By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ
A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick
he shall not quench, until he establishes justice on the earth; the coastlands
will wait for his teaching. Isaiah 42:3-4
It happened in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth
of Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. On coming up out of the water he saw the
heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon
him. And a voice came from the
heavens, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” 1:9-11
Piety
Our piety shines out by the
ways we make the Lord present in our life and for the lives around us. Our presence, when we are living the fullness
of our lives in the name of Christ, baptizes the moment we are in with the
presence of Christ. Our baptism gave us
the life of Christ. We belong to the
Trinity by our Baptism. Christ went into
the waters of the Jordan and made all the waters of our world holy by accepting
the Baptism of John. Our baptism makes
the goodness of our lives into the presence of Christ to others. The blood and the water that pours from the
side of Christ pierced on the cross becomes the Sacramental life of the
Church. We are the Sacramental life of
the Church. We baptize the world around
us by living the baptism of Jesus. The
spirit that was poured over Christ continues to be poured through the goodness
of our lives by our living in Christ.
Our piety is seen in all the ways we live out the mind and the heart of
Christ in what we do for one another.
Study
We learn from Christ how to
share the spirit by sharing the good news with the poor and working for the
release of all the captives of the bad spirit in our world. We might well be a light shining in the
darkness of our world, but we are never alone when we work in the name of
Christ. By making the voice of Christ
heard in our world, bruised reeds are not broken and smoldering wicks spark up
to burn more brightly. We study how to
establish his justice on the earth. We
discover by our study that it is the Lord who calls us for the victory of
justice. It is Christ that has called us
and formed us to be his covenant with the world.
Action
Action is our expression of
our covenant with the Lord. Christ has
formed us and set us to be lights shining in the darkness of our world. How we open our hearts to the needs of the poor
around us is the expression of the covenant the Lord makes with our world through
us. Our actions make us partners with
the Lord in his mission of sharing the good news of God’s love for the world
through Christ. Our actions in the name
of Christ allow us to stand before God and listen to ourselves being called his
beloved children. The miracles of
conversion happen through our willingness to be Christ for one another. Baptism gave us into the possession of the
Trinity. The peace that flows from our
sharing love with the needy of our world is the sound of the approval of God of
our lives of service. We are mean to be
his beloved children and Baptism makes it possible.
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