Friar’s Corner: The joy of knowing he who takes away our sins
Isaiah 49:3, 5-6; Psalm 40:2, 4, 7-10; 1 Corinthians 1:1-3; John 1:29-34
My dear friends, the key to having a deeper understanding of our Faith, is to come to know Jesus Christ. Why did the Son of God, the Word made Flesh, come to earth? What did he do here; what did he teach us and did he really leave with nothing behind? We have finished talking about his human birth.
Last Sunday, we talked about his baptism by his cousin, John the Baptist. Now we have the second Sunday of Ordinary Time and begin to look at his earthly ministry with the A cycle gospels this year.
The testimony of John the Baptist
John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament prophets begun by Elijah. John was the voice crying in the desert, make ready the way of the Lord. He pointed out Jesus when he came for baptism. The gospel today tells us,
“John testified further, saying, ‘I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and remain upon him. I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’”
Three men heard John’s words and went to follow Jesus later that afternoon. They were John, James and Andrew, who stayed with Jesus the rest of the day and then went home. Andrew went to tell his brother Simon.
After this event, Jesus went into the desert for forty days being tempted by the devil before he began his earthly ministry. We won’t read that story until Lent. Andrew did go to tell his brother Simon. After the forty days, Jesus went to Capernaum to call those two sets of brothers to become his first disciples. We shall read that story from St. Matthew’s gospel next Sunday.
My assignment as an evangelist
Over the years. as we read and think about the life of Jesus and the sequence of events of his three years of ministry, we can see a line of order. The question can come to us. Where are you and I in these events? Do we want to be a disciple (student) of Jesus? Do we want to learn from him and see how the Holy Spirit is empowering us to continue God’s work in the lives of those around us?
It hadn’t come to my mind until a few years ago that I am more than a priest of many years and once a high school and elementary teacher. After I got my MA in religious education, I was asked to write the Sunday commentary for the Trenton Catholic paper. That was in the mid-seventies. I have been writing these newsletters for at least half of my priestly life. I realized that Jesus taught me and assigned me to be an evangelist and ambassador for him. With the crises in the church and world today, what is Jesus asking of you to help him bring his Good News to others?
May the Holy Spirit enlighten you to know and use the sacramental graces that he has given you in his church today. I encourage you to follow the early parts of the gospels to see what Jesus did then. One small thing you can do to help bring faith to others is praying a Chaplet of Divine Mercy every day for whatever the Spirit enlightens you to pray for, like the conversion of Kim in North Korea, Iran, China, Russia and guidance for our own national government as they deal with so many difficulties (satan attacks) in our world today.
May God fill you with more of his wisdom and grace,
+ Father Bob Hilz
fbhilz@gmail.com
(© 2020 Father Bob Hilz, TOR)
