SUNDAY OF THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD – CYCLE B   

Ø  This coming Sunday has a double meaning, it participates of the Epiphany, in reality the baptism is an epiphany of the Lord;  and it participates also of the meaning of ordinary time, being the first Sunday in ordinary time.  

Ø  Today the Father reveals to us who Jesus is, he is his beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased. 

FIRST READING   Is 42: 1-4, 6-7

Ø  This Reading is taken from the first poem of the Servant. This servant may be Israel, a prophet, Cyrus or some other character of the Old Testament

Ø  Some ask themselves whether this servant is an individual or a group of people. 

Ø  These poems open in the Old Testament new horizons; suffering has a redeeming value and opens for us the way to God. It is not a punishment for our sins, it is an opportunity to return to  God our Father, an opportunity to seek his mercy.

Ø  The New Testament acknowledges Jesus to be that servant. 

Ø  A voice, the Father’s says of the servant   

o   Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I am well pleased and upon whom I have put my spirit.  

o   He will bring justice to the nations, not crying out, not shouting, and not making his voice heard in the street.   

o   A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench  

o   The islands, the faraway countries, will wait for his teaching.   

Ø  This voice of the Father continues speaking, but now to the servant   

o   He has called him for victory and justice 

o   He has grasped him from the hand; he has molded him and has put him as a covenant for the people and light for the nations. He shall be a covenant for the people of Israel and a light for all the gentiles, those who do not belong to the people of Israel.    

o   To open the eyes … to give freedom to prisoners and to bring to the light those who live in darkness

Ø  Jesus is that servant, that covenant, that light for the nations.   

Ø  Jesus is light for all and each one of us.   

Ø  Jesus is our liberation; he is the one who makes us free.   

 RESPONSORIAL PSALM  - Psalm  . 29 1-4. 9-10 

THE LORD WILL BLESS HIS PEOPLE WITH PEACE

Give to the Lord you sons of God

Give to the Lord glory and praise

Give to the Lord the glory due his name

Adore the Lord in his holy attire.

THE LORD WILL BLESS HIS PEOPLE WITH PEACE 

The voice of the Lord is over the waters

The Lord, over vast waters

The voice of the Lord is mighty

The voice of the Lord is majestic.

THE LORD WILL BLESS HIS PEOPLE WITH PEACE

The God of glory thunders

And in his temple all say “glory!”

The Lord is enthroned above the flood

The Lord is enthroned as king forever

THE LORD WILL BLESS HIS PEOPLE WITH PEACE 

·       This psalm offers powerful images of God. 

·       This God is he who has called the servant  

·       God is powerful and the whole creation sings his glory. This is so, even if man is the only creature that can give this glory knowingly.    

SECOND READING  – Acts 10: 34-38

v Peter is in Cornelius home, Cornelius is a pagan who has called Peter to learn about Jesus.  

v Peter acknowledges that God does not show any partiality, he does not discriminate between races, colors, social and economic status.  We are all the work of his hands, his children. We are the ones who discriminate, separate, and we are also the ones who go away from him.  

v Peter says that everyone who acts uprightly is acceptable to God.  I believe that God is happy when he sees the good we do because this is a sign that we have allowed him to guide us. We have allowed us to be guided by the light and the goodness he has given us and continues to give as he continues to create us.   I believe as well that when we do not act uprightly God is sad like a good father and thus we feel uncomfortable because we act against our nature.

v In relation to this equality in our human dignity, Pope Francis insists over and over again in his recent Encyclical Fratelli tutti and  

v In the document On Human Fraternity signed together by Pope Francis and the Great Iman of the Muslim faith they say God who has created all human beings equal in rights, duties and dignity, and has called them to live together as brothers and sisters.

v And in relation to this human fraternity, to this equality and diversity that Peter speaks of from experience to which Pope Francis in his encyclical Fratelli tutti invites us saying Let us dream, then, as a single human family, as fellow travelers sharing the same flesh, as children of the same earth which is our common home, each of us bringing the richness of his or her beliefs and convictions, each of us with his or her own voice, brothers and sisters all. (FT 8)

v Peter continues to speak; he tells them that something wonderful has happened in Israel, from Galilee to Judea.   

v What is it? Jesus of Nazareth filled with the Spirit went about doing good.  

v What a beautiful description of a person, he or she went about doing good.   

v May those who know us say these same words about us. 

GOSPEL   Mk 1:7-11

              John baptizes  and invites the people to conversion through a rite, they are submerged into the                            waters of the river Jordan.  

     John proclaims that he is not the one they are waiting for, that there is someone greater than he    

o   He is not worthy even to loosen  the thongs of his sandals. This was something that servants and slaves did for their masters.   

o   That one who, comes after him,  will baptize them in the Holy Spirit   

     Jesus comes to John like all the other men to be baptized.   

     Mark does not say that John refuses or  that a dialogue begins between Jesus and John like the other Gospels say.    

     When Jesus comes out from the waters of the Jordan,  the heavens are torn open, as if God was opening the door of his abode:   

o   The Spirit like a dove –freedom and peace- descends upon Jesus.   

o   The voice of the Father, a voice from heaven, from God’s dwelling place  speaks to Jesus and tells him “You are my beloved son; with you I am well pleased.”

o   We have here an epiphany of the Most Holy Trinity, the voice of the Father, the Spirit as a dove and Jesus the Son made man.  

     This is a fascinating scene:  

o   I ask myself, did Jesus wonder about his mission, about the will of God his Abba over him?   

o   Did Jesus experience the call to go and proclaim to everyone his experience of God, to give them the real image of God?   

o   Was he asking himself if this experience was genuine or only an imagination? 

o   Maybe this is to read more into the Gospel that what it says, but it seems as if the voice is giving to Jesus an answer to his questions. This voice seems to  reassure him that he is not mistaken. The Spirit will lead him to the desert to prepare himself for his mission of calling to conversion and announcing the Kingdom.   

     Have we experienced in the depth of our heart this voice of the Father saying to us you are my daughter, you are my son, I love you so much and I am so pleased with you?   

     Have I felt the urgent need to proclaim the Gospel, to share the friendship I have with Jesus?      

CLARETIAN CORNER

 

 

 To  Mother Ma. Antonia de S. Pedro – Madrid  February 23 1860

My dear in Our Lord Jesus Christ […] I am glad to know that you feel better; I will do my best to write the little book on the spiritual exercises for the Girls. I just finished guiding the Spiritual Exercises to the men, and another of ten days to the Ladies of the Court. Now I have preached during the three days of Carnival and the first of Lent. I ask that you pray for me to  God, I need it, I have suffered great tribulations, they have diminished now, but not completely. Besides the moral and political sufferings I have suffered physically. Blessed be God, who offers us the Chalice of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. My kind regards to the Bishop, the Nuns, the Sisters and the Girls and you can count on your servant and chaplain. Anthony Ma. Claret, archbishop. (Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters to Ma. Antonia Paris, Foundress of the Claretian Missionary Sisters. Letter 180 in Letters from the Origins)          

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CLARETIAN MISSIONARY SISTERS – Letters of the Origin – Madrid 2009.

PAGOLA, José A. Following in the Footsteps of Jesus. Convivium Press 2011.

POPE FRANCIS, Fratelli tutti , 2020.

RAVASI, Gianfranco, Según las Escrituras: doble comentario a las lecturas del domingo, San Pablo 2005.

SCHOKEL, Luis Alonso,  La Biblia de Nuestro Pueblo.