Sunday Reflection – 09 January 2022

BAPTISM OF THE LORD Feast

Also Read: Mass Readings for 09 January 2022

BAPTISM OF THE LORD Feast

First Reading: Isaiah 40: 1-5, 9-11

O that today we would listen to his voice!

Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah. “Here is your God!” (9)

The good tidings revealed through the prophet, hold great hope for us today, in our trying times! We are the new Jerusalem, the new church built by Jesus! Christ has paid our penalty (2) and we are the freely adopted ones! Even as we hear the voice crying out in the wilderness; let us be assured that the Lord is very near indeed!

Therefore, we must not fear but raise an Alleluia! For Our Shepherd comes to gather us in his arms, close to his bosom! (11)

Amen!

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 104: 1-4, 24-25, 27-30

Renewed!

When you send forth your spirit they are created; and you renew the face of the ground. (30)

By his spirit, we are created and renewed to new life! Amen!

Second Reading: Titus 2: 11-14; 3: 4-7

Justified!

This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ Our Saviour, so that having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs. According to the hope of eternal life. (3:7)

He gathers us, gives us new life, and pours out His Spirit on us! We are the blessed ones (we have been made heirs)! Did we merit it in the first place? No! Yet, we are justified only because of His mercy on us! Now that we realize this, we ought to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly! (2:12)

Amen!

Gospel: Luke 3: 15-16, 21-22

Beloved!

The Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you, I am well pleased,” (22)

Christ Jesus Our Lord, is the beloved of Our Father in heaven. Through the same Christ Jesus, God has poured out the Holy Spirit upon us. As proclaimed by John the Baptist, we have been baptized by the Holy Spirit and fire. (16) We are then in Christ and therefore a new creation! (2Cor 5:17) We too are the beloved – beloved of Lord Jesus Christ and beloved of God our Father!

We have now been commissioned by Jesus Christ himself to go and baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Matt 28:19) So, we are to share this blessing with others! We may not be able to physically dip them in water and touch their heads. But we can surely touch their hearts and light the flame of the Holy Spirit by our words and example. This is the work of the Spirit and how the Spirit ignites the flame we will never know! Our role is to yield to his sweet and patient promptings!

Go, therefore! Amen!