?’  Produce good fruits as evidence of your repentance.

With such a man, son of priestly stock and living a quite extraordinarily penitent and holy life, it is easy to understand that, as St. Luke tells us;

The people were filled with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Christ.

John’s very life style was a condemnation and yet a calling, a re-calling, and his words to those coming to him in their search for truth about Israel’s God and His will for them were in agreement with his extraordinary dress and manner of living: John satisfied their desires by calling for a ‘repentance’ that involved a  change of life to be proved by appropriate actions, such as rejecting sin, practicing self-denial, and showing fraternal charity – ‘works worthy of repentance’ John called them – while, and above all, WAITING, WATCHING and LONGING for the One to come.  There were to be no claims of personal righteousness based on descent from ‘father Abraham’ or works of the Law, for the supreme work of those seeking baptism from John would consist in their watching, waiting and longing together with John for:

One mightier than I (who) is coming and He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Jesus had by this time lived a quiet life for nearly 18 years in Nazareth after having stayed behind in Jerusalem unknown to Mary and Joseph on pilgrimage and being found by them after three days in the Temple.  He had returned obediently with them to Nazareth and, as far as we know, nothing ‘special’ had happened to Him during those subsequent years.  He would have heard of all the hopes and expectations being aroused by His relative John the Baptist and -- because God His Father, Whom He loved above all, moved in mysterious ways most especially with Jesus Himself -- I suspect Jesus wondered why God’s work was apparently going-on whilst He Himself knew nothing of it.   Under His Father’s secret inspiration -- which Isaiah referred to as His grasping Jesus by the hand -- that inspiration which had guided Him in Jerusalem all those years ago and would guide Him later to His Transfiguration, Jesus decided to go and look for His Father: He would look where God’s divine presence seemed most at work and join up with the pilgrims surrounding John for baptism.   There, He joined those like Himself, those who were looking for God.   The most devout seemed to be humbly queueing and waiting for baptism and Jesus -- looking exclusively for His Father -- had no pride that hindered Him from joining such a queue.

However, the purpose of His Father’s mysterious call to Him was about to become manifest at this moment of Jesus’ sublime humility, and it was to be for His Son’s great glory, for:

Jesus having been baptized and praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove.  And a voice came from heaven saying: ‘You are My beloved Son, with You I am well pleased.’

Our Gospel passage tells us nothing more; but later on, when Jesus was praising John as the ‘greatest of those born of women’ we learn that:

All the people who listened, including the tax collectors, and who were baptized with the baptism of John, acknowledged the righteousness of God; but the Pharisees and scholars of the law, who were not baptized by him, rejected the plan of God for themselves. (Luke 7:29–30)

John proclaimed and manifested as perfectly as was then possible the essential nature of Christian repentance: it is nothing other the acceptance, the embracing, of God’s Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.  All who would truly accept Him as their God-sent Lord and Saviour would be taught by Him, by His Spirit, in His Church, what actions would befit their personal love for and obedience to Him.

St. Luke’s presentation of John the Baptist and Jesus in the Baptism is confirmed for us by Jesus Himself in St. Johns Gospel, where He addressed Jews proud of their paternity with Abraham:

Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.” So they said to Him, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the One He sent.” (John 6:27–29)

Now we turn our attention to the other face of John’s Baptism of Jesus:

After Jesus 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 saying: ‘You are My beloved Son, with You I am well pleased.’

Notice, dear People of God, that this picture painted for us by St. Luke concerns only God in heaven and Jesus, with the Spirit of Love uniting them; it is exclusively Personal to the heavenly Father and His incarnate Son, there are no words to or for any other people.  Obviously,  John the Baptist must have overheard or we would know nothing of the event, but it was a moment in time totally and absolutely sacred to the Father and His Son; the Spirit of Love between Father and Son does not speak for the Father’s words of love manifest His presence, and He is seen in the form of a dove because Jesus our prospective Saviour and the Christ of God is being confirmed and prepared for His mission of salvation.

My beloved Son, with You I am well pleased.

For about eighteen years Jesus lived and worked as an ordinary young man of Nazareth outwardly no different than other young town-members.   Nothing happened that marked Him out; hadn’t Mary and Joseph when missing Him those years ago expected first of all that He was with some other family of the pilgrimage playing with their sons?  Those eighteen years of repeated ordinariness of common life and living had, however, been penetrated and formed by a Personal discipline of praying, watching, and waiting, so that when the Father ‘grasped His hand’, Jesus knew it was a call, a call from His heavenly Father and, leaving Mary and all the ordinariness of His Nazareth life behind, He went where it seemed His Father was present and at work … oh! such patience, such humility, such invincible longing for His Father in heaven!!

            My beloved Son, with You I am well pleased.

Jesus is the perfect reflection of His Father’s glory, and as He was probably still dripping water after John’s baptism He heard His Father addressing Him Personally and became aware of the Spirit-of-Love-uniting-them now resting upon Himself … this was preparing Him for His imminent Public Mission just as something similar would later prepare Him for His Passion and Death.  Never again would men look on Him and see no-one special: henceforward He would be either whole-heartedly loved and sought-for, or avoided by the craven and hated supremely by His enemies.   But never again would He be just Jesus, a mere somebody from Nazareth. 

Dear People of God, this event was no routine baptism in the Jordan by John the Baptist, it was, if I may risk the word, the sublimation of Jesus by His heavenly Father:

He is the effulgence of God’s glory, the very imprint of His Being, and Who sustains all things by His mighty word.  (Hebrews 1:3)

The Epiphany 2019

The Epiphany  (2019)

(Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6; Matthew 2:1-12)

Why do we love certain people more than others … because of their goodness, perhaps, or their beauty; or might it be due to their understanding, sympathy, wisdom, or courage?  We could go on trying to find reasons but to no purpose, for the point is that we love someone because of who they are, because of their unique personality, as known to us and experienced by us.  We cannot love someone unknown to us.  Although we can admire what we hear of another, nevertheless, such admiration through hearsay or ‘work experience’ can only become true love after we have met, personally encountered, and, in some measure, learned to personally appreciate, the other.

Since that is undoubtedly true, don't you think it strange that Christians and Catholics speak so little about the beauty, goodness, wisdom and love, of God?  Christian proclamation is so often about an impersonal ethic: doing good to the needy and underprivileged, loving one’s neighbour and especially children, social involvement, and international comments from relatively minor figures – often sounding quite facile -- in favour of peace.   Indeed, at times, you cannot tell who is speaking: a social worker or a Christian, a political activist, or a witness defending or expounding their faith.   There is too often very little witnessing to the full pleroma of Christian, and above all Catholic, Faith as a spiritual power capable of bestowing on believers not merely present purpose, patience, and commitment, as a prelude to eternal salvation, but also as a unique source of hope for the unity, peace, and fulfilment of mankind … ‘forgive us our sins as we forgive others’ ...  and as a uniquely personal experience bestowing a secret joy and profound peace in anticipation of and prelude to our sharing in Jesus’ Own experiencing of Divine Beatitude.

The heavenly reward to which we all aspire as disciples of Jesus will not be given us because we have answered the world’s ‘politically correct’ expectations or requirements of us, nor because we have kept Church and/or even Divine  rules: the only criterion for the Christian and Catholic appreciation of our whole life will be "Did you love the Lord your God sincerely, in your mind and heart and with soulful truth and commitment?"   Without such personal love for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, our Christian life can only be bleak and formal, our Catholic witness to God only lifeless and uninspiring; all in stark contrast to those words of the prophet Isaiah we heard in the first reading:

Arise, shine; for your light has come!  And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. 

Christians -- above all we who are privileged to be Catholics -- should indeed shine out because we are called to reflect and make known the glory of the Lord which has shone upon us through our faith in the Good News of Jesus.  We are not like our brothers, the Jews and the Muslims.  They speak of God: they can speak good, holy, and beautiful things about God; indeed, the Jews speak of Him in ways very close to our own hearts.   Nevertheless, the Christian faith is so much more glorious than either Judaism or Islam: for we speak not only of the glory of God, but of the supreme and unimaginable beauty and beatitude of the Father, with His Son and the Holy Spirit.  We do not simply know God because He has spoken inspiring words through His prophets; nor do we praise Him simply because He has done great and wonderful deeds; above all, we confess, love and worship God, as Father, Son and Spirit: the Father Who created us and Who is really and truly our own Father in Jesus; the Son Who took our flesh and became our Brother before showing Himself to be our Saviour, and Who, to this very day, continues to give Himself as flesh and blood for you and me to eat and drink, thereby enabling us to live with His life, by His Spirit; and the Holy Spirit Whom we love and praise, in Whom we trust and rejoice, since He is ever with us as our Advocate, our strength and support, our light and our guide, our sure hope and our deep, deep, joy.

People of God, today's great solemnity of the Epiphany, the shining forth of God's glory, invites us most compellingly to glory in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, by telling us, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, to:

Lift up your eyes all round (that is, appreciate the Faith you profess and the Church in which you live); then you shall see and become radiant, and your heart shall swell with joy.

Jesus came to teach each of us to recognize with Him, and in Him to appreciate, the Father as a Person: His Father, and now, in Him, our Father; and He has given us His own most Holy Spirit, to inflame our hearts, enlighten our minds, and give us strength: that His, Jesus’ Own, filial likeness may be formed in us for the glory of the Father:

When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; He will tell you things to come. 

The Spirit also helps in our weaknesses; for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered.        (John. 16:13; Romans 8:26)

The Father Himself is so Personally committed to us that, having given His only Son for us, He now wants to speak to each of us personally, by His Spirit, that we might turn to Jesus and find our salvation in Him:

No one can come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.  (John 6:44)

The Father looks for, and expects in return, a similarly personal and whole-hearted response and commitment from us.  Jesus assures us that the Father wants to be our most perfect Father (Matthew 10:20):

It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father Who speaks in you.

And, as the only true Father, He wants to be recognized and loved by children who will confidently turn to Him, in Jesus, saying: "Abba, Father"

Our Lord Jesus is indeed the Messiah foretold by the prophets; proclaimed by angels and manifested by a star at His birth; revealed by the Father at His baptism in the Jordan; He is, indeed, the Messiah come to change the water of our lives into finest wine.  And this wonderful Jesus personally died on Calvary for our sins, yours and mine; He rose on the third day for our salvation; and is so close to us, that we now live in Him by His Spirit bestowed on each of us by Mother Church at our baptism, and continually renewed in us by our faithful living in her, above all by our reception of the Eucharist at Holy Mass.

And then, this Holy Spirit -- relating to each and every one of us individually – works His divine purposes in the secret depths of our minds and hearts to the extent that we are attuned to His presence and willing to respond to His inspirations.  Indeed, He is so personal to us that it is His task to lead each of us to our own individual and personal fulfilment and perfection in Jesus, for the Father.

People of God, Christians and even Catholics today are often afraid of the wonders of our faith.  Many, each according to their own make-up, want to imagine what they can easily accept or appreciate: some, a distant God Who demands, not personal communion in love, but the observance of laws, such as Sunday Mass, baptism, first Communion etc.; they want to be able to tick-off the laws they have complied with, or tot-up the accepted good deeds they have done; and this, because they cannot bear to feel unsure of themselves, because they are afraid to trust totally in God’s mercy and goodness;  others like to fancy a God Who is so like us as to be satisfied with actions serving no higher aims than the largely humanistic ideals of those who have rejected faith in God and now rejoice in the world: ‘doing good’ to others that they may feel and show themselves able to ‘do good’ without any dependence on a God of heavenly Being and authority on earth.

Jesus, however, came to lift His disciples up to heavenly glory: drawing them to Himself and leading them -- through selfless trust and loving commitment – out from their human nothingness and need as experienced by Himself on Calvary, to share with Him in the glory of divine charity where Father, Son and Holy Spirit are eternally and indivisibly One.  For we belong to Jesus -- as St. Paul tells us (1 Corinthians 3:21-4:1) -- just as Jesus belongs to God; our relationship with God is that personal:

All things are yours, whether (the Church), the world or life or death, or things present or things to come; all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

There, in the Son and by the Holy Spirit, and being caught up into the mystery of  Divine Charity uniting and beatifying the Most Holy Trinity, you and I are called to join in the songs of myriads of angel choirs, and to participate with our whole being in the great and eternal  ecstasy of heavenly praise to the glory of Him Who is, as St. Paul (Ephesians 4:6) tells us, the:

             One God and Father of all, Who is over all, through all, and in all.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, let us on this most solemn feast of the Epiphany 2019 renew our ability to whole-heartedly rejoice in God and, with quiet sincerity and deep confidence, to stand ever more firm and sure on the rock and foundation of our God-given Catholic and Christian Faith.

                                                                                                                         

Holy Family Year C 2018

Holy Family (Year C)

(1Samuel 1:20-22, 24-28 / 1 John 3:1-2, 21-24 / Luke 2:41-52)

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Our readings today are all centred on the idea expressed for us in St. John’s first letter:

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

We heard in the first reading how Hannah besought the Lord for a son, and how, when her prayer had been heard and her wish granted, she gave her son to the Lord after he was weaned, by handing him over to the High Priest to serve in the Temple before the Lord all his days.

That does seem a heartless action to us; let us, however, just consider why we look at things in this way and why Hannah thought so differently.  We regard her action as inadmissible because our first thoughts are of the mother and child relationship and/or for the child himself.  Her first thoughts were of and for God.  She was filled with gratitude to the Lord for the gift of her child, and she wanted to express not only her gratitude to God but also, and above all perhaps, her appreciation of His sovereign Lordship.  Looking at the situation in that light we will perhaps no longer think so condescendingly of Hannah’s attitude and action: she was quite probably thinking on a far higher level than us.  We tend to think naturally first and foremost; relatively speaking, very few people then go on to think more spiritually, and almost none supernaturally, whereas Hannah immediately thought on the supernatural level of God’s original gift of this son to her.  Let us, therefore, respectfully put aside any questioning of the morality or propriety of Hannah’s giving of her child to God …. all we know for certain is that her action did indeed fit in with God’s providential plan of salvation because Samuel did serve in the Temple, indeed he served before the Lord all his days, and he became one of Israel’s greatest prophets.  Hannah was guided by the Spirit of God to behave as she did, let us not pretend competence to judge her action, but rather let us question our own awareness of and love for God: would we, even though asked by God and inspired by His Spirit, ever have been able to respond with such selfless love and obedience as she showed?

Now let us turn to Mary.  Here we feel more at home.  Mary brought up her divine Son in the normal, human, way: He lived with her at home for the early years of His life with no apparent distinction from other boys living at home in the same village.  In fact, Jesus lived with Mary and worked with Joseph until He was approaching His thirtieth year.  Was Mary, therefore, responding to God less perfectly in this respect than did Hannah who made such a wonderfully self-sacrificing gift of her son?

No, that was not the case.  In Jesus we see the wonderful union of humanity with divinity: Jesus was perfect God and perfect Man, perfectly divine and perfectly human as Mother Church teaches us, but living among men He was outwardly unexceptional from others around Him, a man among men.  Now that perfect oneness of humanity and divinity in Jesus is reflected in the life of her who was the closest of all to Jesus.  So, we see Mary too, both human and divine in a way that far excels all others, with no visible ‘flaunting’ of her hidden worth before God.  Mary was most beautifully and fully human in her motherhood because her holiness was so much greater than that of Hannah; just as we have the suspicion that perhaps Hannah’s appreciation and holiness were far greater than ours is.

Hannah had needed to pray long and hard before she was given a son through the normal course of married life and love.  Although Hannah believed her child was a gift from God, young Samuel, nevertheless, was in no way different from other infants: he was the child of his mother and father.  Mary, on the other hand, had not prayed to be given a son herself: she prayed that God would visit His people Israel, that He would send the Messiah, but never did she in any way imagine that the she herself would bear such a child.  How, could she?  In both her mind and heart she wanted to be and to remain a virgin for God.  Thus, the Child she was given was indeed totally God’s Gift; Israel’s Messiah and Saviour came at God’s behest exclusively; He came as Mary’s Child also at God’s totally exclusive behest: Mary accepted God’s Gift in response to His request made through the angel Gabriel sent to her for that purpose.  So, Hannah prayed for a son and shared in the decision that led to his birth; Mary, however, made no such natural prayer for herself and she had no part -- by any whatsoever legitimate physical longing -- in any motherly aspiration or decision, for with totally-virgin simplicity, she most whole-heartedly out of total love for and obedience to God, acquiesced in and embraced His decision.

Hannah, as you heard, gave her child -- aged about 3 years -- to God in the Temple, to the High Priest Eli for service in God’s Temple.  Again, Mary made no decision which would direct Jesus’ future.  We are simply told that:

            Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover.

Therefore, for possibly eight or more years Mary and Joseph had taken Jesus up to Jerusalem to worship in the Temple and had then returned home from Jerusalem with all the other pilgrims; in no way visible to human eyes did this small Nazareth family distinguish themselves.  Mary just watched and prayed over her Son, and waited for God:  her Son had come from God, what did He want of Him?  Mary did not know, and she did not push or precipitate things in an attempt to find out.  Indeed, the annual visit to the Temple in Jerusalem became so normal a part of life that when Jesus was 12 years old, they went up again to Jerusalem and did not notice that the Boy this time was not with the party when they set out to return home.  That means that they had noticed nothing unusual about the Boy whilst they were in Jerusalem; is also seems to indicate that Jesus had said nothing particular about His feelings in the Temple.

When He was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom.  After the Feast was over, while His parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it.

Notice that!  Mary knew nothing special about Jesus’ thinking during that visit to Jerusalem.  He had gone there, received impressions, heard teaching and shared discussions that had stirred His heart and mind profoundly, but kept such thoughts – ultimately about His heavenly Father - to Himself.  He did this so well that Mary had no idea He had been so thrilled, and was still so very deeply absorbed, with what He had heard there.  She set off home with Joseph and the other returning pilgrims while Jesus stayed behind; and Mary never dreamt He was anywhere other than somewhere in the caravan journeying back with them to Nazareth:

Thinking He was in their company, they travelled on for a day. Then they began looking for Him among their relatives and friends.

Think!  Hannah had shared in God’s decision to give her a son and she determined her son’s future.  Mary had no share in any such decision: only her consent was asked; and Mary did not in any way determine her Son’s future.  Jesus’ future was determined as a result of the communion which originally existed and gradually developed between the Child, the Boy, the Man, and God, His heavenly Father.  This Child -- the Saviour of mankind -- was God’s Gift, and as such Mary had no say in determining His future.  She was given the Child to nurture and cherish Him as a son of Israel, and also to teach and discipline Him, as her very own Son; but as Lord and Saviour, He was God’s Gift, God’s alone.

Jesus gave His mother and Joseph a hint in this direction when, on being found in the Temple,

His parents were astonished when they saw Him. His mother said to Him, "Son, why have You treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for You."

His answer was most strange; one apparently somewhat distant and not encouraging or inviting further questioning:

"Why were you searching for Me?" He asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in My Father's house?"

Mary had just spoken – somewhat reproachfully – to Jesus about His ‘father’ Joseph’s distress; Jesus, on this somehow very special occasion, did not allow that, for He, in response, spoke explicitly of the Temple as the house of His real and heavenly Father.  Again, Jesus seemed surprised that Mary had not realized where He would be: “Didn’t you know?”  It had, indeed, been a secret in which Mary had not been included: a secret between Jesus and His heavenly Father, between the Saviour of mankind and the One who had sent Him.

However, it soon showed itself to be a secret with a quite definite purpose for, all of a sudden, things were perfectly normal again, or so it appeared:

He went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.

But things were never really quite the same again.  Mary had been brought – such had been the purpose of the divinely inspired secret -- to realize much more clearly that there was something awesomely deep and mysterious developing in her growing Son: He was most certainly God’s gift to her, but He was now becoming somewhat unknown to, beyond, her;  perhaps she herself was becoming less able to fully appreciate and anticipate this developing Man whom she had so totally cared for and formed as a child.  Mary had always prayed, and continued to pray, for God’s salvation to be made manifest in Israel; how and when it would come-about she had not known.  Now, however, she could not understand it even though it was developing before her very eyes. She continued to do what she had done for so many years already, she watched, prayed, and waited, but she now did those things ever so much more attentively and expectantly after this visit to the Temple when Jesus was 12 years old.  We are, indeed, told that she lived and interpreted all the details of her subsequent, and apparently ordinary, life in the light of what had happened there in the Temple:

His mother treasured all these things in her heart.

We can get a glimpse of her watching and waiting, her prayer and her expectations, growing ever greater and ever more compelling if we just jump forward another 18 years.  Yes, 18 years!

Mary was then at a wedding.  Jesus had begun to attract disciples, followers, and He also was at the wedding feast with some of them.  The wine ran out.  What a disgrace for the young newly- weds!  Mary after all these years of waiting and wondering felt impelled to turn to her Son to do something -- something perhaps only He might do -- about the lack of wine.  At first Jesus was unwilling to accept her implicit request: it was not His or her business.  He said it kindly, according to local custom, but it was as it would always be: with regard to His work of salvation Jesus was entirely His Father’s Son, God’s total gift both to Mary and mankind.  Mary could in no way direct His future as Saviour.  Nevertheless, on this special occasion -- the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry -- God the Father showed His great mercy and goodness to Mary once again, with the result that, at His Father’s behest indeed, Jesus eventually acted in accordance with her wishes, and the subsequent miracle thus came-to-be as the result of Mary’s request and as final guidance for her dearest Son, but more, and quite uniquely, as her maternal blessing for the work He was now entering upon as Israel’s Messiah and mankind’s Saviour. 

We have all been shown something of the glorious mystery of God’s Son here on earth.  St.  John had long been absorbed with the thought of that, and you heard him cry out in our second reading:

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

My dear people, let us imitate Mary and “think on these things in our heart”.   What a privilege to be called a child of God!  Do we try to listen to the Holy Spirit as Jesus listened to His Father?  Are we too easily upset when people show that they do not appreciate us?  Perhaps that is a sign that we ourselves do not realize what it means to be a child of God; that we ourselves do not appreciate the wonderful privilege we have been given.  Let us turn to Mary I say, and like her, think on and treasure these things in our heart.