Message of 1-8-18

Published: Mon, 01/08/18

A Daily Spiritual Seed
Monday: January 8, 2018
Message of the Day
There are four ways God answers prayer: 1) No, not yet; 2) No, I love you too much; 3) Yes, I thought you’d never ask; 4) Yes, and here’s more.
- Anne Lewis
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Readings of the Day
IS 42:1-4, 6-7;   IS 12:2-3, 4BCD, 5-6

MK 1:7-11

This is what 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."

It happened in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee 
and was baptized in the Jordan by John.
On coming up out of the water he saw the heavens being torn open 
and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him.
And a voice came from the heavens, 
"You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased."

USCCB lectionary
Reflection on the Scripture
"Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John." —Mark 1:9
 
At the Jordan River, St. John the Baptist baptized thousands of people with a baptism of repentance. Repentance, or metanoia, was an 180-degree turn from sin. So what happened to those sins that those people left behind? Symbolically, the repented sins remained there, in the waters of the Jordan, after the people rose out of the water.

Along comes Jesus, Who had no need of Baptism. He had no sins to wash into the water. Some Scripture scholars have pondered Jesus' action there in the River Jordan, and the deep relationship between Jesus and His cousin, John. Despite John's protests, Jesus told John to go ahead and baptize Him for the sake of righteousness (Mt 3:15).

What John didn't understand beforehand, but may have grasped afterwards, was that Jesus took upon Himself at His Baptism in that same Jordan river all the sins that had been "left behind" in the water. Jesus is present in the waters of Baptism. When we are baptized, Jesus has already entered that water to take all our sins upon His shoulders, to pay the price for all sins, including ours, on the cross.
 
Prayer: "God indeed is my Savior; I am confident and unafraid. My strength and my courage is the Lord" (Is 12:2).

Promise: "All you who are thirsty, come to the water!" —Is 55:1
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Praise: Praise Jesus, the Father's beloved Son in Whom He is well pleased! (Mt 3:17)

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Presentation Ministries
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Spiritual Reading
From Meditation to Contemplation, by James Arraj
- Reprinted from St. John of the Cross and Dr. C. G. Jung. 
  http://innerexplorations.com​​​​​​​
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Summary

St. John’s teaching can be summarized as follows: the beginner experiences a growing difficulty in meditation through no conscious neglect or unknown illness. This decrease in the ability to meditate goes hand-in-hand with a desire to remain still and at peace, resting in a new contemplative knowledge of God that is being given to it. Though this knowledge is very faint and sometimes imperceptible at the beginning, it soon grows more and more conscious when the person learns what attitude to take up in regard to it; he then recognizes the presence of God within. The dark night of sense, instead of being an abandonment by God, is in reality the beginning of a deeper communion with Him. The darkness is not the result of privation but unaccustomed brightness, and if the soul submits to it and takes up the proper attitude, it will soon perceive that this is so.
 
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