BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (#7)
Feast of the Lord's Baptism, Year B - January 12, 2003

 

Bible READINGS

Is 55:1-11 // I Jn 5:1-9 // Mk 1:7-11

I . BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS

“Called to a Covenant”

 One of the most powerful accounts that I have read was the one written by Sr. Mary Rose McGeady, leader of the Covenant House, the nation’s largest system of emergency shelters for homeless kids. In chapter 5 of her book, “Please Forgive Me, God”, she narrated: “The two kids walked into the schoolyard, an arsenal of weapons hanging from their bodies and hidden inside their black trench coats. Their first two victims were a 17-year-old girl and 15-year-old freshman boy, both classmates, who were shot in the head and the back immediately outside the front entrance to the school. Once inside, the two killers strode quickly through the school, first to the cafeteria then upstairs to the library, pointing guns at their terrified classmates, casually deciding who should live and who should die. As each shot rang out, and each innocent life was snuffed out, we’re told the kids laughed triumphantly, and then moved on to the next victim … In one particularly nightmarish sequence, one of the killers confronted a girl trembling on the ground, and asked if she believed in God. Knowing full well the safe answer, the girl stood her ground. “There is a God,’ she said quietly, ‘and you need to follow along God’s path.’ ‘There is no God,’ the boy gunman said, and shot her in the head.” Sr. Rose McGeady remarked with awe: “The girl proclaimed her belief in God, knowing that her answer would be the last words she ever spoke.” Indeed, the girl proclaimed her faith, not only in the water bath of the sacrament of baptism, but also in the blood bath of her martyrdom. She followed the destiny of the Lord Jesus who offered his life totally to the Father, manifesting his covenantal fidelity to the Father at his water bath at the Jordan and at his sacrificial death on the cross where “blood and water” flowed from his saving side.

The Gospel reading of this Sunday presents the episode of the Lord’s baptism at the River Jordan (cf. Mk 1:7-11). The event is an epiphany, the manifestation of Jesus as the Servant of Yahweh, the one who would fulfill the divine messianic plan. The event, moreover, is a theophany, the divine revelation of God’s paternal relationship with Jesus whom he acknowledges as his own Son. Indeed, the baptism of Jesus is a messianic investiture and a stipulation of a covenantal relationship between God and his Servant-Son. The “beloved Son” whom the divine voice acknowledges is also the faithful Servant of Yahweh’s messianic plan. The baptismal scene of Jesus has exquisite paschal undertones. According to F. Durrwell: “The baptism was the prelude to the redemption, and there lies its mystery. It was a prelude in symbol as well as in reality, for the whole act of redemption was reflected in it and begun in it … His immersion in the water of penance was an anticipation and a figure of the blood and suffering of that other baptism. Corresponding to that momentary humiliation there was glorification … Jesus came out of the Jordan as later he was to rise from the dead, in the glory of the Spirit, in the manifestation of the divine sonship; the new creation which was to be fulfilled in the resurrection was already promised.” The ritual immersion in the waters of the Jordan prefigures, therefore, the tremendous life-giving event of the death and resurrection of Jesus who is faithful to his covenantal relationship with the Father in heaven.

The ritual baptism of a Christian is both a call to a covenantal relationship with God the Father and a paschal event. Our covenant with God involves faithful witnessing through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is a daily heroic witnessing even to the point of martyrdom. It is a configuration to Jesus - the Word of God made flesh - the same Jesus who shed his blood in love for the salvation of the world. Our baptismal consecration is a covenantal act confirmed by the choices we made in the ordinary humdrum moments as well as in the supreme sacrificial events of our life. In the second reading of today’s liturgy (cf. I Jn 5:1-9), our attention is directed towards the mystery of Jesus Christ actualized in history and living on in the Church. Just as Jesus in his whole historical mission can be described as “the one who came through water and blood” (v.6), so the Holy Spirit in his continuing historical work may be described as “the one who testifies” (v.6). According to the International Biblical Commentary: “The witness of the Spirit consists in that action by which the truth of Jesus’ baptism and death is brought to life within the Church through the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist. As each believer appropriates this witness, what Jesus has done becomes actually for him or her the revelation of the Father. It is for this reason that the Spirit’s action is called the ‘testimony of God’ (v.9).” The witnessing action of God in the heart of the believer enables that person to give one’s entire existence to the Father’s redemptive plan. Today’s liturgy is indeed a call to covenantal fidelity and to a greater openness to the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

The invitation to a life-giving covenantal relationship with God is sounded off with enthusiasm in the first reading (cf. Is 55:1-11), which is a part of Deutero-Isaiah’s conclusion to the Book of Comfort. The words are ecstatic and impelling: “Come to the water … Come, receive grain and eat … Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk … Heed me and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare …” The invitation to a rich banquet, a symbol of God’s providential care for his people, titillates one’s imagination about the abundance of the new messianic age. Here we are presented with the vision of the fullness of time when all will be filled with God’s love and mercy. According to Aelred Rosser: “With the baptism of Jesus and the inauguration of the reign of God, the time of peace and plenty foretold by Isaiah has come!”

 II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART

bullet A. Our celebration of the baptism of our Lord Jesus introduces us deeply into the mystery of the person and the mission of Christ as God’s beloved Son-Servant. Through his baptism, Jesus announces his own future as “chosen servant” of God, who will offer himself in sacrifice to obtain the forgiveness of every sin through the washing in his own blood. How do we live the paschal sacrificial aspect of our covenantal relationship with God?
bullet B. The mystery of Christ’s baptism introduces us into the mystery of our own baptism. The gift of baptism makes us sharers in the life of God. It enables us to participate in Christ’s spiritual worship and in his mission. How faithful are we to our baptismal promises? Do we reflect our baptismal commitment in our daily life with renewed vigor and zeal for the spread of God’s kingdom of love, justice and peace?

 III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD 

(Prayer composed by Fr. James Alberione, SSP)
bullet

Leader: Jesus, Divine Master, we adore you as the only-begotten Son of God, come on the earth to give life, the most abundant life.
bullet

Assembly: We thank you because by dying on the cross, you merited life for us in baptism and nourish it in the Eucharist and in the other sacraments. Live in us, O Jesus, with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, so that we may love you with our whole mind, strength and heart, and love our neighbor as ourselves for love of you. Increase charity in us, so that one day, called from the sepulcher to the glorious life, we may be united with you in the eternal happiness in heaven. AMEN.

IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD

The following sacred text is a living word to nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it. 

“You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”  (Mk 1:11)

V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION

bullet ACTION PLAN A:

Let us honor Christ’s baptism and celebrate this feast of holiness by renewing today our baptismal promises.

bullet  ACTION PLAN B:

Offer special prayers for the homeless and runaway children being served by Covenant House. If it is within your means, financial assistance may be sent to the following address:

 

Covenant House

JAF Box 2973

New York, NY 10116-2973

 

Prepared by: Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang, PDDM

SISTER DISCIPLES OF THE DIVINE MASTER
Tel. (718) 494-8597 or (718) 761-2323
Website: WWW.PDDM.US

Go back