A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 9, n. 7)
Baptism of the Lord, Year A – January 9, 2011 *
“He Went About Doing Good”
BIBLE READINGS
Is 42:1-4, 6-7 // Acts 10:34-38 // Mt 3:13-27
(N.B. Series 9 of BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD: A LECTIO DIVINA APPROACH TO THE SUNDAY LITURGY includes a prayerful study of the Sunday liturgy of Year A from the perspective of the Second Reading. For reflections on the Sunday liturgy of Year C based on the Gospel reading, please scroll up to the “ARCHIVES” above and open Series 3. For reflections based on the Old Testament reading, open Series 6.)
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS
We conclude the Christmas-Epiphany season with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is truly an “epiphany” feast. It celebrates the manifestation or “epiphany” of his exquisite dignity as the Son of God. Of him the heavenly Father avowed at River Jordan: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17).
The Second Reading of today’s liturgy (Acts 10:34-38) gives wonderful insight into the meaning of the Lord’s baptism as an “anointing” of the Spirit that empowers him to do good and bring about God’s saving plan. Filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus of Nazareth went everywhere, doing good and healing all who were under the grip of evil. Indeed, God was with Jesus, his beloved “Son-Servant”.
The biblical scholar Adrian Nocent comments: “Jesus is anointed with the Spirit and his power. This description from Acts (10:34) reminds us of Isaiah’s words in chapter 61:6, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the broken hearted. God has chosen Jesus as recipient not only of the Spirit but of power as well. This power should be understood not as something distinct from the anointing of the Spirit but rather as part of the gift of the Spirit. Saint Luke (in Peter’s discourse) further specifies the effects of this anointing: He went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil (Acts 10:34).
The feast of the Lord’s Baptism invites us to consider our own baptism as manifestation and mission. Harold Buetow explains: “With respect to manifestation, in virtue of our baptism we are called to show forth that the beloved Son of the Father lives in our hearts, and the presence of Jesus in our world. Our call to mission means that we are sent out in the power of the Spirit to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom and, with Jesus, to do good. Both manifestation and mission call us, as Jesus was called, to be God’s servants, to live in harmony with one another, to work together for that unity for which Jesus prayed, to bring God’s justice to the world. All of that requires humility similar to Jesus’ own; a gentleness, yet a persistence that would not permit us to cop out; a healing, yet challenging.”
Our baptismal dignity prompts us to do good in the here and now and our commitment as “anointed” by Christ’s Spirit obliges us to works of compassion in today’s world. The following article published in SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS on January 17, 2010 presents an inspiring idea that would help us in our Christian vocation to do good even through this New Year 2011.
As much as we like to imagine that with a new year comes a new start, we all know that flipping the page on a calendar doesn’t create change. Only through action, as individuals and as community, can change occur. The great Martin Luther King, whom we honor today, taught us that hope, love, and forgiveness have the power to move mountains … the power to move humanity forward.
It’s with progress in mind that we call for 365 Days of Compassion. One year, starting today, during which each of us commits an act of kindness on a daily basis. Any act of kindness. Buy somebody a cup of coffee. Spend five minutes on the phone with someone who could benefit from your voice (more that your email or text). Give away an old sweater you haven’t worn in a year. Volunteer an hour, or a day, to an organization that has its heart in the right place. Write a check of any size. (Haiti would be a perfect place to start, as small contributions from sources far and wide will have an enormous effect.)
365 Days of Compassion. You can call it a challenge, a plea, a choice, an idea, or a small but growing movement. Whatever the case, it’s a way of making this year better than the last.
This isn’t about changing the world overnight. But it is about taking individual responsibility for changes that can improve our lives and make the world a better place. It’s not a responsibility that can be institutionalized. Big organizations, even when well intentioned, bring about change slowly, and often with great compromise.
So let’s start small. Let’s plant seeds. Let’s see if we can make compassion a habit. Let’s do a little bit every day, and see if somewhere down the road those revolutionary shifts – equality for all, an end to human suffering, world peace – don’t seem a little less daunting.
We have no political agenda. We’re not leftist, rightist or centrist. We’re just a group of people united by design, words, and ideas, banded together in a drafty old San Francisco firehouse. People who believe in attempting the improbable, the implausible, and maybe someday, with your help, resolving the unsolvable.
365 days. It’s a start.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
How does Isaiah’s figure of the Lord’s servant, filled with the Spirit, impinge on us?
What is the meaning of the Lord’s baptism for me personally? What is the significance of our own sacramental baptism?
What is the connection between our being anointed by the Holy Spirit at baptism and our Christian mission to do good?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: Loving God,
your Son’s immersion into the waters of the Jordan
is a figure of the blood bath he would undergo on the saving Cross.
At his baptism in River Jordan,
you revealed the divine nature of Jesus:
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
You anointed him with the Holy Spirit
and empowered him to do good.
We thank you for the grace of baptism.
In Jesus, we were immersed into the waters of baptism
and his blood bath on the Cross.
Baptized into Christ,
our sins are forgiven.
We are a new creation.
Sanctified by the Holy Spirit,
we have been transformed into your beloved children.
Dear Father,
help us to be open to the promptings of the Spirit.
Make us deeply aware of our power as God’s “anointed”.
Grant that our daily Christian living
may be an “epiphany” of the saving presence of Jesus.
Assist us in our mission to proclaim the Good News of salvation
and in our Christian vocation to do good.
May the New Year 2011 be laden with fruits of compassion
for your greater honor and glory.
We love you and praise you, now and forever.
Assembly: Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good.” (cf. Acts 10:38)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
ACTION PLAN: Pray that Christians may have a deeper awareness of the dignity and power due to their being baptized and anointed by the Holy Spirit. By your daily acts of compassion, enable the suffering people of today to experience the goodness and justice of God.
ACTION PLAN: That we may experience deeply the blessings of Christ’s baptism and our own, make an effort to spend an hour in Eucharistic Adoration. Visit the PDDM WEB site (www.pddm.us) for the EUCHARISTIC ADORATION THROUGH THE LITURGICAL YEAR: A Weekly Pastoral Tool (Year A, vol. 7, # 7).
Prepared by Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang PDDM
PIAE DISCIPULAE DIVINI MAGISTRI
SISTER DISCIPLES OF THE DIVINE MASTER
60 Sunset Ave., Staten Island, NY 10314
Tel. (718) 494-8597 // (718) 761-2323
Website: WWW.PDDM.US