Category: John the Baptist

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Light of the Nations

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Today’s readings are about call and response. Isaiah and St Paul reflect on their call to take the good news of salvation to the ends of the earth. In the gospel John recognises Jesus in the crowd and proclaims him as the Messiah. Reflecting on their accounts inevitably draws us back to reflect on our own call:

“I will make you the light of the nations so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

Isaiah, St Paul and St John all heard and responded to some version of this call. Their responses may have looked different on the surface, and led them in apparently different directions. This shouldn’t come as a surprise because they lived in different times, faced different situations and had different personalities and skills. This meant that they each had to spend time reflecting on what it meant for them to become “the light to the nations” in their particular situations.

Through baptism we are also called by God to be “a light to the nations”. While the heart of that call is the same as the one heard by Isaiah, St Paul and St John the practicalities of what it will look like in the particular challenges we face today are different. So today’s readings are a call to discern how to I can best bring the light of Christ love to people today in ways that will lighten their burdens and offer consolation.

How are you being called to bring the light of Christ’s love to the people around you today?

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Shaped by the Spirit

 Image by Biel Morro on Unsplash.com

Today Christmastide comes to an end with the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord. It’s a feast full of the promise of new life. It takes us back to our beginning, recalling creation when God’s spirit, hovering over the waters, called new life out of the the swirling chaos:

“As soon as Jesus was baptised, he came up from the water, and suddenly the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. And a voice spoke from heaven, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on him.’.’”

It doesn’t take more than a quick glance at the news to recognise that we are living in chaotic times. That is stressful and unsettling, so this reminder that it was out of the chaos that God called us into being is consoling and encouraging.

It also calls to mind another, more personal beginning. Through our baptism in Christ each of us has been called to become a new creation, to blossom into new life in Christ. Through the gift of this baptism we have become favoured and beloved daughters and sons of God. This certainty can give us the courage and hope living away that allow our baptismal promises to shape our lives and our interactions with one another.

As we start a new year it’s worthwhile to take some time to reflect on these beginnings founded on love and hope. Time reflecting on our baptismal promises and how they might shape our life seems to me to be time well spent as we make our way through these challenging times.

As we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord how might your baptismal promises shape your daily life?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Christmastide Discernment Gospel John the Baptist Lectio Divina Liturgy Scripture

Seekers of wisdom

Image by Myriams-Fotos from pixabay.com

A post from the archives for the 10th day of Christmas. I’m always grateful for these days between Christmas and Epiphany. After the busyiness of our celebrations they give us an opportunity to reflect more quietly on this great gift of the Incarnation. They give us the opportunity connect the Christ child in the manger to the adult Jesus who calls and challenges us.

They give us the opportunity to follow the example of the Magi, still on their journey. These wise men spent their lives seeking truth and wisdom. It led them on a long and unlikely journey.

In today’s gospel we encounter another seeker of truth, John the Baptist. He’s also a man dedicated to seeking truth and pointing out the presence of Christ when he discovered it. When he sees Jesus coming towards him he tells the crowd:

“Look, there is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”

His pointing out Christ’s presence offers us hope. He makes us aware that Christ is there waiting for us with an invitation, a challenge and a promise. We’re all too aware of the sin that touches our lives and our world. We know the issues it raises can seem insurmountable and leave us feeling desperate and hopeless.

John’s words remind us that, however desperate we might feel there is hope. Jesus invites us to to seek truth and wisdom and to follow him on a journey that will challenge us and lead us into new life in his presence.

How are you being called to seek truth and wisdom in these days before Epiphany?

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Discovering Christ.

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As we head back to work after the Christmas holidays it can be easy to forget that Christmastide is not over. We are still in the midst of the Christmas season, still celebrating the miracle of the Incarnation, of God is taking human form. As so often happens with liturgy the tone changes in these days before Epiphany.

Until now we have focused on the miracle of God’s presence made manifest in our midst. Today’s gospel brings us back to John the Baptist, with his call to alertness, to actively looking for Christ’s presence. He is quick to point away from himself towards Christ:

“I am not the Christ…I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

His words remind us that we are called to be constantly seeking God. We are to seek God not just in the obvious places, as we stand on or before the crib, as we pray, as we come together to worship and celebrate the new born King.

We are also called to seek Christ’s presence in every aspect of our lives. However unlikely it might seem to us every encounter, every activity, every engagement is an opportunity to discover the presence of Christ.

This process doesn’t happen automatically. If we are to discover Christ’s presence in every situation we have to be prepared to take a risk. We have to risk softening our hearts and opening them to the possibility of Christ being present even in situations that challenge us and make us uncomfortable.

Where is Christ challenging you to be open to his presence in unexpected situations this Christmastide?

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Gaudete Sunday

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Today we’re celebrating Gaudete Sunday, a time to pause and remember that even in dark and uncertain times there is cause for joy and hope.

In these challenging and uncertain times there is plenty that would oppress us. Today’s readings remind us never to give up hope however dismal things might seem. Isaiah writes that even the dry, barren wilderness of the desert can blossom into new life.

St James calls us to be patient because the Lord we are waiting for will come, however unlikely that may appear. Neither of them deny the challenges that we face, or the costliness of hope. Instead they tell us to look for and keep alive those glimmers of hope that are buried in the midst of the challenges.

John the Baptist exemplifies that hope, sending disciples to Jesus to ask:

“Are you the one who is to come, or have we to wait for someone else?”

Even in the bleakness of his prison cell he is still seeking, still hoping, still looking for the Messiah he proclaimed with such conviction. It is the Lord’s faithfulness that enables us in our turn to strive to be faithful to God.

It is God’s faithfulness that makes it possible for us to trust, hope and keep seeking God’s presence even in the most challenging of circumstances.

What gives you the courage to keep hoping today?

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A straight path.

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As we begin the second week of Advent the call to attentiveness becomes more urgent with the appearance of John the Baptist. John, Jesus’ cousin is an uncomfortable and challenging figure. He is the ultimate outsider, everything about him seems designed to challenge us and make us uncomfortable.

His message, with its call to repentance, is even more disconcerting than his appearance and lifestyle. It’s tempting either to sanitise him or ignore him. Instead, the gospel calls us to give him and his message our wholehearted attention.

“A voice cries in the wilderness: prepare away for the Lord, make his paths straight.”

We’re already overwhelmed with preparation in Advent. As we speed toward Christmas we’re necessarily full of plans to arrange cards and presents, food, parties, church services, liturgies and all kinds of gatherings. When we hear John’s call it can feel like there is no space left for any more preparation in the busyness of our lives.

John’s call, and the call of Advent, is about a different sort of preparation. It involves taking time to look within our hearts. It’s a time for acknowledging and accepting inner wilderness we all carry within us. John’s call to repentance is a call, not to hide that inner wilderness from Christ, but to acknowledge and welcome him into it.

From his place on the margins John calls us to bring all the marginalised parts of ourselves into Christ’s presence, exposing them to his loving, healing gaze.

How are you being called to make a straight path in your heart for Christ this Advent?

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Marked by God

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Today we’re celebrating the birth of St John the Baptist, prophet and precursor of Christ. His role is central to the gospel. He is called to prepare the hearts of the people for the coming of the Messiah, and to point him out to others when he appears.

He is also at the heart of his Jewish faith, both his parents can trace their heritage back through the history of the people of Israel. His father, Zechariah, is a priest. These are good and faithful people, living out the covenant and waiting in hope for the coming of the Messiah.


This might make him seem like the ultimate insider, yet from the beginning it’s clear that John is to perform this role from the fringes. He is always to be an outsider, a presence that challenges people and makes them uncomfortable.

From the beginning he is marked out. He’s born to parents long past childbearing. His birth was announced to his unbelieving father by an angel. Zechariah’s doubt leaves him without speech until after John’s birth. The angel tells Zechariah:

“Even from his mother’s womb he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, and he will bring back many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah, he will go before him to turn the hearts of fathers towards their children and the disobedient back to the wisdom that the virtuous have, preparing for the Lord a people fit for him.”

The angel’s words are full of hope and promise. Yet, they also carry a challenge. John’s call put him at odds with his times, constantly compelling him to challenge his people to make the changes necessary to prepare their hearts to welcome Christ. That challenge is just as relevant to us today as it was when John first preached.

Where are you being challenged to prepare your heart to welcome Christ today?

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Led by the light

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The 30 word in my Lent lexicon is:

LIGHT.

It’s not a word I generally connect with Lent, more often I connect it with Advent or Eastertide. But today this jumped out at me from the gospel:

“John was a lamp alight and shining and for a time you were content to enjoy the light that he gave. But my testimony is greater than John’s: the works my Father has given me to carry out, these same works of mine testify that the Father has sent me.”

Jesus’ words recall John’s testimony and the light he offered us. It was a good light, necessary and valuable. In our dark times it’s worth remembering that light that shone in our darkness, refusing to be overcome and showing us a way through.

Then Jesus takes us a step further, John’s light was good, he tells us, but I’m offering something more. He calls us to use the light to follow him into new and uncharted territory. The light of Jesus’ testimony will take us beyond what we already know. As we draw closer to Holy Week we have to acknowledge that. Living in our own hard times we are all too aware of the darkness we face and the need for that light.

Through his union with the Father the light Jesus offers us will guide us through all that darkness and lead us towards the new light and life of resurrection. The whole purpose of our Lent journey is to prepare our hearts to welcome that light wholeheartedly. Surely then part of our Lent practice is to seek that light in our lives and to trust us to lead us through Lent and whatever darkness we encounter there.

Where is Christ inviting you to allow his light into your life this Lent?

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Baptism Benedictine Spirituality Christ Christmastide Divine Office Gospel John the Baptist Lectio Divina Liturgy Prophetic voices Scripture

The Feast of the Baptism

Photo by Biel Morro on Unsplash

Today Christmastide comes to an end with the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord. It’s a feast full of the promise of new life. It takes us back to our beginning, recalling creation when God’s spirit, hovering over the waters, called new life out of the the swirling chaos:

“When Jesus also had been baptised and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’”

It doesn’t take more than a quick glance at the news to recognise that we are living in chaotic times. That is stressful and unsettling, so this reminder that it was out of the chaos that God called us into being is consoling and encouraging.

It also calls to mind another, more personal beginning. Through our baptism in Christ each of us has been called to become a new creation, to blossom into new life in Christ. Through the gift of this baptism we have become favoured and beloved daughters and sons of God. This certainty can give us the courage and hope living away that allow our baptismal promises to shape our lives and our interactions with one another.

As we start a new year it’s worthwhile to take some time to reflect on these beginnings founded on love and hope. Time reflecting on our baptismal promises and how they might shape our life seems to me to be time well spent as we make our way through these challenging times.

As we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord how might your baptismal promises shape your daily life?

Categories
Benedictine Spirituality Christ Christmastide Divine Office Gospel John the Baptist Lectio Divina Liturgy Scripture

Discovering the Lamb of God.

Image by Myriams-Fotos from pixabay.com

I’m always grateful for these days between Christmas and Epiphany. After the busyness of our celebrations they give us an opportunity to reflect more quietly on this great gift of the Incarnation. They give us the opportunity connect the Christ child in the manger to the adult Jesus who calls and challenges us.

They give us the opportunity to follow the example of the Magi, still on their journey. These wise men spent their lives seeking truth and wisdom. It led them on a long and unlikely journey.

In today’s gospel we encounter another seeker of truth, John the Baptist. He’s also a man dedicated to seeking truth and pointing out the presence of Christ when he discovered it. When he sees Jesus coming towards him he tells the crowd:

“Look, there is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”

His pointing out Christ’s presence offers us hope. He makes us aware that Christ is there waiting for us with an invitation, a challenge and a promise. We’re all too aware of the sin that touches our lives and our world. We know the issues it raises can seem insurmountable and leave us feeling desperate and hopeless.

John’s words remind us that, however desperate we might feel there is hope. Jesus invites us to to seek truth and wisdom and to follow him on a journey that will challenge us and lead us into new life in his presence.

How are you being called to seek truth and wisdom in these days before Epiphany?