John 3:16

¹⁶For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3"16)

I’ve watched too many football games with “John 3:16” cards held aloft — so often that the passage is beginning to lose meaning .  

To bring it back to life, today try focusing on just one “key” word: gave.  God loved the world so much that he didn’t just “send” his Son; he gave his Son!  He was given as a gift to us.  This gift is so incredible and wonderful that all we need to do is accept the gift, which means to believe in him.

There is more.  That precious gift of Jesus Christ has a purpose.  If we truly believe in him, then the consequence of that gift is our salvation.  If we refuse to believe in him, we have chosen to reject this gift.  Such a choice, to reject Jesus, is to condemn ourselves.

How can this possibly be, you ask?  How can we condemn ourselves?  Again, we need to look at the consequences of our choices.  To ‘believe’ in Jesus is to follow him, to become his disciple, and to live the moral life of unselfish love that he exemplified.  Our good deeds flow from our discipleship, which in turn flows from “believing.”  The Most Holy Trinity comes to dwell within us and strengthen us through the Sacraments instituted by Christ.

One who chooses to ‘reject’ Jesus, on the other hand, will not have the benefit of the indwelling Spirit to help him, and may not be challenged to live a morally sound life.  Thus, by choosing independence from Jesus he has chosen a path strewn with obstacles that might become insurmountable.  A life that begins with sanctifying grace (baptism) is not an option for such an individual because of his fundamental choice to be a disciple of some thing or someone other than Jesus.

God gave; will you accept the gift and follow the example of Jesus?

eH

The most precious gift that God could give to us is his only Son.  Jesus came so that the world might know God’s love for us.

--Rev. Deacon Joseph Pasquella

Lessons from Abraham, our Father in Faith

We are People of God. As such, we have an ancient heritage, dating back to Abraham. For this reason we should consider the faith journey of our renowned patriarch.

Abraham

Abraham had nothing to boast about concerning his own merits in the presence of God. It was God Who sought him even before he knew the One Who sought him. Encountered by the Unknown One, he is told to: “Set out from your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house, and go to the land that I will show you” (Gen. 12:1).

This invitation will be repeated by an unknown itinerant preacher from Nazareth to a group of fishermen: “Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch” (Lk. 5:4).

Leaving all that was comfortable and familiar, our patriarch in the faith is like the apostles, set out on a journey of faith into the depths of God’s provident love and grace. Not knowing where the journey would lead, he followed the Voice that spoke to his heart. It was this obedience of faith that was accounted as righteousness.

Newness of life is offered to all who surrender to the movement of grace. The initiation rite does not justify us. Circumcision or baptism serve as a sign that we have responded to the One who called us.

In this light, Abraham is our Father in the Faith. Following in his footsteps, we run on the path of God’s commandments with our hearts expanded by the inexpressible delight of love.

The seal ofthe Holy Spirit is our sanctification, making us new creatures conformed to Christ. The object of our faith is God and God alone, in whom we are justified and recreated. Because of God’s love for us, our sins have been atoned and our iniquity cleansed.

Since Christ has taken all our sins to Himself, let us walk in the freedom that His victory has won for us. As children of the kingdom, let us sincerely seek to do the will of Him who created and redeemed us.

The author of the Letter to the Hebrews wrote: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the guarantee that the things not seen are true” (Heb. 11:1). The assurance of our hope is in Christ who has told us that we are precious in the Father’s eyes.

God has told us to cast our cares upon Him because He cares for each of us individually and promises to provide for all our needs.

Allow me to close with a blessing.


Wherever your faith journey may lead, may the Living Lord go with you; May he go behind you, to encourage you, beside you, to befriend you, above you, to watch over you, beneath you, to lift you from your sorrows, within you, to give you the gifts of faith, hope, and love, and always before you, to show you the way. Amen.
(Benediction - Blair Monie)

--Father Jerome Machar, OSCO

Brothers and Sisters in Christ

Having been baptized into Christ, each of us has been adopted into the household of God. By means of our common baptism, we are brothers or sisters one to another. The bond of love is the underpinning of our Christian life. The more we are conformed to Christ, the more we shall see each other as gifts. This is confirmed by the apostle to the Gentiles in his second letter to the church of Corinth. “We all, with unveiled faces, see the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, for this comes from the Lord Who is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18). Recognizing how gifted we are, we can say with Saint Paul: “We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you” (Col. 1:3). The reason for our gratitude is that we are enriched by our brothers and sisters, as we read in the Constitutions of the Order: “The community forms a single body in Christ. Each brother is to contribute to the up building of fraternal relations especially by sharing with others the spiritual gifts he has received by God's manifold grace” (CST. 14.1).

Family of Jesus

We come to know God more completely as we relate to one another more authentically in love. Saint Paul wants those who read his letter to know that they are the cause of His joy and gratitude. Surrounded by such a cloud of witnesses, such a community of brothers and sisters, he comes to know God as the Father, not only of Christ but also of the entire Body of Christ, the Church. In Christ, God the Father becomes the object of praise and thanksgiving because it is He Who blesses us with every spiritual blessing and boundless mercy. His name alone is our refuge and strength.

In the Gospel, Saint Luke mentions how, at daybreak, Jesus interrupted his ministry to seek out a place of solitude. There, at the beginning of a new day, the Son is embraced by the Father and reaffirms His desire to fulfill all that the Father wills of Him. It is our duty to seek the Lord where He can be found, in the solitude of our hearts. Because He is the giver of all good gifts, we intercede with Him on behalf of those who are afflicted in body, mind or soul. With the eyes of faith, we come to realize that a desert solitude is no threat to us since it is there that we meet the Lord, face-to-face. May we continue to be with Him until that day when He returns in glory to bring us all into everlasting life.

--Father Jerome Machar, OSCO

Unity and Peace: Gifts of the Holy Spirit

On the Feast of Pentecost, we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church; an event of grace that first filled the Upper Room in Jerusalem and then spread throughout the world. If only everyone who hears the sound of the rushing wind and sees the flames of divine love would be of one mind and heart! The Holy Spirit is given to us to heal the wounds of division. The Spirit sanctifies, and makes us pure and holy, purges away the dross of sin, error and superstition; and enlightens our minds and gives us knowledge of divine and spiritual things; and fills us with zeal and fervor for the glory of God and Christ, and the good of the Church. It is essential that all Christians agree to love one another; for where brothers and sisters in Christ dwell together in unity, there the Lord manifests His glory and majesty.

For Israel, Pentecost - celebration of the harvest - had become the celebration marking the ratification of the Covenant on Mt Sinai. In wind and fire, God made his presence known to the people and then gave them the gift of the Ten Commandments. In this singular way was the work of liberation, begun with the Exodus from Egypt, brought to fulfillment: human freedom is always a shared freedom, a "togetherness" of liberty. For us, Pentecost constitutes the baptism of the Church. It is the seminal event that gave the Church the shape and thrust of its mission.

Come, Holy Spirit. Fill the hearts of Your faithful and kindle in them the fire of Your love. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created, and You shall renew the face of the earth.

Gathered in prayer, the disciples found themselves in the midst of a driving wind and an all-consuming fire. When we speak about wind and fire, we are talking about vitality, excitement and energy. The Jerusalem Disciples were overpowered by the presence of God. They were consumed by the fire of divine love and were driven out of their comfort zones. Moved by the Spirit, in the bond of love, like them, we are called to bless and praise the God Who created us with our lives. Faith tells us that God is light and in His light we see light because in Him there is no darkness. Through the regenerating water of baptism and outpouring of the life-creating Spirit, we have been grafted into Christ and, with Him, we have been transformed into the Light of the world. We are to be a light of hope for those caught in the destructive vortex of darkness. We are the first fruits of the new creation for people who have lost touch with their humanity and are groping to rediscover the radiant glory that is theirs as the handiwork of God.

My brothers and sisters, we are created from the dust of the earth, and into these earthen vessels God has breathed His Spirit. The Lord Jesus overcomes our fears and calms our anxiety by lovingly and reverently entering into our lives. It is a comfort to know that nothing can keep the Lord from pitching His tent in our hearts. Each of us has been gifted by the Spirit in a unique and personal way. From the one Spirit comes a diversity of gifts and talents. These gifts may differ from person to person, some greater and some lesser but each one is necessary for the building up of the kingdom of God. The message of Pentecost is that we are never alone and no wall is too thick for the Holy Spirit to penetrate or too tall for Him to surmount.

The evangelist John tells us how the vision of the risen Lord brought joy to the hearts of the disciples who had barricaded themselves in the upper room because of fear and sorrow. The Lord came to people who were too afraid to come to Him. Into that space filled with stale and lifeless air, Jesus breathed the breath of the Holy Spirit. Those who had been dead were brought back to life. As they breathed in the Spirit, they were transformed. The Spirit of God made them all that the Father created them to be. It was no longer they that lived, but Christ the Risen Lord was living in them. The members of the Body of Christ should endeavor to build up one another in their faith, both by repeating what they have heard to those that were absent, and by making known what they have experienced. The newness which God brings into our lives is something that actually brings fulfilment, that gives true joy, true serenity, because God loves us and desires only our good.

The Holy Spirit does not leave the disciples comfortable, safe, locked away in a sheltered world. He continues to push them beyond their accustomed boundaries. As He said to Abraham, our father in faith, He says to us: "Go from your country and your relatives and your father's house to a country that I will show you" (Gen. 12:1). We heard earlier that the Holy Spirit unites, breaks down barriers, leads us one to the other. The strength that overcomes isolation and resentment is the strength of forgiveness. Jesus can grant forgiveness and the power to forgive because he himself suffered the consequences of sin and consumed them in the flame of his love. Forgiveness comes from the Cross; He transforms the world with the love that is offered. His heart opened on the Cross is the door through which the grace of forgiveness enters into the world. And this grace alone is able to transform the world and build peace. Nothing can improve the world if evil is not overcome. Evil can be overcome only by forgiveness. Peace can only spring from reconciliation.


Sequence — Veni, Sancte Spiritus


Come, Holy Spirit, come! And from your celestial home Shed a ray of light divine!
Heal our wounds, our strength renew; On our dryness pour your dew; Wash the stains of guilt away: Bend the stubborn heart and will; Melt the frozen, warm the chill; Guide the steps that go astray.

--Father Jerome Machar, OSCO

Share the Message of the Kingdom of God

In the days following the resurrection, the Church continues to re-present the Paschal victory of Christ. Just as the tomb could not hold captive the Lord of Life, fear was not to hold captive the proclamation of the Good News. Jesus conquered death by entering into the kingdom of darkness and gloom to free the world from the power of sin and death. Walking in the freedom of the children of God, we are to be agents of healing and reconciliation for all who find themselves on the margins of society. Like the Good Shepherd, we are to seek and find the lost and rejected. If we succeed, the Psalmist reminds us that the victory is not ours, but His. “Not to us, Lord, not to us but to Your name give the glory because of your faithfulness and love” (Ps. 115: 1). The One Who raised Jesus from the dead is the One Who produces this good work in us.

The fruit of our labors is produced by the power of God who raised Christ from the dead. Just as in the passion and death of Christ, God manifested His victory over the powers of the world, so through our weakness God manifests His strength. Saint Paul put it quite beautifully: “I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:10). Any good we do is done to the glory of Christ who is risen form the dead. The victory of Christ reminds us that of ourselves we can do nothing but in God we can build up of the Kingdom.

Through the waters of baptism we have been made members of the Body of Christ. In us and in our outreach of love God continues to glorify His name (Cf. Jn. 12:28). Just as Christ redeemed the world by taking to Himself the form of a slave, so now He sends us forth to continue the great work of redemption until the end of time. Saint John underlines the reason for our confidence in carrying out this great mission. “You belong to God, children, and you have conquered them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1Jn. 4:4). God desires communion with us so that the world might come to know His great love.

Through word and action He makes His presence known. It is the duty of those to whom he has shown himself, to let others know what he has done for their souls. It is important that we support one another by share our experiences with fellow-believers. Having been grafted to Christ, we are commissioned to share our faith with others, testifying to the wonders He has done in our lives. By performing random acts of love may we manifest God’s compassion and love. May we serve as Christ’s hands and feet drawing others into a relationship with the Risen Lord.

--Father Jerome Machar, OSCO

At the Well with Jesus and the Samaritan Woman

4 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— ² although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. ³ So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

⁴ Now he had to go through Samaria. ⁵ So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” ⁸ (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.^[a])

¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

¹⁶ He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

¹⁷ “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸ The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

¹⁹ “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

²¹ “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You Samaritans worship what you do not know;we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.²³ Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

²⁵ The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

²⁶ Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

²⁷ Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

²⁸ Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” ³⁰ They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

³¹ Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

³³ Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

³⁴ “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. ³⁵ Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. ³⁶ Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. ³⁷ Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. ³⁸ I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

³⁹ Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. ⁴¹ And because of his words many more became believers.

⁴² They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” (John 4: 1-42)

Many of us have been in the situation of Jesus at the well. We get caught in the ultimate family feud. Something insignificant has happened and no one gives in. Things happened so long ago that we do not even know what they are and what everyone is fighting about, but no one is going to give in. The Samaritan woman remembers the feud. She says to Jesus, “Why are you asking for a drink of water from me? You know the rules. Samaritans do not talk to Jews.”

The Samaritans had turned to idol worship and entered into mixed marriages with pagans. They tried to come back to Israel, but the situation got complicated when the Israelites were sent into the Babylonian exile. When they returned to Israel, the two peoples had developed in different ways.

Do we practice love when someone is venting under so much anger? Do we offer an olive branch? Do I desire an olive branch, to come back into fellowship with you after you have offended me? After Jesus’ resurrection, the Samaritans came back into observance. Jesus drew every single person into a relationship with himself. He came to bring all people to God.

What is needed to receive others with love? We need to enter into great trust in God and have him handle our anger. Jesus got the Samaritan woman to know herself, and by recognizing herself to come to know God. We need to put words to our sacrifices. We need this before we come to our just Savior. We have sinfulness in ourselves. We have some big items to bring to Jesus. If we put words to our sinfulness, Jesus will heal us.

How did the woman feel when she just owned up to her sins? Jesus did not trim her down. He forgave her. The woman was engaged in promiscuity which is something celebrated today, unfortunately. The woman came to the well to draw water to comfort her thirst. She came at a time when no one else would see her. But Jesus was there. People come to Christ for comfort and conversion. We have received the living waters in baptism, and Jesus promised this woman living water. God offers us living water in the sacraments of the Church. We receive God himself in the Eucharist. Jesus gives all of himself for everyone. He comes to those who confess their sins. They receive the fruits of that confession, His Body and Blood. You already showed your faith in Jesus Christ when you come to church. The woman at the well believed Jesus. We believe what we have heard. Draw close to the well so you can be free and receive the living water that is Jesus. When you drink of Him you will not be thirsty again.

--Father Jacob Meyer, Visitor, Confraternity of Penitents

Repentance and Prayer: The Way to Holiness

12 When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he left Judea and returned to Galilee. 13 But instead of going to Nazareth, he went to Capernaum, beside the Sea of Galilee, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 This fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy: 15 "In the land of Zebulun and of Naphtali, beside the sea, beyond the Jordan River -- in Galilee where so many Gentiles live -- 16the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow, a light has shined." 17 From then on, Jesus began to preach, "Turn from your sins and turn to God, because the Kingdom of Heaven is near. " 18 One day as Jesus was walking along the shore beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers -- Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew -- fishing with a net, for they were commercial fishermen. 19 Jesus called out to them,"Come, be my disciples, and I will show you how to fish for people!" 20 And they left their nets at once and went with him. 21 A little farther up the shore he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, mending their nets. And he called them to come, too. 22 They immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind. 23 Jesus traveled throughout Galilee teaching in the synagogues, preaching everywhere the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed people who had every kind of sickness and disease.(Matthew 4: 12-23)

When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he went to live in Capernaum. John had been sent to preach the baptism of repentance and to prepare the way for Jesus to come. John told the people, “I have only come to prepare the way for the Messiah, but you do not recognize him. I am not fit to untie his sandal strap. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Look for him. Wait for him.”  

Wait for the LORD, take courage;

be stouthearted, wait for the LORD! (Psalm 27:14)

The Light has come. He is in our midst. Baptism gives us the grace of adoption as the sons and daughters of God. The grace of baptism never leaves us once it comes upon us. We never stop being a beloved son or daughter of the Father. We may make poor choices. We may place our self-will in opposition to God’s Holy Will. Our vision may be clouded and our will weakened due to sin. Sometimes we choose for the good, sometimes for evil. Even if we choose to sin, we will never cease to be the son or daughter of our Father. We will never cease to be his child. He will never stop loving us.

The Father embraces the Prodigal Son

John and Jesus preached the baptism of repentance. In order for the Holy Spirit to be vibrant in our lives, in order for Jesus to shine forth, we need to repent. Everyone needs to repent. All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. Pope John Paul II used to go to confession every day. Mother Teresa of Calcutta went every week. The constitutions of her Order say that the sisters must confess weekly. It is embarrassing to go to confession. We have to humble ourselves and confess our sins. But the fruit of this is a tremendous joy. The prophets tell us that there is great joy, abundant joy, when we do God’s will.

I have an older brother who called me up with great joy because he had been to a retreat with  his wife who had forced him to go. And his life had been changed. This was the first retreat he’d ever made in his whole life and he is 70 years old. God entered his life on this retreat, probably through his going to confession. He had so much joy and hope that he had to share them with the family.

What happens when I go to the Lord and admit that I am a sinner? How do I begin a confession? I should say, “Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” This is a good thing to say when we can’t sleep. Say it over and over and you will soon sleep in peace. This is called the Pilgrim’s prayer. It helps us know who we are and who God is.

Sin can wreak havoc in a soul and can also affect our bodies. Our bodies show the effects of sin by making us tense and guilty. We take our sin and go to Jesus who took all our sins upon himself and therefore conquered sin. He is the one who smashed the yoke that burdens us. He took the heavy rod of the taskmaster from our shoulders.

John the Baptist preached baptism for the repentance of sins, and he told us to repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. But Jesus told us that the kingdom of God is already here. If I don’t experience the peace, love, joy, patience, fortitude, and so forth of the Holy Spirit, that means that I need to repent of my sin. I need to give my sins to Jesus, to surrender to God. The Lord told King St. Louis of France that he, Louis, wanted to pray as a saint, but God wanted him to come to the Lord as a poor, humble soul.

Jesus told us that blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. A soul that acknowledges that she needs God is poor in spirit. Go to God poor in spirit. Be humble and repent. That is the first step to holiness.

The second is this. Pray perseveringly. Pray when prayer is beautiful and uplifting, and pray on the days when prayer is not so beautiful. Many people get discouraged when prayer becomes boring and they drop it. God did not ask us to pray well but to pray always, to persevere in prayer. Jesus told us the parable about praying always and not losing heart.

Prayer and repentance are the way holiness.

--Transcribed as best as possible from a homily by Father James Kumbakkeel, O.S.B.,

He Must Increase; I Must Decrease

This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, ‘I am not the Messiah.’ And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ Then they said to him, ‘Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’ He said,

‘I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord” ,
as the prophet Isaiah said.

 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, ‘Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?’ John answered them, ‘I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.’ This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.
 The next day he saw Jesus coming towards him and declared, ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, “After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.’ And John testified, ‘I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.’
The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, ‘Look, here is the Lamb of God!’ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come and see.’  (John 1: 19-39)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .
After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he spent some time there with them and baptized. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because water was abundant there; and people kept coming and were being baptized— John, of course, had not yet been thrown into prison.

 Now a discussion about purification arose between John’s disciples and a Jew. They came to John and said to him, ‘Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him.’ John answered, ‘No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, “I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.” He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.’(John 3:22-30)

John the Baptist was about thirty years old when he began his mission, and his mission ended between six months and a year later. John’s entire thirty years of preparation were for a mission that lasted six to twelve months. Most of John’s life was spent in prayer and penance, and yet his very short ministry rocked the world. His ministry was to introduce Christ the Lord and then to step aside. And this is exactly what he did.

John calls himself a friend of the bridegroom. The bridegroom is the one who is marrying the bride, the Church. The bridegroom’s friend rejoices at the good fortune of the bridegroom, but he is not the groom. John the Baptist is an incredible example of prayer, penance, and humility. He knows who he is before the Lord. He steps aside when the Lord comes because he knows that the ministry is not about himself. The ministry was about opening the hearts of others to receive Christ when He came.

Before Jesus came to be baptized, when John was baptizing, the Pharisees asked him who he was, and John said, “I am not the Christ. Nor am I Elijah or one of the prophets. I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness to make known the way of the Lord.” John was comfortable with the fact that he was not the Messiah. He knew that he was not going to fix everything. He told the Pharisees, “I am not even worthy to untie the sandals of the Messiah. My ministry is not about me. I am only doing what a slave does. I am just a voice. I have nothing without the grace of God. The one who comes after me existed before me.”

When Jesus comes to John, John says that Jesus ought to be baptizing him and not the other way around. After Jesus was baptized, God said from a cloud, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him.” God did not say, “And this is my good servant John who has prepared the way for my Son.” God did not say anything about John, but John did not care that he was not acknowledged and he did not get jealous. John tells his disciples to follow Jesus now. Go after Him.

John is free about holding on to his disciples, and, when he hears that Jesus is baptizing, he is excited about that. He says, “My joy is complete.” He is not worried that Jesus is stealing his congregation or that everyone might go to Jesus instead of to John. No. He tells his disciples that this is good. Jesus is baptizing. Go to Christ. It is not about me, John. It’s about Him. “I am preparing you,” said John, “for the real new thing. Go to Him. He must increase, and I must decrease.”

John is free to decrease. He is free to be nothing, and he is joyful about it. “Jesus is the groom. He is the one you must belong to. He’s the one you must become one with. I am just a voice,” said John. “He is the Word.” Let his word penetrate every fiber of your being.

At the age of thirty or thirty-one, John will go to a premature death, and he’s okay with that, too. He had looked into the eyes of God, his own cousin, and he had heard the Word. He is more than happy to give his life to the One whom he met and loved and pointed out. May we receive the grace to complete our mission while realizing that it is not about us; it is about the Lord. We are the best man, but Jesus is the groom. It all belongs to Him.

Transcribed from a homily by Father David Engo, FFM

If You Wish, You Can Make Me Clean

The leper fell prostrate, pleaded with Jesus, and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said,” I do will it. Be made clean.” (Luke 5:12-13)

Jesus Heals a Leper

In Jesus" time, any skin rash, discoloration, or disfigurement was considered to be leprosy. Lepers were considered unclean, and contact with the leper required the individual to bathe and launder extensively, and anything that came into contact with the leper was destroyed. Those who touched lepers were not allowed in the temple or the synagogue. Lepers were not even supposed to speak with other people, so this incident of Jesus speaking to the leper and touching him is quite extraordinary.

The Catholic Church shares this Gospel shortly before the celebration of the Baptism of Jesus. Why is this?

The Church is trying to tell us that we are all disfigured with the leprosy of sin. A sinful person has the stench of hell about himself or herself, and sin leads to certain death. Therefore, since only Jesus and the Blessed Mother Mary were freed of sin, we all stand before God with a certain disfigurement due to the leprosy of sin.

The leper said,, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” We say these words to God. “If you wish, you can make me clean.” God cannot be defiled by touching a leper or by touching our sinfulness. Instead we are made clean when God touches us. The healer heals the disease. The sanctifier sanctifies the sinful. God has touched our broken, injured humanity and repaired it. He redeemed creation by becoming one of us, soul, body, and will. He has redeemed our sinful nature so that it can become a divine nature.

At the Jordan River, Jesus entered the water to be baptized. John’s baptism was symbolic, but the baptism which Jesus initiates is real. John’s baptism encourages us to give up sin, but Jesus’ baptism cleanses us, heals us, and removes the sin. John’s baptism washes bodies, but the baptism of the Holy Spirit washes souls. “If you wish, Lord, you can make me clean.” “I do wish it. Be made clean.”

Before his Ascension into heaven, Jesus sends the disciples out to baptize all nations and to ready all humanity for the return of Christ. Baptism does more than take away sin. It makes us the spouse of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit, the child of God.

In Confirmation we received the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit. Confirmation continues and confirms the graces received at Baptism. The gifts received at Confirmation touch our will and our soul.

We receive the fullness of these in the Eucharist, the miracle of immortality, the Divine Caress in which God touches our souls and our bodies physically. Christ touches us in his Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. The two become one flesh.

“If you wish you can make me clean.” “I do wish it. Be made clean.” God wills to touch us, to be flesh with us. God wills it so let it be so.

Transcribed from notes taken during a homily by Father David Engo, FFM