Today’s first reading, 1 John 5: 5-13, opens with the
question: “Who indeed is the victor over
the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” In the Gospel, Mark 1: 7-11, St. John the
Baptist baptizes Jesus. When Jesus came “out
of the water [John the Baptist] saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit,
like a dove, descending upon [Jesus]. And
a voice came from the heavens, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well
pleased.’” In this same passage,
John the Baptist proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am
not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you
with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Jesus, truly, is God, the Son of God who took on human
nature to save us from sin. I encourage you today or anytime to ponder deeply
that the babe at Bethlehem is truly God. Imagine the humility of the Almighty
to come to us as a helpless infant, totally dependent upon human beings—one’s parents--to
provide for all of his needs, like any other infant. God, in His love and humility, stays with us:
“I am with you always until the end of time.”
God dwells in the consecrated hosts at every Eucharistic celebration.
God dwells with us in the core of our beings. O, the greatness of our God, the
humbleness of our God, the intimacy of our God, the gentleness of our God, the
omnipresence of our God!
Believing and trusting in the Son of God makes us victors
over the world! What a gift!
I believe! Do you? And if we do, what difference does that
belief have in how we encounter the challenges of any given day? Do I lose it, so to speak, when I meet
roadblocks? Or do I “keep it together,” so to speak when the going gets rough,
when I enter “turbulent waters” or encounter “stormy weather”?
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