GOD’S POETIC AND TIMELESS WORD; OUR REPLY
“John answered the people, saying,
‘I am baptizing you with water,
but one mightier than I is coming. . . .
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.’” Luke 3:16
This is a repeat of the Third Sunday of Advent Gospel. We, once again, are told that Jesus, the God-man, the Eternal Now, whose words and actions cross time barriers, baptizes us “with the Holy Spirit and fire.” So today, let us begin this new year of our discipleship, remembering that we have been baptized with the “Holy Spirit (joy-filled love) and fire (passion, enthusiasm, purpose).
Fr. Tim encourages us to “be “renewed” in the grace of our Baptism, so that the “fire” doesn’t go out! The Spirit, we believe, is a permanent Gift binding us in the life of the Trinity.” Do we spend enough time with God’s Spirit, experience this deep, enriching life of God’s Spirit and fire?
Let us humbly strive to add to our daily routine time for a more poetry-than-prose grounding of our lives in God. May we, for instance, take time to experience the poetry of the offered Eucharistic Celebration gifts – so much more than mere bread and wine. They embody the accomplishments of our everyday lives. May we, in the giving of these gifts to God, become the Body and Blood of Christ offered back to God, the Giver of all gifts, and offered as a paying forward of God’s gifts of us to each other and to all the world.
READYING OURSELVES FOR A NEW YEAR OF DISCIPLESHIP
“And Jesus was baptized and was praying,
when 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 3:21-22
As we begin this new year of our own ministry, let us be mindful of the Holy Spirit hovering over us, around us and in us constantly. Might it help to develop some reminders that we are God’s much loved sons and daughters? One of my reminders is seeing the tree limbs sway in response to the invisible wind’s nudge or the weight of a landing bird.
GOD’S POETIC AND TIMELESS WORD; OUR REPLY
So what Jesus said to His Apostles at their Last Supper, He says now to us at every Mass. Take this bread, take this wine. It is me, my Body and Blood, given for you. Go, be my disciples. Continue as my companions. Be my friends. Teach everyone what you have learned about Me and the Father and the Spirit.
Why do this? Why ask this of us? I doubt that it was just to form a Church. That may have been part of God’s purpose, but it probably was a means to something of greater importance to God. What do you think that was?
A POSSIBLE REASON
I think it may have had something to do with God’s concern about our failing to comprehend God’s closeness to us. I wonder how well I “get that.” I wonder how many of us “get that.”
But I think Pope Francis “gets it” and that may be why he asks us to participate in this Synod on Synodality: to give more of us a chance to “get it.”
How many of us are going to give the Synod a really good chance at success?
Sister Loretta
