The Baptism of Jesus

The feast of the Baptism of the Lord is celebrated January 12th this year and thus liturgically closing the Christmas season.  The baptism of Jesus in the river Jordan by John the Baptist was a historical event and an invitation to a mystery.   The significance of the baptism of our Lord is an event that is renewed everyday in the lives of every baptized person.  It is in a sense our feast too and appropriately do we celebrate it.  Saint Paul says that Jesus is the first-fruit of many brothers.  It is in this context that we should interpret the events of his life as narrated by the Gospel writers.  The Scriptures are not historical books, as far as historical books are defined, although some events found in them can be historically proven.  Scriptures, and in particular the Gospels, were written “so that you may believe” as St. John the Apostle would say at the end of his Gospel.

Jesus came to be with us, “Emmanuel,” so that we can learn to suffer in hope.  The comfort promised by the Lord is not the comfort resulting from the absence of trials and tribulations but a supernatural joy which comes from our knowledge that suffering can have its meaning and purpose. The coming of the Lord at Christmas was the fulfillment of a much anticipated hope from all forms of bondage caused by our human weaknesses and sins: hopelessness, fear, sorrow, helplessness, feeling unloved, emptiness and more.  This promise of comfort is given to us because above all else, our God is the Good Shepherd, and “like a shepherd he feeds his flock, in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.”  Such is the nature of our God.

Jesus’ baptism was an act of entering fully into the fullness of our humanity- a humanity tarnished by sin and in need of redemption.  To be fully one with us, he humbled himself by identifying with our sinful nature.  He made himself inferior to John  whose own unworthiness before the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, John himself acknowledged.  But so as to fulfill the plan of God, it was made so.  “Let is be so for now,” Jesus would say.  Docility, meekness, submission- all necessary elements to accomplish the Will of God.  Jesus’ baptism brought his humility, our baptism on the other hand, brought us dignity.  We are no longer sheep without a shepherd, we were made into children of God.  What marvelous exchange!  All because He loves us.  Saint Peter explains this when he says that this is because God shows no partiality.  He gives himself freely to those who would accept him and open themselves to the gifts God brings.  But the gifts bring with them responsibilities.  “To one who is given much, much will be required.”  Christ faced the demands of his baptism even when they landed him on the Cross.  We cannot choose otherwise if we are to be his true followers. St. Paul explains that “the grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age...”  In other words, by our own baptism, we have contracted a covenant with God,  to live our lives according to the image and example of His Son, who even though sinless, went to be baptized to set an example for us.  He assumed our humanity so that we can have a share in His divinity.  We do not belong to ourselves. Our lives are not our own.

St. John baptized with water and Jesus with the Spirit.  It is the same in our own lives.  All the good works we do, all the good intentions we have are dead, if they do not proceed from the motives of faith, love of God and love of neighbor for the sake of God.  The Spirit himself gives life.  The Spirit himself brings to flower what we have sown.  We are only his gardeners.  The Spirit reveals himself in ordinary ways but we must have the eyes of faith and the ears to hear the manifestations of the Spirit.

In the midst of sufferings in the world, in the midst of darkness and trials of life, in the midst of burden and hopelessness, we remember these words of our Father:  “You are my beloved son (or daughter).”  These will bring us comfort, hope and assurance that we are never alone or forgotten.  No matter how gray our hairs turn out to be, how wrinkled and old we become, how frail and sick, we remain always a child before the Father who loves us first and always.

MARY, MOTHER OF GOD, MOTHER OF MINE

January 1st is the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Of all the titles of Mary, her motherhood is the title I like best. I love to collect photos of Mary showing her with the Child Jesus. There is something in that mystery that draws me. Of course, it gives me much delight to know that I was also born on the feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome - August 5th. The Basilica is the largest basilica in the West dedicated to the Mother of God. It was erected, as the story goes, at the site where Our Lady of the Snows appeared. This was also the day-January 1, 1998, that I received the holy habit of Carmel!

A great heresy in the Church, promulgated by Bishop Nestorius, claimed that Mary was not the Mother of God, but the mother of the man, Jesus. He proposed that Mary could not have borne God since he is God, but bore only the man. In saying this, he was actually denying the divinity of Jesus. This heresy was put to rest in 431 at the Council of Ephesus when the Greek Fathers of the Church, headed by St. Cyril of Alexandria, defined the maternity of Mary. It was on this Council that the title of "Theotokos" or "God-Bearer",was first used.

It is interesting to note that Mary's motherhood is presented to us by the Church calendar at the beginning of the year. This maternal role actually began at the Annunciation when Mary agreed to be the Mother of the Son of God. But because the Church wants to put the spotlight on the person of Jesus, the Emmanuel, Mary sort of faded into the background. Now that the climax of Christmas is somewhat over, Mary is again brought back on stage. It is also fitting to celebrate this feast at the opening of the New Year because it brings to mind the reality that Mary is the dawn and Christ the Rising Sun. She is the one that leads us to God. She opens the way so that we can follow the path of true discipleship. The document "Lumen Gentium" says that Mary is the first of Christ's faithful disciples.

It is unfortunate that this motherhood of Mary is rejected by many, Protestants and Catholics alike. By Protestants, because of a misunderstanding and fear that she will take away from Jesus the honor and worship that he solely deserves. By Catholics, because they have reduced Mary solely as an object of empty and silly devotions, the heroine of mythic proportion. Saint Therese of Lisieux one day complained about the manner in which priests of her day talked about Mary in their homilies. "They talk of her imagined life, not her real life. Why can't they talk about how she doubted like us, that she suffered like us."

Of all the insights about Mary, one I ponder the most, is our late Pope John Paul II's words in his encyclical Redemptoris Mater that Mary is blessed BECAUSE SHE BELIEVED. It was her faith alone that we can all strive to imitate. Her other attributes of the Immaculate Conception and Divine Motherhood are attributes that will never be ours. But her faith, her trust and surrender, are virtues we can all imitate. Woman of Faith.. Mother of God... Mother of Mine.

Advent, Mary and Woman

Advent is a time of expectant longing. The prophet Isaiah expresses it beautifully when he says: “ Return for the sake of your servants!” or “ No ear has ever heard, no eye has ever seen, any God but you, doing such deeds for those who wait for him.” One senses an air of impatience, of calling out with insistence that God would come back. During Advent, we find expression of this longing in the way we celebrate this season. We remember those we love, we buy and give gifts, mend broken relationships and ponder the state of our inner life. God has planted that longing in our heart. He created it in us so that like Isaiah, we may cry out in a loud voice the desire for a deeper kind of fulfillment.

The mystery of the Incarnation of Jesus is God’s response to this cry. It is as if leaving heaven, God assumed a body and entered the realm of time to satisfy this longing. It was an act inspired by love for the sake of those He loves. This was the greatest manifestation of God’s power, but more so, His greatest manifestation of Love.

Our longings are about to be fulfilled in the coming days as we await the great day of Christmas. But before we bask in the glory of the coming of the Lord, let us focus our attention on Mary, the woman of the hour. The story of Christmas is intimately linked to Mary. Her presence dominates the scene. The spotlight is on her as the drama of the Annunciation unfolds. What vigilance she practiced! What vigilant expectation! What anticipation she manifested as she waited for the realization of the words of the angel. What deep faith she had as she allowed the light of the event to illumine her response and her actions following her consent. She was focused to go beyond the trappings of this great event of revelation: the vision of the Angel, the words proclaiming her greatness, and focused on the reality of a life offered to her. As the story of the Incarnation progresses, we shall see how Mary recedes into the background to give way to the presence of the Child- her Child- the Emmanuel. In this instance, I seem to hear the echo of a voice- that of the Baptist- who said “He must increase, I must decrease.”

Isn’t this the story of every woman? And in particular of a woman with child? Isn’t this the ethos of woman, to conceive within her the reality of God and in due time, according to the degree of our cooperation, give birth to the Son of God in the realm of grace? Aren’t the qualities inherent in woman- her nurturing instinct, her maternal solicitude, her intuition, her self-sacrificing ability for the sake of others- present precisely because of this reality? These qualities are never effaced whether one chooses a life of natural motherhood or single state of life as a lay person or as a consecrated woman.
The reality of spiritual motherhood is as real and deeper. A woman with child is reliving the mystery of God made Man. If we believe that we are temples of God, then we must agree that a woman pregnant with her child is pregnant “with God.” Can she like Mary, be vigilant so that the mystery does not pass her by? Can she look beyond the trappings of physical inconvenience, added responsibilities, added expense, added burden, and focus herself on the mystery being unfolded within her? Can she, like Mary, be joyful in the faith that tells her “she is blessed among women because she believes?” Believes in the power of LIFE? Believes in her dignity as a woman, a vessel of life? Can she, like Mary, sing in refrain the Baptist’s cry “He must increase” because the life within her is of God? And that she must decrease because she must forget herself with all her supposed needs?

The Season of Advent is a time of conceiving and giving birth. To conceive in faith desires that transcend ourselves and giving birth to them by the help of God’s grace thus transforming ourselves, our lives and those of others. We wait... Wait for what? For the Good News promised to us that God will come to be with us. As the Psalmist exclaims “God delights in his people!”