Martin McNamara<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A. The bible<\/em> as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n B. Reflection & Dialogue: <\/em><\/strong>Baptism\nand Christian spirituality; baptism and the belief in the heavens open to us<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Bible as\nGuide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n First Reading<\/em> (Isaiah 42:1-4,\n6-7). Here is my servant in whom my soul\ndelights. <\/em>This beautiful oracle is the first of four \u2018songs of the servant\u2019\nin the Book of Isaiah. (The others are 49:1-6; 50:4-9, or 4-11; 52:13-53:12.) This\ntext speaks of God\u2019s special choice of this servant prophet, beloved by God. As\nbefits biblical leaders he is empowered by God\u2019s Spirit. It speaks of his\nnature; he is gentle, but faithful to his mission until he has fulfilled it. It\ntells of the mission given him by God, a mission which God empowers him to\ncarry out. He is to be a covenant of the people Israel, to remind them of their\nmission. He will also be a light to the nations beyond Israel, and will release captives, captive Israel, from its\nbondage. A question naturally arising is the identity of the servant in the\nmind of the prophet, writing towards the end of the Babylonian exile. Opinions\ndiffer: historical Israel,\nideal Israel,\nan Old Testament person before or after the time of the poet prophet, the\nprophet author of the text himself. The servant is left unidentified, to be\nidentified by his very special personality, his choice by God and his special\nrelationship with him, his tremendous mission. His person and mission could\nstand as identifying and standing as a model for Israel, God\u2019s chosen people, with a\nworld mission, or for a chosen individual with such a mission. It would be\nfulfilled as God saw fit, and this was through God\u2019s Son, Jesus Christ, as is\nmade clear at the baptism of Jesus when Jesus is anointed with the Spirit, and\nthe voice from heaven, replacing the Isaiah\u2019s word \u201cservant\u201d with \u201cSon\u201d, declares that the\nprophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled in Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Responsorial Psalm <\/em>(Psalm 28[29]). The Lord will bless his people with peace. <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Second Reading <\/em>(Acts of the\nApostles 10:34-38). God had anointed him\nwith the Holy Spirit. <\/em>The setting for this reading in the Acts of the\nApostles is the scene in which Peter is told by the Holy Spirit to go to the house of the pagan\ncenturion and preach the good news to him. Up to this believers were from the\nJewish community only. Due to God\u2019s command, Peter now understood that the Gospel\nwas for all Jew and pagan and stresses this in his address to the centurion Cornelius\nand his household. Peter gives a summary of the Gospel message, beginning, as\nall early Christian preaching did, with the baptism activity of John the\nBaptist. While he does not explicitly mention the baptism of Jesus, Peter\nimplies it, as the occasion in which God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit\nand with power, in the strength of which he continued his saving mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gospel <\/em>(Matthew\n3:13-17). As soon as Jesus was baptised\nhe saw the Spirit of God coming down on him. <\/em>Today we celebrate the\nfeast of the Baptism of the Lord. Traditionally in the liturgy it was one of\nthree great manifestations, recalled by the Church for the liturgy of the feast\nof the Epiphany: on Epiphany the manifestation of Jesus to the Gentiles (the\nMagi), at the Baptism the manifestation by the Father\u2019s voice, and on the\nSunday after this (Second the Yearly Cycle) Jesus\u2019 manifestation of his glory\nat Cana. In the earlier liturgy the narrative of the wedding feast at Cana was read on this day. It is now read on the Third\nYear (C) of the cycle while other manifestations from the Baptism period, as in\nJohn\u2019s Gospel, are read in years one and two (A and B) of the cycle. Reflection\non today\u2019s Gospel reading will combine both history and faith. John the Baptist\nwas an important historical figure. His ministry and martyrdom are recounted at\nsome length by the first-century Jewish historian Josephus, as the former is in\nthe verses preceding this Gospel reading (verses commented on in these\nreflections for the Second Sunday of Advent).Jesus\u2019 ministry really began with his baptism. He came from Galilee to John with the purpose of being baptized. When\nJohn, preaching a baptism of repentance from sin, objected Jesus insisted, as\nhis mission was to do fully the will of God (\u201call that righteousness demands\u201d),\nand identify with sinners. After ascending from the waters of baptism Jesus\nsees the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descending on him like a dove. At\nthe creation of the world the Spirit of God hovered over the waters; now at the\nnew creation with Jesus the Spirit descends on Jesus. In the power of this\nSpirit Jesus would cast out devils, undo the work of Satan and bring in the Kingdom of God. Jesus\u2019 ministry is both history and\nmystery, the working of the Holy Spirit. After his ascension he would send his\nSpirit, the Holy Spirit, on the Church to continue his work. A voice (of the\nFather) from heaven announces to all that Jesus is his beloved Son. He is the\nFather\u2019s chosen one for the salvation of the world. The heavens were opened at\nJesus\u2019 baptism, noting that God and humanity are in contact. Belief in the\nheavens opened in central to Christian belief, a belief expressed in Christian\nbaptism, a belief totally rejected by humanists and atheists. A simple baptism\nis a deep profession of faith. <\/p>\n\n\n\n B.\nThe Bible in Dialogue with Questions of the Day<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Reflection and Dialogue: <\/em><\/strong>Baptism\nand Christian spirituality; baptism and the belief in the heavens open to us<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Reflection<\/em>. Baptism\nand Christian Spirituality. <\/em>Our celebration of the baptism of Jesus is not\njust about an event in the life of Christ, or the beginning of his public life.\nAll the New Testament texts are at pains to point out that at his baptism he\nwas anointed with the Holy Spirit. In the power of that Spirit he went about\ndoing good and undoing the work of sin and Satan. The Church from the beginning\nhas looked on Christian baptism as intimate union with Jesus and his baptism,\nand with the giving of the Holy Spirit to believers. This Holy Spirit makes us\naware that we are children of God. Possession of the Spirit is an anointing\nthat gives confidence of faith in Christ and his church. The Holy Spirit works\nquietly to help believers live the Christian life in the spirit of the\nbeatitudes. Today in certain quarters there is much talk about spirituality,\nsometimes with the implication that while religion is inferior, spirituality is\ngood and respectable. In our world it is well to note that spirituality can be\nused in different senses. It can be used, and is used, by humanists with little\nregard for faith or belief in God or the other world. Spirituality in this\nsense is a quality or manifestation of the human spirit, irrespective of any\nbelief. For Christian believers spirituality is life under the guidance of the\nHoly Spirit, a life of grace. All believers, rich and poor, young and old,\nlearned and otherwise, have a spirituality, just a they possess the Holy\nSpirit, given at baptism and abiding all through life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Belief in the heavens opened. <\/em>All the Gospel narratives speak of the\nheavens being opened at the baptism of Jesus, and of the Father\u2019s voice\nspeaking from heaven. The open heavens mean that there is another world, with\nan absolute God, and that there is contact between the two \u2013 not an abstract or\nremote contact but a close and personal one. Profession of faith in this other\nworld and all it stands for is made at any baptism, be it of an infant or an\nadult. The pouring of the material element of water on the head at baptism is\nan expression of deep faith, and has sense only with such faith. Belief in an\nother world and contact with it, in the opened heaven, is naturally denied by\nhumanists and atheists, and because of this the ultimate sign of rejection of\nChristian belief is the refusal to have children baptised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Belief in this open\nheaven is sustained by faith and contact with the sacraments. This is one\nmessage for us of this feast of the Baptism of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (<\/em><\/strong>For reflections on the Sunday and Feast\nDay readings <\/em>see Martin McNamara, Sunday Readings with Matthew:\nInterpretations and Reflections<\/em>, Dublin,\nVeritas, 2016)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Martin McNamara A. The bible as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings) B. Reflection & Dialogue: Baptism and Christian spirituality; baptism and the belief in the heavens open to … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sunday-readings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=983"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":984,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983\/revisions\/984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}