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Word To Life
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Sunday Scripture Readings, Jan. 10, 2010
By Sharon K. Perkins
Catholic News Service
January 10, The Baptism of the Lord
Cycle C Readings:
1) Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7
Psalm 29:1-4, 9-10
2) Acts 10:34-38
Gospel: Luke 3:15-16, 21-22
In 2002 my parents, siblings and all the grandchildren began a tradition of meeting for a long summer weekend at a lake or a beach. One of last summer's highlights was the evening gathering around the fire pit on the deck. Despite the summertime temperature, the glowing fire's warmth provided the perfect hub for shared laughter and conversation.
In today's Gospel, John the Baptist promises an expectant crowd that one mightier than he would bring a baptism that surpassed their washing in the Jordan -- it would be a baptism "with the Holy Spirit and fire." But why the need for fire? Wasn't the gift of God's own Spirit sufficient?
In a contemporary industrialized world, where gas furnaces, microwave ovens and electric light bulbs are our everyday sources of heat and light, an open fire is often viewed as a recreational option or, when out of control, a destructive force to be extinguished. For a person living in John's time, the element of fire was as essential to life as air or water. Without fire, there was no warmth from the cold desert nights or illumination for dark houses, no way to cook food, refine metals or forge weapons and tools. Fire meant the difference between minimal subsistence and a life filled with new possibilities.
All Christians have been promised the gift of the Holy Spirit at their baptism, and that promise is always fulfilled. But as the first reading tells us, when the Spirit of the Lord enters our lives, he does so "not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street," but gently and unobtrusively, exercising his power to heal and bring about his justice only when we invite him to do so through us.
And precisely because so many of us fail to extend that invitation, we remain passive recipients of the Spirit, settling instead for occasional "warm fuzzies," merely subsisting instead of living Spirit-charged lives of infinite possibility.
As believers in Jesus, we can expect the Spirit's presence to provide warmth, enlightenment and stronger bonds of community among his followers. But it is the Spirit's "fire" that means the difference between Christians who merely associate and those who bring Christ's transformative "victory of justice" to the world.
QUESTIONS:
How have you failed to invite the Holy Spirit's fire to permeate your life as a baptized Christian? Where do you see the Spirit's fire ablaze in your family, your parish or your larger community?
SCRIPTURE TO BE ILLUSTRATED:
"He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire" (Luke 3:16b).
END
Copyright © 2009 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS Word To Life column may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service.
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