Reflection
“…beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazarethwith the Holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good.”
Acts 10:34-38
“In Jesus of Nazareth… is wholly and irreversibly responsive to God’s self-giving love. In Jesus, one of us, part of the universe and its history, is so radically open to and identified with God, that we can rightly say that he is the Wisdom of God, the Son of God. Like us, Jesus is the product of biological evolution. Like us, he is made from stardust. Like us, Jesus is interrelated to all other creatures in one global community of Earth. In Jesus, the movement of self-transcendence that has been going on throughout evolutionary history reaches its irreversible climax. In Jesus’ complete yes to God, there is a radical and unique self-transcendence of creation into God.”
Ecology at the Heart of Faith, Denis Edwards
Prayer
Here am I, O God; I come to do your will.
Action
Read some books such as the one quoted above to learn of some new theological insights into the life and meaning of Jesus.
Suggested Readings
The people were filled with expectation,
and all were asking in their hearts
whether John might be the Christ.
John answered them all, saying,
“I am baptizing you with water,
but one mightier than I is coming.
I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Luke 3:15-16
Christ is the union of humanity and creation with God, the true integrating center of the universe.
Ilia Delio
Jesus came to show us how to be human much more than how to be spiritual, and the process still seems to be in its early stages.
Richard Rohr
Baptism is, in fact, much more than a ritual conferring membership in a community, as many people conceive it nowadays. It is a process of birth, through which a new dimension of life opens out.
Peter Seewald
We may never be martyrs but we can die to self, to sin, to the world, to our plans and ambitions. That is the significance of baptism; we died with Christ and rose to new life.
Vance Haver
The world is filled with churchgoers and the world is filled with the obscenely poor. Go figure.
Joan Chittister, OSB