Through Her\nliturgical seasons, the Church invites us to remember the events of Jesus\u2019\nlife, but more importantly to walk with Him through them, to enter into His\nmystery, and to bring our own lives, year after year, into close conformity\nwith Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last\nSunday, we celebrated the Baptism of the Lord, which marked the end of the\nChristmas season. This Sunday, we find ourselves, once again, in the liturgical\nseason that the Church calls ordinary time. What does this mean for you and me?\nThe readings today remind us of our call to be witnesses in both word and deed.\nDuring Christmas, we celebrated the birth of the God-man, Jesus Christ. \u201cA\nchild is born to us\u201d (Is. 9:6) we clamoured, and we rejoiced at the birth of\nHim who came to \u201csave his people from their sins.\u201d (Mt. 1:21) Last week, we\ncelebrated the revelation of His divinity at the baptism and His loving\ncondescension and solidarity with us sinners. Now, having witnessed,\ncelebrated, and rejoiced at these events, we are called to share our joy with\nthose around us. Thus, it is to us, you and I, that today\u2019s words of Isaiah are\nfor: \u201cYou are my servant,\u201d and \u201cI will give you as a light to the nations, that\nmy salvation may reach to the end of the earth.\u201d (Is. 69:3,6)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the\ngospel reading, Jesus pronounces no words and, about Him, we are only told that\nHe came toward John the Baptist. This simple action, however, is full of\nmeaning. In our relationship with God, the initiative is always God\u2019s. It is He\nwho first reveals Himself, who first seeks us, who first loves us. Here, Jesus\ncomes towards John the Baptist, and in doing so, initiates the revelation of\nthe Father that He has come to give. Here, He begins His ministry, the primary\npurpose of which is to witness to the love and mercy of the Father, to bring us\ninto that relationship with the Father that He already enjoys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the\ngospel only provides a single indication about Jesus\u2019 own actions, it gives us\n(after the Blessed Virgin) with the example par excellence, of what a\ndisciple\u2019s testimony is to look like. John the Baptist is the perfect role\nmodel of the witness that we are to bear to those around us. As soon as he sees\nJesus coming towards him, he proclaims Him as the \u201cLamb of God who takes away\nthe sins of the world\u201d (Jn. 1:29) before anyone that can hear. However, John\ndoes not only bear witness by his words, but also by his deeds. Indeed, John\nhimself says, \u201cI myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for\nthis reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.\u201d (Jn. 131) By his baptismal\nefforts, he has already been preparing those around him to receive and accept\nthe Lord. The Baptist\u2019s life, in other words, was wholly centered on bringing people\nto Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The invitation\nof today\u2019s readings is to be witnesses of God\u2019s love before those who do not know\nHim. To do so just as Jesus bore witness to the Father before us who did not\nknow Him, and just as John the Baptist bore witness to Jesus. The invitation is\nto continue, throughout this Ordinary time, to conform our lives with Jesus,\nwho by His witness gave glory to the Father and brought us back into\nrelationship with Him. With John the Baptist it is fitting then to say: \u201cHe must\nincrease, but I must decrease\u201d (Jn. 3:30).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Santiago Torres<\/strong> \u2013 St. Joseph Seminary, Edmonton, Alberta<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fot. Karl Fredrickson\/Unsplash.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,17,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-strona-glowna-najnowsze","category-strona-glowna-slider"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n