I don’t know about you, but as a child growing up and being
the youngest and only one still in our family home, when my mother or father
spoke with authority, I definitely listened and sometimes shook wondering what
the message was going to be this time.
As we read in Luke’s Gospel on the feast of the Baptism of
Jesus, he hears the voice of the
Father. In the Entrance Antiphon this
weekend, the message is even stronger……‘the voice of the Lord thundered’! God had Jesus’ attention without a question
of a doubt. And the message you
ask??
“This is my beloved Son, with whom (you) I am well pleased.”
“This is my beloved Son, with whom (you) I am well pleased.”
Now if my parents had proclaimed such an outspoken
affirmation to me, I think I would have fainted on the spot. However, even though my loving parents were
not big on verbal expressions of affection, the love was always there.
I re-read the scripture for this feast, and each time kept
coming back to the Father’s words to his Son.
Jesus, being fully human, must have LOVED that message. Only God knew
what Jesus was on earth to do. To suffer
and die in order to save us. So the Lord
gave his Son a very loud loving message so Jesus would know just how much he
was loved for all that he was going to sacrifice for us.
The message this weekend is one of gratefulness. The Father proclaimed his words of love and
thankfulness to Jesus. Wouldn’t it be
amazing if we heard God say to us, ‘with you I am well pleased’. Strangely
enough, as I began writing this blog, I found buried on my desk a reflection
that began, “A friend dared me to start counting one thousand things I
love……one thousand gifts, one thousand graces…… Before I knew it, thankfulness
to God began fully to change me…..to usher me into a fuller life, one of joy.”
The year is new. Plenty of time to start afresh. My youngest
granddaughter gave me a “gratitude box”, filled with small note paper and a
little pen and said she had one also, writing a note each day for something she
was thankful for. She encouraged me to do the same. With Brooke’s encouragement and the words of God
in our readings this week, I will start anew – once again.
“We are his and he forever is our God and he alone” (Christ the Lord, by Sarah Hart)
By Mary Keefe
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