This is the testimony of John. When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to him to ask him, “Who are you?” he admitted and did not deny it, but admitted, “I am not the Christ.” So they asked him, “What are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you have to say for yourself?” He said: “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.” Some Pharisees were also sent. They asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.” This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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“Who are you?” This was what every Jew and scholar of the Law wanted to know about John the Baptist.
“Who are you? Why are you here? What’s your purpose?”
Questions we all ask about ourselves.
While the answer for each person is unique, there are four things we can all say about ourselves.
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We areloved by God. So loved that Jesus offers himself for us on a cross.
We areirreplaceable. There never has been and never will be another you. God makes each human being with a unique fingerprint, a singular combination of gifts, talents, personality, and purpose.
We are part of God’s family, the Church. Therefore, we are never alone; we are all parts of a greater whole.
We are adwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Through baptism, God makes his home within us. It’s this Spirit who teaches, guides, sanctifies, and supports us through life.
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So, “Who are you?”
We are unique, created with a singular purpose, like John the Baptist.
Take a few moments today to bring this to prayer. Ask the Lord to reveal why he created you – and what purpose he’s given you today.
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Image credits: (1) Baptism of Our Lord, Andrea Verrocchio (2) Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (3) Upside-Down Savior
The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.
When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Today we celebrate a new year, and in that sense, a new beginning. In particular, we celebrate a new beginning for Mary as she becomes a mother for the first time.
Becoming a first-time parent must be thrilling, something that some of you have also experienced.
I’d imagine it involves a mixture of emotions: a feeling of incredible joy having created a life, and at the same time a feeling of fear, even inadequacy, wondering how you might provide for your little child.
I’m sure Mary felt these same emotions – joy, fear, inadequacy, hope. But she was not the mother of an ordinary child; she is the mother of God himself.
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The Gospel tells us that Mary pondered the events of the past nine months in her heart – the appearance of the angel Gabriel, the acceptance of Saint Joseph, John the Baptist leaping in Elizabeth’s womb at the sound of her voice.
Mary pondered it all.
To ponder literally means to, “stitch together.”
Mary didn’t have the answer to all of her questions; so, she did what we all do. In the silence of her heart, she tried stitching together the meaning of her life.
Why would God choose her to be his mother? How could God become a baby? How could she protect Jesus from evil? What will her child become?
Such questions must’ve only intensified as she and Joseph carried the Christ-child into Egypt, where they remained as refugees until the death of Herod.
Something tells me Mary pondered throughout her life. Imagine her watching Jesus grow into adolescence, making friends, perhaps learning the trade of carpentry from Joseph.
“When will Jesus share his full identity with the world?” she might’ve wondered. “What will happen to him when he does? What will happen to her as his mother?”
Then at the foot of the Cross, she must’ve asked the question we all ask when we suffer; “Why???”
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The fact that Mary didn’t know it all, that she clung to fragments of God’s plan, that she was left to ponder – to stitch together – the meaning of it all makes her human, like every one of us.
Often Catholics are encouraged to turn to Mary for her strength and intercession, but today’s feast also reminds us to emulate her trust, especially when we don’t understand.
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My favorite prayer for trust is called the Suscipe by Saint Ignatius of Loyola. I pray it every morning before Mass, when the Lord places himself into my hands, much like he entrusted himself to Mary:
Take, Lord, receive
My liberty, my memory, my understanding,
My entire will,
All that I have and call my own.
You have given all to me,
To you, Lord, I return it.
Do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,
That is enough for me.
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As we begin a new year, may Mary, the Mother of God, pray for us – that we would emulate her absolute trust and abandonment to God’s will.
Give us only your love and your grace, Lord, that is enough.
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Image credits: (1) Botticelli, The Virgin and Child (2) Blessed Virgin Mary, Botticelli (3) Archdiocese of Toronto
When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, They took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord, and to offer the sacrifice of a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons, in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.
Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. He came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, He took him into his arms and blessed God, saying: “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.” The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted —and you yourself a sword will pierce— so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer. And coming forward at that very time, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.
When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Three days before Christmas, Nahida Anton and her fifty-year-old daughter, Samar, walked outside of the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza. Witnesses say they were going to use the facilities located just outside of the church.
Suddenly, Nahida was shot by a sniper. Shocked and terrified, her daughter ran over to her. Then she, too, was killed.
Nahida and Samar were Catholic Christians seeking refuge in their local parish due to the ongoing war in Gaza.
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That church, the Church of the Holy Family, stands alongside the ancient road that Jesus, Mary, and Joseph walked shortly after Christ’s birth.
The Holy Family had to flee their home because King Herod believed Jesus was a threat to his reign, so he ordered the death of every male child under the age of two.
Thankfully, Joseph was warned in a dream to take Jesus and Mary into Egypt before Herod’s soldiers reached them. They remained as refugees in Egypt until Herod died a few years later.
In spending his first few – and most vulnerable – years as a refugee, our Lord stood in solidarity with every other family who has fled their homeland due to war and violence. Some estimates claim there are still 110 million people displaced from their home around the world today.
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Twelve years later, Mary and Joseph lost Jesus in the Temple in Jerusalem. Any parent can empathize with the stomach-sinking thought of losing your child in a crowd… and in Mary and Joseph’s case, for three long days.
Mary reveals her grief after finding Jesus, when she says to him, “Son, why have you done this to us?”
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Sometime between that moment and the crucifixion of our Lord twenty years later, Saint Joseph died. Had he still been alive, Mary would’ve returned home with him after the death of our Lord.
The fact that Jesus entrusted Mary to the Apostle John from the cross meant she had nowhere else to go.
Like some present here today, Mary knows the sorrow of losing – not only a spouse, but also a child.
These life-experiences of the Holy Family remind us, as the Chinese proverb states, “Not one family can put a sign outside of their home with the words: No Problems Here.”
Not the Palestinian Christians hiding in the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza. Not Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Not one of us.
We’ve all experienced loss and grief in life, as well as the consolation, love, and joy that family-life brings.
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What the Gospels do not describe are the thirty years Jesus and Mary shared before his public ministry. These are often referred to as “the quiet years.”
It seems our Lord wanted to experience first-hand, not only the sorrow, but also the joy that family-life brings before he revealed the fullness of his identity with the world.
In Jesus, God took on flesh, because he wanted to feel the warmth of a mother’s hug. The delight of making friends. The awkwardness of adolescence.
The thrilling, ordinary, sublime reality of life as we know it.
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On this Feast of the Holy Family, we’re invited to ponder two things:
First, the life-experiences of the Holy Family – the truth that God took on flesh. That he laughed and cried, ate and drank, even suffered and died like one of us.
And secondly, to ponder our own experience of belonging to a family. What have been you’re your challenges? Joys? What are your hopes for the future?
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Not one family can put a sign outside their home with the words, “No problems here.” Not Palestinian Christians in Gaza. Not Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Not one of us.
Yet as difficult as life can be, it’s our family – our relatives, friends, and this faith community – who are meant to shoulder those burdens with us.
As Saint Paul says, “Bear one another’s burdens. In so doing you, you fulfill the law of Christ.”
