Torn Open

Torn Open

Christmas Weekday

And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever possesses the Son has life; whoever does not possess the Son of God does not have life. 1 John 5:11-12

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." Mark 1:9-11

Piety

Mary and Jesus are examples of humility to us.  Let us turn to them and set aside our professional prestige and focus on what Jesus wants, not on what we desire. Tear us open to the will of God.

Study

Today we take our last step in the days following Christmas and stand on the precipice of Ordinary Time.  Once the Kings visit Jesus and have their epiphany, it will be our turn.  Crossing into a new season we watch Jesus step day-by-day into his public ministry with the first stride being into the Jordan River to kneel before his cousin.  We witness the first of the Luminous Mysteries: the baptism of Jesus by John.

The notes from the New American Bible remind us that “by participating in life-giving baptism with water and the Holy Spirit, Jesus will create a new people of God. But first, he identifies himself with the people of Israel in submitting to the same baptism of repentance that they receive.  Through this sacrament, he also bears on their behalf – and ours -- the burden of God’s decisive judgment.  As in the desert of Sinai, so here in the wilderness of Judea, Israel’s sonship with God is to be renewed.”

This first public act of Jesus’ adult ministry is to acknowledge and submit himself to his Father’s will.  To do so publicly and visually, Jesus immerses himself in the ritual of conversion and initiation – Baptism.  Through this, he devotes himself to the pursuit of God’s work in this life. The shock of this humility tears open the curtain of heaven just as it should tear open our hearts to the will of God.

Jesus signals for the rest of us that it is in the conscious pursuit of the will of God in public life over all else in the world that opens us up to the work of God within ourselves. Baptism shows that God is working in his life and Jesus is here to fulfill that will and not his own. In birth at Christmas, Jesus converted from his God-life to his mortal life in order to fulfill God’s mission. Now, he recommits himself back to his God-life in order to fulfill that mission.

Action

How would you feel if Jesus approaches YOU to get a sacrament?  Baptism?  Eucharist?  Yet that is what happens every day when we encounter others.  We are there to be a sacramental presence of Jesus to them as they are a presence of Jesus to us.

Would you – in the spirit of John’s humility – acknowledge that you cannot tie their shoes but continue to provide the ritual cleansing? The sight of Jesus immersed in the Jordan River in front of his cousin would move even the most arrogant among us.  If Jesus can submit, how can I not?

The Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan is our call to listen to the wisdom of others, to see a God larger than ourselves, to honor the Word of God that speaks to us through others. Doesn’t that describe perfectly what happens on a Cursillo weekend?  We start out listening to the wisdom of God through scripture, then hear the wisdom lived through the testimony and lives of the team, and then finish by hearing the wisdom reflected back in the witness of the candidates. 

Too often, we prefer to put our faith in the rich and powerful – not in the ordinary people we walk with daily.  We like seeing the Rose Bowl Parade or the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or the Fourth of July Parade pass by with pomp and circumstance.  We don’t want a God who is born in a manger.  We want a Grand Marshall.  We don’t want a God who submits to others. We want a God who rules as a powerful entity, not as a lowly Juan Diego.

As we stand on the threshold of this New Year, let us turn away from the false faces of money, of prestige, or social status, of the Housewives of New Jersey or Hollywood or Atlanta.  Let us turn away from the talking heads of MSNBC, CNN, and FOX.  Let us see power in the vows taken by new members of the Missionaries of Charity or the Benedictines or the Poor Clares.

To find God in this life means that we have to be open to everything life has to offer – even when it seems like this is the one place God could not possibly be.  However, God is the energy that surrounds us no matter how cold and windy or hot and rainy it is. God is in the Polar Vortex, the derecho, Hurricane Irma and the Bomb Cyclone. God also is in the poverty of welfare, Medicare, food stamps and immigration. God also is in the impulses that urge us on – retirement savings, college applications, vacation travel plans and career ladders.  And God is also there in the circumstances that we do not want – illness, unemployment, expensive repairs, and other unforeseen incidents. Who indeed is the victor over the good and bad that world serves us but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 1 John 5:5

Who indeed is victor over the world but the one who is torn open to it all if we want to be open to God? Tear open your heart in 2018 to the will of God.