Meditation Minute

My Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

"You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased."

Gospel Reading: Mark 1:7-11

And John the Baptist preached, saying, "After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased."

Some of you are probably saying, didn’t we have this gospel last Friday?  And the answer would be yes.  This allows us to reflect on this reading one more time.  John the Baptist professed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. So why did Jesus, the Son of God himself, submit John’s baptism?  In his Baptism, we become eternally linked to his “baptism” upon the cross. His Baptism marks the beginning of his mission as the suffering Servant who came to free us from our sins. In this one act he links himself to all of us sinners. Out of God’s love for us, he consents to this baptism which eventually will become a baptism of death on the cross for the restitution of our sins. Our Father in heaven proclaims his delight in his Son’s choice in the proclamation, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased." God’s love for his son becomes the outward vision of the Holy Spirit descending upon Christ. At his baptism the heavens were opened and the waters became eternally sanctified by the descent of the Holy Spirit onto Jesus signifying the beginning of a new covenant with God.

In your own Baptism, you became eternally linked with our Father in Heaven, through the power of the Holy Spirit which sanctified the waters from which your new life springs forward.  IN the Spring of your new life, the church reaches out to educate you and form you as one of the disciples of Christ.  What would our Father in Heaven proclaim about your Baptism?  Would he look down and say, “You are my beloved child; with you I am well pleased.”  This question may be difficult to ask and even more difficult to answer.  It is good if we reflect on our own lives to determine where God is well pleased and where we may need to make changes.  This allows us to reconcile ourselves with our own baptism.  It is through the act of reconciliation with our Father, that you fulfill your Baptismal promises.

A Simple Prayer

Father in Heaven,

I know at times I turn my back on you when I sin.

Please give me the wisdom to recognize my sins and to reconcile them with you

So that I can focus my eyes upon the glory of heaven.

Yours in Christ

Michael Marcon