"He that loves, flies, runs and rejoices; he is free and not bound....Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of trouble, attempts what is above its strength pleads no excuse of impossibility...for it thinks all things possible it is therefore able to undertake all things, and it completes many thing, and brings them to a conclusion. But he who does not love, faints and lies down." (Thomas a Kempis)

We are called by God to be witnesses of a life of love. "By this will all know that you are my disciples, your love for one another." Given our fallen nature, it is hard to live a life of love. But given  our redeemed nature, by grace we are able to love according to God's plan. Love is a choice. I can, with grace, choose to love. The focus of love is The Other, God, and others. It is when we look to self rather than other, we fail in love. This choice of love is a daily journey with its ups and downs. Paul reminds us: "Whatever  you say or do, do all in love, giving thanks to God through Jesus Christ." To become a person of love is worth the struggles we have to go through to reach this goal. Seek the higher gift of the Spirit, love.

What is your point of gravity, the center of your attention, your ultimate priority? 
What is the "one necessary thing" that will give meaning to everything else in your life? Jesus identified it for us. "Set your hearts on God's kingdom first...and all these other things will be given to you as well." In another place Jesus said: "Where your heart is there is your treasure." In other words, Jesus is to be our point of gravity, our center, our ultimate priority, the one necessary thing in our lives. Where he is, then we are on the right path to eternal life with him. Where he is not, then our path is uncertain for in reality we are living in the darkness and not in the light. In the darkness we more easily lose our way and will be far away from the Lord. While there is time, make the necessary recalculation and adjustment to get back on the right trajectory, leading to eternal life with God.

How often we hear in the scriptures God saying, "Do not be afraid"? There seems to be a constant attitude within each of us, an attitude of fear, a fear of the unknown, a fear of the "what ifs". How can we overcome these persistent fears and anxieties? Our answer comes from God. "Do not be afraid. It is I". When we focus on ourselves and realize that we are not sure we can do something, then self-doubt and fear rise to the surface of our consciousness. God tells us look to him in whom we can do all things. When Peter saw Jesus walking on the water and heard, "Fear not, it is I", Peter asked to come to Jesus on the water. As long as Peter kept his eyes on the Lord, he moved across the water towards Jesus. But when he took his eyes off Jesus, his fears took over. When fear comes upon us, telling us that I can't do this, we need to look to Jesus. In him we can do all things. For when our love of God grows, the hold of fear is lessen.  

Homily Fourth Sunday Year C

Reading 1: God reveals to Jeremiah that he had been called to the prophetic ministry. God called Jeremiah to speak a message to a people who had turned away from God. Jeremiah was to tell the people that if they did not repent God would send them into exile.

Jeremiah knew the state of the people. He told God to choose someone else for he felt too young and inadequate for this hard task. But God reminds Jeremiah that he created and formed him in his mother’s womb and prepared him for this ministry. So don’t rebel like the Israelites but listen to and act on the word received from God.

How often are we afraid to do what the Lord wants us to do because of the enormity of the task? But like to Jeremiah, God states the convincing truth: “I am with you. Stand firm and do what I ask you to do. For I am your strength and security.”

Jeremiah’s life was not easy. The word he was given to proclaim was not a comforting word. Basically, it was if the people refused to listen to the Lord’s word and not return to the Lord there will be dire consequences. When they refused, then Jeremiah told them to accept their fate from the Lord and surrender to their enemies. Obviously, this was an unpopular word for which Jeremiah suffered immensely. What sustained Jeremiah was his relationship with God. He called it “a fire in his belly” which would not let him stop doing what God told him to do. He was a prophet and like many of the other prophets he was rejected and suffered.

Reading 2: Jeremiah was a courageous prophet. Jesus was a courageous prophet. What sustained them? The love of God and their desire to respond to that love. The fire in Jeremiah’s belly was that love for God that he couldn’t deny. The cost of love was the embracing the cross of being a prophet who was going to be rejected. Love sustained him.

Jesus knew the Father loved him in his humanity. He, in turn, loved the Father, even though his own community rejected him. He found his identity, purpose and resolve in his love relationship with the Father.

Paul came to the same conclusion. The only thing that matters in the end is love. Am I in love with God? Is this the motivating factor in my actions? As St Therese of Avila once said: “Love is responded to with love alone.” To become a courageous follower of Jesus and no longer a comfortable one is to be on fire with love for the Lord, never being ashamed of the Gospel of love proclaimed and lived in the life of Jesus.

Gospel: Like Jeremiah, Jesus was aware of the gift of prophesy he had been given by the Father. Background, Jesus had just a few months earlier experienced the affirmation of the Father and the anointing of the Spirit at his commitment in being baptized. Afterwards his reputation as a teacher spread.

Jesus goes back to Nazareth to visit with his mother Mary. On the Sabbath he goes with her to the Synagogue as every observant Jew did. Because his reputation has spread even to Nazareth, they asked him to do the reading and to give a few words of interpretation. They gave him the scroll with Isaiah’s prophetic words. Jesus went to the passage that identified the Messiah and his mission. His interpretation was simple. “Today, this passage has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

At first, there is amazement but that amazement turned into anger and rejection. Jesus made it clear that he knew, like the prophets before him, that he would not be accepted even by his own community and family. He knew that because of the lack of openness to the plan of God, like their ancestors whose hearts were hardened, he would not be able to perform many miracles there. They did not believe in him. They wanted to control him, not allowing him to be who he was in the Father’s plan. But Jesus refused to allow them to determine his response to the Father. He would speak the Father’s words, and fulfill the Father’s plan for him.

Each of us is a prophet by virtue of our baptism and confirmation. Each of us is to listen and act on the Word of the Lord, no matter the acceptance or rejection from others. For God is with us and gives us all we need to fulfill the mission he has given us. Only love will enable us to be faithful to the call.

"God exists, and the meaning of all that I am depends totally on that knowledge. I wonder constantly if I am genuinely allowing my life to be determined by that truth. Maybe part of my reason for hesitating to embrace this truth fully is that it challenges me to give up all control over my life and to let God be God, my God, the God of my neighbor, and the God of all creation. But I also realize that as long as I do not “do” this, my life is an illusion and most of my energy is spoiled in trying to keep that illusion going." (Henri Nouwen)

The existence of God does not depend upon me. My existence depends upon God from the moment of my conception and for each moment afterwards. I am his whether I acknowledge it or not. Everything I am and have belongs to him. He has given me free will to embrace the fact that he is God and I am his. It is when I choose not to be dependent upon him that I begin to live in the lie of my false identity and worth. This mask of the false self propels me into the drama of self-deception, always seeking to be other than I am. It is the darkness of the world of sin. But God in his mercy has given me freedom in Christ's salvation. Once I embrace this grace and return to the truth of God's existence, God draws me closer to him once more. St. Paul shows us our response. "Do not conform yourself to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, choosing God's will, what is good, pleasing and perfect."

 Fourth Sunday of the Year Gospel C

Jesus began speaking in the synagogue, saying: “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. 

· We continue from the passage we heard in last Sunday’s Gospel Reading. Jesus is in Nazareth. He went to the Synagogue as was his custom. They asked him to proclaim and interpret the Word of God. He probably asked for Isaiah’s writings. He found the passage that affirmed what happened to him at the time of his baptism: the Father affirming him and anointing him with a fresh outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit for his ministry.

· His interpretation was simple: Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing. In other words, I am the one whom Isaiah is prophesizing about.

· Their first reaction was amazement. But this did not last long.

They also asked, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?”

· He is a home town celebrity. They knew who he was. They were not ready to accept that he was anything but the son of Joseph. 

He said to them, “Surely you will quote me this proverb, ‘Physician, cure yourself,’ and say, ‘Do here in your native place the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.’” 

· They had heard that he had already cured a few people. So they were expecting him to do the same for them. 

· They knew he was a teacher and healer. What they didn’t expect is the next thing Jesus would say.

And he said, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” 

· Now Jesus tells them his is also a prophet like Elijah and Elisha. 

· Like them, he would not be accepted nor could he perform many miracles for them, because of their lack of faith. 

When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away.

· From astonishment to questioning, to disbelieve, to anger and rejection, they quickly moved.  His words were too much for him, because their hearts were hardened. They were satisfied accepting Jesus as a home town celebrity, but not to be challenge by him to open their hearts to the way of the Lord.

· How open are we to the full message of Jesus? Do we sometimes want to qualify it or interpret it to fit our preferences?

From the time we were baptized until our last breath, we are on a journey to God. We were adopted by God and given a share of his Divine Life. The end of our journey is to have that life to the fullest. This doesn't happen over night nor independent of us. Our journey is to sanctify more and more of our life by consciously being aware of God, by consciously submitting more and more of our daily life under his Lordship. This is not only done by praying, but also by following the admonition of St. Paul: "Whatever you do in word or action, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to the Father." God is interested in everything in our daily life. Nothing is too trivial or too mundane. Nothing is a coincidence. Growing in the ability to transform and to do everything to please the Lord is the challenge of our journey.  It is also the way to holiness. 

Jesus spoke about being in the world without being of the world. What does he mean? What would that look like? To begin with, not to be of the world is to be with Jesus, to follow his lead, to submit all things to him, to see the circumstances of life through his eyes. The world in which I live doesn't determine me. In fact, to others I am seen as counter cultural, because my values are not those of the world. What matters most is my relationship with God. I am not seeking the so-called American dream of more material goods. I am seeking the Kingdom dream of deeper intimacy with God. I am in the world, because I still struggle with the temptations of the world, flesh and the Devil. But I choose not to be of the world by not allowing these to blind me of my real inheritance, eternal life with God. The world I am in is passing. The world I belong to is eternal. To be in the world without being of the world is a choice made and lived in only by grace each day.

 It seems easier for us to look at our pains and sufferings--real or perceived--rather than at the blessings and joys in our daily life. It seems easier for us to say "poor me" than "praise and thanks". Each response will determine our outlook at life itself. Is life a blessing from God or a curse we are under? Is each day a grace moment to grow closer to God or a burden to endure? What makes the difference is my attitude and focus. I can't necessarily change the situations and circumstances of my life that are out of my control. But I can change how I allow these to determine me or not. If my focus  is on God, I will see these things from his perspective. If my focus is on me, I will allow these things to determine me. It is my choice either to embrace the grace of the moment or the negativity of the moment. On the cross, one of the criminals crucified with Jesus embraced the grace of the moment; the other did not. Which one do we want to be?

Many times we may think that our relationship with God is one-sided. We are seeking to connect with God, who seems from our point of view too distant. We fail to realize that God desires to find us, but we are the ones distancing ourselves. At times, we distance ourselves because of our shame and guilt over our sins. Like the one sheep in the parable, we stray and lose sight of the rest of the flock and of the shepherd. We don't seem able to find our way back. We fail to remember that the Shepherd is always seeking us, to bring us back into union with him. God is seeking us always, even when we feel unworthy, alone, fearful and somewhat resisting. As he seeks us, he waits for us to open our arms to him. He never forces himself upon us. He respects our freedom. 

Homily: Third Sunday Year C

Reading 1: Background to the reading. The Chosen People have returned to Jerusalem after their exile in Babylon. They began to rebuild the city and the Temple which were destroyed. In the process of restoration, Ezra the priest found scrolls, which were hidden at the time of the exile. The scrolls were the Book of the Law, the Torah. Once he realized what he found—its significance—he told Nehemiah, the governor.

They decided that the people needed to hear the Word of the Lord, which would explain their relationship to God as his Chosen People. It would remind them of the necessity of living as a Covenant people. It would explain the reason for their exile. Their ancestors had broken their covenant with God and they were chastised.

As Ezra read from the Word of God the people began to weep before the Lord, as they recognized how their ancestors had turned away from the Lord. But Ezra reminded them that they should rejoice because they had found the source of their history and the recollection of God’s love for his Chosen People. He proclaimed that since they are the people chosen by God, they should rejoice for his mercy and love and providential care. Eventually, Ezra will call them to renew their covenant with God publicly. The word of God was proclaimed and its truth was revealed, interpreted and received with rejoicing. Each Sunday we gather to hear the word of God, our salvation history. We are reminded of how God has loved us and has redeemed us, so that we may be truly his people.

This Third Sunday of Ordinary Time is annually set aside to focus us on the need, like the people in the reading, to read and study the scriptures regularly. “A day devoted to the Bible should not be seen as a yearly event but rather a year-long event, for we urgently need to grow in our knowledge and love of the Scriptures and of the risen Lord.”

How do we receive the word of God? How do we respond to it? Do we allow it to root in our hearts and to bring about growth and bear fruit? Do we stifle the word of God by ignoring it and not acting on it?

Gospel: We began with the first four versus of Luke’s Gospel. He states that he wants to write down in an orderly sequence the life and teaching of Jesus, which he has received from eyewitnesses. Then we went to the fourth chapter of Luke which begins the public ministry of Jesus. What was in between was what we have been celebrating during the Advent and Christmas seasons. During that time, we heard of the mysterious announcement of the birth of John the Baptist, the announcement that Mary was to conceive the Savior of the world, her visitation to Elizabeth, the birth of John, the birth of Jesus, the presentation in the Temple, the finding in the Temple, the baptism of Jesus and his temptation in the desert.

Now Luke shares about what happened immediately after the baptism and temptation. Jesus began teaching in the anointed power of the Holy Spirit and people were amazed. His reputation begins to spread. He returned to Nazareth. According to his custom, he went to the synagogue with Mary on the Sabbath. They ask him to do the reading. Having had the powerful affirmation of the Father and the Spirit at his baptism, Jesus reads from the prophet Isaiah, where Isaiah had previously prophesied about that event and identified his mission as Messiah.

Afterwards, Jesus sat down and, in a matter of fact, said : “Today, this prophesy has been fulfilled in your hearing.” The people heard the word of God, but unlike the first reading, they eventually rejected Jesus. They initially were amazed and then they refused to believe he was anything other than the son of Mary.

Reading 2: Paul reminds us who we are in relationship to God—the body of Christ—and who we are in relationship to one another—members of the one Body. He reminds us that it is through Baptism that we entered into a relationship with God and filled with the Holy Spirit. He reminds us that because we are one in Christ, there should be no division or antipathy among us. Rather, we are to be in harmony with one another, following the lead of the Holy Spirt, using his gifts to minister to one another in the service of love. 

 Life is busy. The longer we live it seems to get busier. We are running from one thing to the next. At the end of the day we are exhausted and wonder what did we accomplished that has a lasting effect. We may feel something is missing in spite of all our activities. Where is God in the midst of our business? Is he there at all, fleetingly, or consciously on our part at the heart of our life? What would happen if we would reorder our daily routine so that God is not an after thought but given a priority in our schedule? Many of us would say that we don't know how to this could happen. And yet, all it takes is a conscious decision on our part to incorporate God in our daily journey. How? If we can't spend some quality time with God during the day, then can we routinely talk to God at different times during the day. As we go about our active life, can we talk to God about what we are doing. We can ask for his guidance and strength. We can tell him we love him. In less than a minute we have centered our life in him once more.

Third Sunday of Ordinary Time Gospel C

Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning and ministers of the word have handed them down to us, I too have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write it down in an orderly sequence for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received.

· Theophilus means “friend of God” We don’t know much about him, except that he is a convert to Christianity who has already received some instructions. Luke wants to elaborate on these teachings by placing the Gospel message in an orderly fashion.

· Luke will begin with the annunciation and birth of John the Baptism; the annunciation of birth of Jesus; Jesus’ presentation in the Temple after his circumcision; Jesus returning and remaining in the temple when he was twelve years old.

o He adds material that neither Matthew nor Mark has in their Gospel narratives.

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all. 

· What is not stated in today’s reading is the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan by John the Baptist and the affirmation of the Father as well as the pouring of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus in his humanity. Following that pivotal moment in Jesus’ life there is the first confrontation with the Devil in the Temptation story. Luke’s narrative now continues.

· The role of the Spirit in Jesus’ personal life and public ministry is a strong emphasis in Luke’s Gospel. Luke wants to teach that Jesus in his humanity, anointed by the Spirit, was able to teach in a way that amazed the people. They knew that there was something different about Jesus and his ministry.

He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. 

· Can you imagine the excitement in Nazareth when Jesus returns? Obviously, they had heard about what happened to him at the Jordan and what people were saying about his teachings.

· Jesus is a faithful adherent to the covenant, so he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, probably along with Mary, his mother.

He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.  

· Luke sees this passage as a confirmation that Jesus was aware of what happened to him at the Jordan after he was baptized. The Spirit of God fell upon him and anointed him for the work he was called to do in proclaiming the message of the Kingdom of God.

· It was a custom that, if an important person came into the synagogue, to honor that person by asking them to do the reading and give a reflection.

· These signs—bring glad tidings to the poor, proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, etc—were signs foretold by Isaiah and other OT prophets of the coming of the Kingdom of God.

· Noticed that Jesus deliberately chose the reading from Isaiah, which he was very familiar with from his childhood upbringing.

· How aware are we of the Spirit and his gifts in our life? How open are we to allowing the Spirit lead us?

Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” 

· His interpretation was very brief and to the point. Isaiah was stating a sign of the coming of the Messiah in this passage. Jesus, without saying he was the Messiah, says today this passage is fulfilled in him.

· The reactions of the people moved from amazement, to question and finally anger and rejection. They remembered Jesus growing up in their small village. They could not accept him to be any other than what they remembered.

· This rejection by his neighbors and family members is the prelude to the rejections from others that Jesus will experience.

· What application can we make from this passage in our life?

"It is very difficult for each of us to believe in Christ’s words, “I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners. . . .” Perhaps no psychologist has stressed the need of self-acceptance as the way to self-realization so much as Carl Jung. For Jung, self-realization meant the integration of the shadow. It is the growing ability to allow the dark side of our personality to enter into our awareness and thus prevent a one-sided life in which only that which is presentable to the outside world is considered as a real part of ourselves. To come to an inner unity, totality and wholeness, every part of our self should be accepted and integrated. Christ represents the light in us. But Christ was crucified between two murderers and we cannot deny them, and certainly not the murderers who live in us." (Henri Nouwen)

We all have a dark side that we would like to deny. But it is part of our journey. It is that part of our life that Jesus has come to redeem. This dark side are the inner scars we carry. Jesus doesn't remove these scars but heal the effects of them. They remain to remind us of our failure to love as well as to remind us of God's loving mercy. Peter was ashamed that he denied Jesus. Jesus forgave and freed Peter in love. But Peter would proclaim his fault, not hide it, as a way of showing the loving mercy of God.  The same was true with Paul. His dark side was his attempt to destroy The Way. How often after his conversion would Paul acknowledge his fault but especially the mercy of God. Both of them accepted their past as a way of professing the love and mercy of God. Let the light of Christ shine through the darkness.

"Who am I?" This is a basic question of life. Do I receive my identity from myself, how I perceive myself, how I feel in a given moment? Is my identity determine by my actions, some of which I may be ashamed  of? Do I receive my identity from others? By what they say or think about me or by what I perceive them to think or say? Their perception of me is colored by their own issues and expectations. Who am I? My true identity comes from the One who created me, from the One who redeemed me, from the One who adopted me. I am an adopted son or daughter of God. If I looked to others than God for my worth or identity, I will have a false understanding or image of myself.  "I am who I am in the eyes of God, nothing more, nothing less." My identity involves a relationship with the source of my being. Embracing this identity and this relationship will give me freedom from the control others may seek to have over me or the false image I have about myself. 

 "God is a compassionate God. This means, first of all, that God is a God who has chosen to be God-with-us. . . . As soon as we call God “God-with-us,” we enter into a new relationship of intimacy with him. By calling God Emmanuel, we recognize God’s commitment to live in solidarity with us, to share our joys and pains, to defend and protect us, and to suffer all of life with us. The God-with-us is a close God, a God whom we call our refuge, our stronghold, our wisdom, and even, more intimately, our helper, our shepherd, our love. We will never really know God as a compassionate God if we do not understand with our heart and mind that “the Word became flesh and lived among us” (John 1:14),  (Henri Nouwen) 

What a mystery! What a revelation! We are not alone in our times of sufferings and pain. God-is-with-us in our darkest moments of our human journey. Like the story of the footprints in the sand, when we see only one set of prints, we are called to remember that they belong to God who was carrying us on his shoulder. We are not always aware of his presence at the moment. Only later may he reveal his presence and plan for us in that past experience. As Emmanuel he has committed himself to accompany us on our journey to him. Our role is to stay close to him.

 Are we determined by  the "ifs" of our lives?  Or are we determined by the certainties of our relationship with God in faith? The "ifs" that the world presents us leaves us in bondage to fear and the uncertainties of our fallen human life. What if I get sick? What if I fail? What if they don't like me? Rather than riding this bronco, we need to move from what if to so what, but a so what founded on our trust in the Lord. The Lord is in charge of our lives. Whether I live or die, whether I am sick or well, whether liked or disliked, I belong to the Lord. The Lord is my strength .In him I move and live.

In fact, we belong to the Lord. But in reality, do we? This is our daily struggle. The world, the flesh and the Devil try to convince us otherwise, not directly, but subtly. It is like boiling a frog. You put the frog in a pot of tap water, where it feels comfortable. Then, you slowly turn up the heat, until the frog is cooked. God reminds us that we belong to him. We are called to keep our eyes on him and to follow his lead. The tempters seek to lure us, without us knowing it, to follow the pleasing allurements before us. Over a period of time we find that we have taken our eyes off God and our hearts are ensnared. Even so, we still belong to the Lord. He gives us an escape rope, the grace of repentance and the grace of being rooted in him once more. Return to your first love and remain in him, if you wish to remain free.

A third aspect of the Baptism of the Lord that is very revealing is the coming of the Spirit on Jesus. In his humanity, Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit from the moment of his conception. In his ministry as Messiah, proclaiming the message of salvation, Jesus needed the Holy Spirit. His public commitment to do the Father's will prepared him for a fresh anointing of the Spirit. He was led by the Holy Spirit in fulfilling the plan of the Father. He taught and confirmed his teachings with signs and wonders through the power of the Holy Spirit. He performed signs and wonders and revealed the word of God. 

 We are filled with the Holy Spirit at the moment of our baptism, our rebirth. We, as adopted sons and daughters became disciples of the Lord. When we were confirmed we received a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit to be missionary disciples, witnessing about Jesus with signs and wonders as our credentials. Like Jesus, our words are to be confirmed by the power of the Holy Spirit or these gifts enable us to witness about the love of God. Jesus was aware of the lead of the Holy Spirit. For the most part, we were not aware of the gifts of the Spirit, until someone witnessed to us about God's plan and opened us up to the workings of the Spirit. When our hearts are so touched and we ask for this fresh outpouring of the Spirit, which is called Baptism in the Spirit, our life will be different from that moment on as we follow the lead of the Spirit. The Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation will then have their desired effects in our lives. Ask for that fresh anointing of the Spirit.

 We continue our reflection on the Baptism of the Lord. Yesterday, we looked at Jesus' obedience to the Father. Today, we reflect on the central identity of Jesus, that of the Beloved Son of the Father. After his baptism, while in prayer, Jesus heard the voice of the Father affirm him as the Beloved Son. As Jesus said "yes" to the Father, the Father responded with his "yes". This gift of the Father seared itself in the depth of Jesus' heart. The Fathers of the Church spoke of this affirmation as the kiss of the Father. Jesus knew that he was the Beloved Son of the Father, but to hear it at the beginning of his public ministry, enabled Jesus to do the will of the Father with greater love. It was this affirmation that sustained Jesus at various moments in his life, especially his deepest darkness on the cross. Though Jesus had a sense of abandonment--the result of taking on the sins of the world--he knew in his heart that he was the Beloved Son of the Father.

Just as this was Jesus central identity, so it is our central identity. We are the beloved, adopted sons and daughters of the Father. No one can take away this reality. We say that at Baptism we receive an indelible mark. Could this be that indelible mark? As the affirmation of the Father of Jesus made a difference in his life, so this affirmation is to sustain us throughout our most difficult moments of our life. Never lose sight of your true identity. Think about it daily. Let you life's decision reflect this relationship. Be who you truly are!

Homily Feast of the Baptism of the Lord Year C

Reading 1 This is one the three Servant Songs in Isaiah that identifies the future Messiah as a Servant of God. The first sentence connects us to the Gospel. “My chosen one with whom I am pleased, upon whom I put my spirit.” The coming of the Spirit upon Jesus was the sign of confirmation that God revealed to John, identifying the Messiah.

Isaiah goes on to speak further of the promised Messiah. “He will bring forth justice to the nations, not shouting.” Jesus did this through his death on the cross. Paul tells us that Jesus is our justification. We could not restore our relationship with God, because as sinners, we could not offer a perfect sacrifice to atone for our sins. But Jesus, innocent and without sin, took our sins upon himself. He embraced the cruel death of a criminal without defending himself. Though he as God had eternal, unlimited power, he chose as man to be weak and foolish, so that the cross would become our sign of victory and a sign of salvation.

There is a third aspect of the first reading that connects us to Jesus. He is a “light for the nations.” Following the lead of the Holy Spirit after his anointing at the Jordan, Jesus knew that his mission was to “open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeons, those who live in darkness.” Jesus would quote this passage in the synagogue in Nazareth, indicating he was fulfilling the prophesy of Isaiah.

Gospel: Through the preaching of John the Baptist, the people’s anticipation of the promised Messiah was heightened. In fact, John preached that the Messiah was already here and was in their midst. Many people began to wonder if John was not the Messiah. But John knew he was not. He was sent to prepare the way for the Messiah. John’s message was a call to repentance as a preparation to receive the Messiah’s life-giving message.

John knew that his baptism was a prelude to the baptism of the Messiah. Just as John was unworthy to untie the sandals of the Messiah, so the Messiah will baptize with water, the Holy Spirit and fire. John’s baptism did not change the person; the Messiah’s baptism will bring about a radical transformation in a person’s life. As fire cleanses a rusty metal of all its defects, so the fire of the Holy Spirit will cleanse a person from all sin and restore the person to his original state of relationship with God.

Having prepared the people for the coming of the Messiah and his might deeds, John was taken aback when Jesus, his cousin, came to be baptized. Jesus did not need to be baptized for he was without sin. But Jesus chose this symbol of baptism, plunging into the waters of the Jordan as a way of publicly committing himself to the will of the Father as the Messiah. This was his yes to the Father.

While Jesus was in prayer afterwards, the Father publicly affirmed Jesus as his beloved Son with whom he was well pleased. What pleased the Father” It was the commitment of Jesus to be obedient to the Father, even to death on the cross. Jesus would lay down his life for our life, so that he may be our justification before the Father.

At the same time that the Father confirmed Jesus’ yes, the Holy Spirit anointed Jesus in his humanity with all the gifts he would need to confirm his ministry with signs and wonders as his credentials. Jesus was the pattern for us. He needed in his humanity the anointing power of the Spirit. We need the anointing power of the Spirit to fulfill our ministry as missionary disciples, who are called to witness Jesus to others.

Reading 2: Paul reminds Titus and the Christian community he was serving of the efficacy of the sacrament of a baptism. Jesus through his death and resurrection saved all two thousand years ago. But at a given moment in history, that grace of salvation was applied to each of us through the water of baptism. Paul calls it a “bath of rebirth.” We were born once naturally, but we were alienated from God because of Original Sin. Now through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, we have been justified by his grace and became “heirs in hope of eternal life.”

How are we to respond to such a great gift of mercy? We are called “to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly and devoutly in this age as we await the second coming of our Savior, calling us into the eternal life of glory with God.” Though baptism is a one-time rebirth, the renewal of our baptism is ongoing to remind us who we are, what God has done for us and in us and to recommit ourselves to live a life worthy of our calling in the present moment. 

This coming Sunday we are going to celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord in the Jordan. There are many levels of revelations contain in this event in the life of Jesus. When we were baptized, something radically happen to us. Being alienated from God from the moment of our conception because of Original Sin, in the waters of baptism sin is removed, we are redeemed by the death and resurrection of Jesus, and we became an adopted son or daughter of God. For Jesus, the perfect God/Man, his baptism was not for forgiveness of sin. He did not need salvation, for he was the Savior. He was the only-begotten Son of the Father. He was filled with the Holy Spirit from conception. His baptism, unlike ours, was a public commitment of himself to do the will of the Father, even to death on the cross as our Messiah and Lord. He immersed himself in the will of the Father. 

From the time of our baptism we are learning how to be obedient to the will of the Father, even though we fail many times because of our tendency to sin. Paul calls this the inner law of sin in each of us. But with the example of Jesus and through the grace of the Holy Spirit, we can become more obedient, beginning in small things.  Obedience is the first lesson we can learn from the Baptism of the Lord, even if it is a life-time learning lesson.

 Feast of the Baptism of the Lord Gospel C

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

John was proclaiming a baptism of repentance in preparation for receiving the message of salvation from the Messiah, who had already come and was among them. It was easy for the people to mistakenly think that John was the Messiah. Even the chief priests and scribes were questioning John to see if he was the Christ.

 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.”

John was preparing the people for a different and more effective baptism which the Christ will provide. John invited the people to be immersed in water as a sign of their repentance. But the baptism of the Christ will be with the Holy Spirit and fire. 

When we were baptized, Jesus’ death and resurrection purified us from all sin. We were not only redeemed but adopted as a son or daughter of God, sharing his own divine life by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

By saying he was not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals, John is indicating that his baptism was inferior to that of the Christ.

 After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened

Luke’s account of the baptism of Jesus focuses on what happened to him after his public commitment to embrace the will of the Father to give his life for our lives. Luke says that after being baptized, Jesus was praying. What was his prayer? Was he renewing his love for the Father? Was he rejoicing in his call as Messiah?

 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.”

As Jesus said “yes” to the Father, the Father affirmed him as the beloved Son. And the Spirit anointed Jesus in his humanity for his mission as Messiah. Jesus, being a pattern for us how to embrace the will of the Father and how to accomplish the plan of the Father, needed the Spirit because we need the Spirit. As he was led by the Spirit, so we are to be led by the Spirit. As Jesus confirmed his identity as Messiah and confirmed his message of salvation with signs and wonders as his credentials, so are we to do also. 

"Consult not your fears, but your hopes and your dreams

Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential.

Concern not yourself with what you tried and failed in, but what it is still possible to do.

Now is the time to put aside past and present setbacks and failures and look with confidence to the new day called tomorrow."

— Pope John XXIII 

How often we live in our fears rather than in our possibilities! We live in darkness not in the light. We embrace a pessimistic attitude of life rather than an optimistic one. After a storm we focus on the ugliness left behind rather than on the beautiful, blue sky. This New Year is a grace given to us to become the person we are called to be and who we are in the eyes of God. Yes, there will be negative moments in our journey this year. But we are called not to focus on them  or to let them determine us. Rather we are to seek God's plan for us and his will in each situation on our journey. God loves us. He wills the best for us, what will lead us to a deeper, lasting relationship with him. Let this be our focus this year.