Tuesday, Week 4, Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Scripture Readings for February 3, 2026

2 Samuel 18:9-10, 14b, 24-25a, 30 – 19:3, Psalm 86: 1-6, Mark 5: 21-43

It’s pretty common for us to think of God in terms of a parent and we as God’s children. The most obvious example of this is the nearly universal prayer, “Our Father …” Today’s readings give us three striking examples of the kind of deep parental love God has for us.

The background to the reading from Samuel is that the various tribes of Israel are in conflict. There is a power struggle and some have taken up arms against their King, David. This includes David’s son Absalom. David sends out his forces to do battle and as we see Absalom is killed in a humiliating way. David’s army has been successful but David has lost his son. Is David pleased that his army has been successful? Are there mixed feelings because his son was against him and has lost his life in the process? No, David totally ignores the army’s victory and the lives it cost to save his rule. For David there is only one reality, his son is dead. He would rather have died himself than have his son, the one who led a contingent of the opposition, die. Maybe that should inform our understanding of how God feels when we make poor choices. In New Testament terms, better he die on a cross than we should be lost.

This same kind of love gets told twice in Mark’s Gospel. First, Jairus a synagogue official, comes to Jesus because his daughter is close to death and he believes Jesus can heal her. Jesus without hesitation goes with him and when he arrives at the family’s home ignores what everyone is saying about the girl having died. He reassures Jairus that he doesn’t need to be afraid, just have faith. Faith, by the way, in this instance and all others should not be thought of as holding to a set of beliefs but rather as trust. Trust in another. It’s a relationship word, to have faith in God is to say, we trust God. That’s what’s going on here. Jairus must trust Jesus and he does. So Jesus takes mom, dad and his closest friends in to save Jairus’ daughter from death.

However, what is really important here is that Mark has split the story into two parts and sandwiched another story of faith in the middle, another story of trust. When Mark does that it’s a signal that the story in the middle is the most important because it conveys the deeper meaning for both events.

Now a woman who has sought healing for 12 years comes up behind Jesus, secretly touches his cloak and is healed. Jesus hasn’t said a word to her, didn’t do any of the things usually associated with healing like laying on of hands, and, in fact, didn’t even know she was there. Yet as Mark says, “Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him,” now wants to know who has been healed. He asks, “Who has touched my clothes?” He’s in a crowd, the Apostles can’t imagine how many people must have touched him. But the woman knows what he means. She is frightened because to touch someone in her condition is to make that person ritually unclean just as she has been for 12 long years. But she comes forward and tells the truth. She has trusted that just a touch, the slightest contact with Jesus would be healing, so she says, “It was me.” And Jesus acting just like a loving father confirms her trust, “Daughter, your faith has saved you.”

Here is the heart of the story. We don’t need special attention from God. We can be cast out from our loved ones, alone and frightened for years on end but if we trust that God, love and kindness, can heal us then we just need to step forward, reach out and tell the truth. God’s love goes beyond our injuries, failures and even opposition, to heal whatever is broken if we simply trust enough to reach out for help, to tell what is really going on.

Thursday, Week Three, Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Scripture Readings for January 29, 2026

2 Samuel 7:18-19, 24-29, Psalm 132: 1-2, 3-5, 11-14, Mark 4: 21-25

When I read Samuel for today I couldn’t help but think that David is the stand-in for all of us. David is amazed at the favor God has shown to him and his family. David doesn’t think there’s a good reason for God to have chosen him.

“Who am I, Lord GOD, and who are the members of my house, that you have brought me to this point?”

In fact, God has just told David his idea of building a fancy temple for God is missing the point of God’s being with him all this time. God has chosen David and will stand by him and his family forever. That’s it. Today we might say God’s going to be David’s friend. God will have David’s back, no matter what. Young people might say, BFF’s (best friends forever).

Why is God doing this? God wants this relationship and Samuel suggests it’s because God wants everyone in on the deal.

“Your name will be forever great, when men say, ‘The LORD of hosts is God of Israel,’”

This is even clearer in the New Jerusalem Bible translation:

“may the promise which you have made … stand firm forever as you have said, so that your name will be exalted forever and people will say, ‘Israel’s God is Yahweh Sabaoth.’”

It suggests that God wants everyone to know about the gifts or blessings God is making available. The problem, of course, is that life doesn’t always encourage us to see ourselves as beneficiaries of God’s largesse. We don’t feel worthy. Life can be challenging and often discouraging and harsh. There’s no simple answer to why bad things happen.

Mark’s Gospel for today hints at one way to approach the question of understanding the gifts we believe God offers to everyone. Jesus is saying in Mark that “the light” is not meant to be kept under a bushel basket but rather everything that is “hidden” is meant to be out in the open. Another words, pay attention, “listen” to what is being said, in the words and very life of Jesus and just as importantly, in our lives everyday.

Then Jesus says something that can seem odd:

“The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, 
and still more will be given to you.
To the one who has, more will be given; 
from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

In terms of being chosen like David, God intends good things for everyone. We’re all just as worthy, unlikely as it may seem to us, as David was. Mark’s Gospel says to the extent you accept that and dive in, you’ll gain more of what is offered. If however, you don’t accept that approach then what little you already have is likely to go away. However we do have to understand what’s important. David thought building a strong cedar wood temple for God was what was needed. God said no, we’re not talking material things here, we’re talking a relationship in which God offers life and blessings to human beings and they respond in gratitude and act accordingly. That offer is available for ever and to everyone, we just have to listen well enough to hear it, to be aware of it.

We know about this from ordinary experience if we think about it. There are times when I feel overwhelmed by circumstances, too many things aren’t going right and I just want to curl up and avoid all human contact. If I keep up this behavior things only get worse. Then there are moments when I feel good about what is going on, the day is beautiful and I’m ready to take on anything. To me, that’s where we have to look for the presence of God and divine gifts, in our individual lives, in our feelings and the choices we make. I think today’s readings say that we are all chosen and promised a future in which God gifts us with what we need to flourish. We need to live based on that generosity and in so doing reveal the light that is still hidden.

Friday, after Epiphany

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Scripture Readings, January 9, 2026

1 John 5:5-13, Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20, Luke 5:12-16

If the letter from John is written for people who need to be reassured of what faith in Jesus means, the man in today’s gospel doesn’t need to read it. This man falls at Jesus feet and literally pleads for his help. There is no doubt about Jesus and what he can do. The situation is absolutely straight forward, he sees Jesus and pleads to be healed. He knows it’s just a question of whether Jesus wants to. “If you wish” he says.

Isn’t it interesting that roughly 70 years later John’s community of believers is getting confused about who Jesus is and what that means for them? For the man with the skin disease it was simple. Jesus healed people, would he heal me? I suspect there wasn’t any theology involved at all. The man wasn’t concerned about whether Jesus was the Son of God or not. He needed help, this was his chance.

Jesus wasn’t trying to teach this man anything either. There’s no instruction about how to live his life he just sends him to the Temple to fulfill the Jewish requirements for cleansing. If anything, Jesus is trying to keep it quiet. But that isn’t working because people are passing along the information, the “good news.”

It seems to me there’s a lesson here about keeping things simple and honest. About sticking with what you know. Jesus healed the man because that’s what he was about. The Psalm says God does that kind of thing all the time. For Jerusalem, “he strengthens the bars of your gates.” God has: “blessed your children,” “granted peace,” and filled people with the “best of wheat.” However, we are far more removed from the person of Jesus of Nazareth than John’s community and we often aren’t sure anymore what he can do. We wonder who he is. The challenges to understanding what meaning there is to human life come from way beyond variations in Christian faith to non-Christians, non-theists, humanists and even those who have no interest at all. So I think it’s important to know and hold on to what we believe. We need to understand what gives meaning to our lives. There are plenty of alternatives within easy reach.

For the man in the village, “when he saw Jesus,” he knew what he wanted. Maybe the problem is we don’t see Jesus anymore? Have we made Christian principles so abstract they are no longer connected to their source? Has it become hard to recognize the gifts God gives? For John’s community, John could say, “Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within himself.” Have we lost touch with God’s testimony: that sense within us that God is with us, that God makes the world a good place? Maybe that’s why we don’t see Jesus. Belief in God is a distinct world view. It’s not a magical world view. It does say we are not alone. There is more to life than what is on the surface and the evidence is in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus’ life tells us what God’s life is about. He is willing to heal us, but first we have to see him, to recognize that reality.

I believe we have the possibility of overcoming the challenges in our world because of our belief in Jesus and the life he lived. That belief forms the basis, a foundation if you will, for a solid happy life. It sets up a course of action we can follow. If we use the translation from the New Jerusalem Bible instead of the New American, we may have the best way to say it: “Who can overcome the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

Thursday, after Epiphany

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Scripture Readings for January 8, 2026

1 John 4:19-5:4, Psalm 72:1-2, 14, 15bc, 17, Luke 4:14-22

I think for 1 John it’s safe to say that to love God we need to love our neighbor. To be authentic Christians means we have to take care of each other. Which is exactly what Jesus is talking about in Luke’s Gospel today. When he reads Isaiah to his neighbors in his home town he is not only claiming to be the Messiah to bring about God’s promises, he is identifying what those promises are. From the time of Isaiah God’s salvation has meant: good news to the poor, liberty to captives, sight for the blind, freedom for the oppressed and a year acceptable to the Lord.

I’m not sure there is much that can be added to that message. The challenge to us is will we do what Jesus says is the fulfillment of God’s promises. It’s apparent that so far in the history of Christendom we haven’t succeeded. Jesus literally embodied God’s fulfillment since he did all those things. The message being, this is the time for salvation from all that oppresses us. I believe each of us must embrace each moment, each decision, each choice we have with love for our neighbor. John says God have loved us first, now if we are to love God in return there is only one thing we can do. Extend love to everyone else.

It may be worth noting that this reading in the synagogue in Nazareth is the very beginning of Jesus’ work. Jesus starts at home. He doesn’t go off to some distant land or to people he doesn’t know. Jesus begins with the people who know him best. Maybe we should worry less about world poverty and care more and pay more attention to the people we grew up with. How are those relationships? Are there needs among our friends that are going unmet? Is there someone we know who needs to be set free from what oppresses them? Offering love to those closest to us may be personally challenging but it may also reveal exactly what we need to see as well. It may be the beginning of taking our faith seriously. That what we believe requires certain behavior.

Maybe if we could begin with those closest to us, if we could take each decision and choose what to do based on the love of others we would accomplish what John’s letter claims, “the victory that conquers the world is our faith.”

Wednesday, after Epiphany

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Scripture Readings for January 7, 2026

1 John 4:11-18, Psalm 72:1-2, 10, 12-13, Mark 6:45-52

Actually I think today’s Psalm sums up the message in today’s readings.

For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out,
and the afflicted when he has no one to help him.
… the lives of the poor he shall save.

God will rescue us if we are willing to ask for help. However, if we don’t see ourselves as poor and needy we don’t ask. We often have a little too much desire to go it alone. We can be driven by fear and anxiety instead of by love.

Mark’s Gospel uses the disciples out on the Sea of Galilee to illustrate the problem. The disciples trying to do what Jesus asked of them are out in the middle of sea, on their own. They are having a tough time because the wind is against them. How often are we trying to do something but the prevailing attitudes, maybe our own habits are against us? Then out of the blue a figure of some kind, a ghost maybe, something they don’t understand is terrifying them. The wind and waves are bad enough but now this unforeseen, inexplicable thing adds to their fear. Amazingly, however, the very thing that was a source of their fear, the unknown, identifies himself and calls out that they don’t have to be afraid. What’s more, when he gets in the boat with them even the wind and waves subside. All that has made their journey difficult is brought under control. Jesus is with them and his presence changes everything.

With a different circumstance 1 John is talking about a similar problem, human fear. Fear caused by doubt, he mentions possible punishment, perhaps it’s loss of respect or friendship or not knowing how things will turn out. In John’s community, some of the people they knew had left and it was unsettling. They worried, perhaps the Spirit of God wasn’t with them anymore? John was able to tell them that the very act of loving one another was a demonstration of God’s presence. What’s more they believed in Jesus and that belief was another marker that God’s Spirit was with them. No need to fear. Wonderfully he says, “There is no fear in love.”

For me that is such a key understanding. It can be a basis for measuring our motivations, for reviewing our choices and evaluating what faces us. Is this about love or is this coming from fear? God is in the love. Fear comes from somewhere else. John stresses over and over, four times in this short section that “God remains in us.” In terms of Mark’s story, Jesus will stay in the boat as we make our journey. We certainly have to keep rowing but we shouldn’t have to fear.

Memorial, St. Benedict

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Scripture Readings for July 11, 2025

Genesis 46:1-7, 28-30, Psalm 37:3-4, 18-19, 27-28, 39-40, Matthew 10:16-23

After sitting with these readings this week what strikes me is the consistent care and concern that God has for his people no matter where they go or what they do. The Genesis story tells of the Israelites being uprooted to go far from home so they can survive the famine. In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus is sending his disciples to places unknown.

Yet in both stories God is going to be there. In Genesis Jacob hears God say explicitly not to be afraid to go to Egypt because God will be with him. There is even the promise to bring them back. What more can you tell someone who is going away to comfort and encourage them but that they will return home safely. In Matthew, Jesus doesn’t say being a disciple is going to be easy. Rather he warns his disciples that they are going out among wolves. But no matter what happens God will tell them what to say and when they “endure to the end” they will be saved.

I also don’t think this is pie in the sky stuff. It is not a Pollyanna view of the world where people are simply reassured that everything will be “all right.” Jesus says disciples must be wise as serpents, simple as doves. He knows families will be divided and suffer from the loss. He doesn’t suggest they take on futile causes, so if one town rejects them they are to move to the next. And we know that once the Israelites go to Egypt not everything is going to work out well the whole time they are there. But we know that God does keep God’s promise, the Israelites, led by Moses, do return from Egypt to prosper as a nation.

It suggests to me that just because God is close to us and part of our lives, that doesn’t remove the difficulties or challenges or decisions that life presents. But it does say that if we are open to it. God will comfort us and care for us in ways that will surprise us and free us. I think it suggests exactly what the Psalm says, “The LORD watches over the lives of the wholehearted; their inheritance lasts forever. They are not put to shame in an evil time; in days of famine they have plenty.” God will help us be our best selves.

 Whether we have plenty right now or if we are starving in some way, what we need to do is look for the God who took Jacob to Egypt and brought him home. The God who brought Joseph, the son believed to be dead, back to see his father, so they could cry on each other’s shoulder. The God who saw his own son slaughtered on a cross but who seeks to provide our every need. This God, the Psalmist says delivers the just from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him. Are we taking our refuge in God? Are we giving God the chance to act in our lives? Are we asking for help when we need it? Do we let others in to be a part of what we need? Are we there when others have the courage to ask for the help they need? We heard what the Psalmist said this morning, “Do good that you may abide forever, for the Lord loves what is right and does not forsake his faithful ones.” God and us we’re in this life together.

Tuesday, Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Scripture Readings for July 8, 2025

Genesis 32:23-33, Psalm 17:1b,2-3,7-8,15 and Matthew 9:32-38

Today’s world is complicated. That is a blessing and a curse. Our choices are many but we can’t have it all. I believe one popular phrase is, “Fear of missing out,” FOMO. How do we sort through the wonderfully varied choices and find what is best for us? Some things are good for us and some things aren’t. What’s more, the longer we live the more things change around us and within us as well. It’s not easy to understand, much less manage, the world and our feelings and desires.

I’m talking about this primarily because of Jesus’ observation in Matthew’s Gospel today, “And when he saw the crowds he felt sorry for them because they were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.” I think we can understand harassed and dejected all too well. We may not know about sheep and shepherds but we understand the idea. We need some kind of guide or guiding principle to help us sort out what’s important from what’s not.

One of the things about the Bible is how concrete it is. The stories are very specific. Sometimes that can get in the way of understanding them because it’s all set in times long, long ago. However, the point of concrete, specific stories about what happens to people is that they are trying to tell us where to look for our answers. Where? In the absolutely specific, concrete events of our lives. What is happening for us? Are things getting better or worse? Are we happy or not?

The question about people being dejected comes right after Jesus has driven out a devil from a person who couldn’t speak and then could. Matthew says, “the people were amazed and said, ‘Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.’” I suggest we have to take seriously what we see happening around us and within us. This is a question of seeing. Are we looking or trying to avoid what we see? Can we be honest with ourselves about what we see? That is not always easy to do.

That’s the message in the Genesis story. Jacob has lots going on in his life: two wives, eleven children to get across the river and all his possessions as well. He’s not some person taking time out to go on a retreat to find himself. Stuff is happening right now. In the midst of that activity someone starts a wrestling match with him in the middle of the night. Jacob stays with it all night. He has no idea who he’s contending with. But come morning things have changed, his opponent has wounded him but the fight produces a new man. No longer Jacob, he’s now Israel. To have your name changed in Biblical stories is to be a different person.

Jacob in the dark of night, when he couldn’t see anything, didn’t know who was challenging him, was fighting through a time of uncertainty, unknowing and confusion. Jacob keeps going until dawn when he can see, recognize the challenges and amazingly ask for a blessing. Genesis says, he won’t let go until what is hurting him blesses him. He gets his new name, becomes a new person, because, “you have contended with divine and human beings
and have prevailed.”

It’s not easy to acknowledge what is keeping us down but fighting until we know where the good things are is what we need to do. We need to get through the night until dawn no matter how hard that is. Like Jacob, we may find it God was with us all along in ways we didn’t understand.

Today’s Psalm sums it up, “Though you test my heart, searching it in the night, … on waking, I shall be content in your presence.”

Tuesday, Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Scripture Reading for July 1, 2025

Genesis 19: 15-29, Psalm 26: 2-3, 9-12, Matthew 8: 23-27

Maybe it’s obvious, but for me the key to today’s two readings is the parallel between saving Lot and saving the disciples in the storm. In both cases we have people of “little faith.” Lot is reluctant to leave Sodom. God’s messengers literally have to drag him and his family outside the city and still he doesn’t think he can make the hills but needs to go to a small town that closer. The Apostles are totally unnerved by the storm at sea and need to wake Jesus because they are “perishing.” Both the Apostles and Lot’s family are saved not because of their own actions but because of their relationship with someone else who is a “friend of God.”  Lot is Abram’s nephew and the disciples are, of course, Jesus’ disciples.

It seems to me that the message is pretty simple. If you are in real trouble, “we are perishing,” the right move is to reach out to God for help. So regardless of what you may think about the historical facts of miracles in the Bible, the story is saying the God has the power to change what seems like hopeless situations. Nothing is inevitable. Life can be different than the way it looks at the moment. That’s what happens for Lot in Sodom and the frightened disciples at sea.

I would argue that it isn’t even about having a great confident faith in God’s presence. This story suggests that even if you’re unsure, reluctant and even resistent God can bail you out if you just follow instructions. Lot hesitates to leave, then argues with his divine savior about where he’s going and still ends up safe before literally fire and brimstone rain down on everyone who stayed behind. Sometimes you have to wonder what it takes to see the right path. I think that’s the point. Seeing the right path isn’t easy but there is help if we’re open to it.

So, to the emphasize the point, the same is true for the disciples in the boat with Jesus. They think it’s the end and Jesus has to calm both wind and waves before they feel safe. If you ask if it really happened, it’s the wrong question. Again, it’s what the story is saying about God’s relationship to all of us. We’re all in the same “boat” and God’s presence is with us. We just have to ask for help even when we are of little faith. The idea is God is the one with the power to transform, we aren’t expected to have all the answers. But recognizing our own uncertainty is probably part of the solution. Then we may be able to express what we hear in today’s psalm, “O Lord, your mercy is before my eyes.”

Wednesday, Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Scripture Readings for June 25, 2025

Genesis 15:1-12,17-18, Psalm 105: 1-4, 6-9, Matthew 7:15-20

It seems to me that today’s readings are about having faith.

In Genesis we hear one of the foundation stories for Judaism and Christianity. God making promises to Abram. It is worth noting that God acts first by promising to protect Abram and only once God speaks does Abram raise the legitimate question about whether God’s protection will end up meaning anything because Abram doesn’t have any children to be heirs of God’s goodness.

Before I raise a question about this, notice that next God promises to give Abram a lot of land that belongs to someone else. Abrams responds by asking “how will I know that I will possess it?”

Here we have God offering Abram his protection and land for his use and Abram first reaction is to question its value and then whether he can trust God or not. Doesn’t that seem pretty bold to you?

I would like to suggest that’s not unlike today. You can’t always tell when God is tapping you on the shoulder. That is exactly what Jesus is talking about in today’s Gospel. Maybe it’s not God, maybe it’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

I write this blog because I am a confident believer in Christianity. I think Jesus was God’s son, that the God Jesus shows us is for real and that living based on the Gospels is the right thing to do. But I have met people, some friends and other acquaintances, bright people, honest, sometimes amazingly open and loving people who aren’t sure of anything about the outcome of this life. They believe all sorts of non-Christian, unorganized, speculative things about how life works. I’m not talking about people who have faith in other religions. I mean people who are unsure of any religion or randomly combine ideas from here and there and in the end aren’t sure what they have. My point. It is still pretty tough to tell if God is talking to you. Jesus’ comments don’t just apply to people in sheep’s clothing but also situations in life. How do we read them. Are they telling us something good or bad? I don’t think it’s easy even if you do believe in God to know how to respond in some situations.

So that reality makes Jesus advice helpful. Does the person or situation you encounter bring about good things for life or bad things? What kind of fruit comes from this tree, this set of circumstances, this person and who they are? That might seem like too easy an answer. But I don’t think it is, because in order to determine the nature of the person or situation you have to be able to judge what is good and what is bad. Making that judgment can be difficult for a number of reasons but I would like to focus on one. You can’t make a judgment about good or bad if you haven’t settled on some way of life, some standard. If you haven’t already said you believe in something. If a person just keeps flittering around different ideas, concepts or people with different opinions, that person will never be able to decide what is good and what is bad for them. You have to accept something for yourself, without that, you are lost.

This happens in our reading today when after the Lord promises Abram that he will have descendants like stars in the sky, Genesis says, Abram “puts his faith in the Lord.” Abram decides he will trust God in that moment and God accepts his trust as an act that defines something about Abram. Abram has taken a stand. It doesn’t end here. Even with this trust in God, determining what is from God takes real effort. Notice that when Abram is told to offer a sacrifice of animals he has to stay with the carcasses when birds of prey threaten and finally goes through a terrifying darkness before he hears God promise him and his descendants they will inherit the land.

All this is to say that paying attention to what life is telling us is not easy. It demands attention and perseverance in tough times. But most all, before anything else, making good judgments about God’s presence and what God offers us in this life demands faith. Real trust in the very God who wants to protect us.

Solemnity of John the Baptist’s Birth

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Scripture Readings for June 24, 2025

Isaiah 49:1-6, Psalm 139: 1-3, 13-15, Acts 13:22-26, Luke 1:57-66, 80

Today, if you aren’t already aware, is the Solemnity of St. John the Baptist. The feast is made a Solemnity in order to give greater emphasis to the importance of John the Baptist.

The importance of John the Baptist is an interesting contradiction. In the course of the history of salvation he could be considered an “also ran.” Jesus is the key figure. He is the one who changes everything and his followers, the 12 Apostles, the Evangelists, Mary, and all the other disciples carry the story forward. John the Baptist is the last of what was left behind. He was a prophet calling out for the Messiah, he too was looking for someone.

So what makes the Baptist so important? We know that as the Gospel story develops he will be the one to Baptize Jesus. He will be the one to point him out to others. It is entirely likely that it is his words, his challenge that were key to the spiritual transformation of Jesus. But that is not the topic of today’s readings. Today we hear about his birth and his naming. He is called John instead of a name from his family heritage. It was a very unusual thing to do. But that unusual naming said something. John in Hebrew means, “the Lord has shown favor.” Isn’t that exactly what Elizabeth was expressing, having given birth to a first born in her old age? Isn’t it exactly what the Angel told Zachariah he was to name his son? Didn’t we all feel exactly that way when we saw our first child born. What else could a new child represent but the favor, the blessing of God.

But the truth is we don’t know. We never know when a child is born what will happen over the years. That’s exactly what everybody was thinking about this child named John, “What then will this child be?” Wouldn’t we all like to know what life will bring for our children, for ourselves? What’s more, it doesn’t get any easier as life goes along. No matter how favored we are by God, no matter how loved, sometimes we wonder if what we are doing is worthwhile. That’s what Isaiah is naming in the first reading, …God has called us since birth, protected us and given us the task of demonstrating His love of us all. Yet to quote Isaiah, “I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength.”

John the Baptist is the poster child for doing what you think is right but not being “the one.” I think John represents all of us who can’t be sure if what we are doing is making a difference but we do it anyway. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles records the stance John the Baptist took, “What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. Behold, one is coming after me; I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.” There it is. I have my part to play, but I’m not the big cheese and don’t expect me to be.

That’s why I think John the Baptist can be a model for us and our lives. Each of us has a role to play, we each point to Jesus in our own way. By living a faith filled life we make a statement about the value of faith in Jesus. But it’s not always easy for us to see how very important that role is. At times we can be discouraged and uncertain. Unlike John the Baptist, we’re not going to be able to unfasten the sandals on Jesus’ feet. Perhaps on this Solemnity that celebrates the unique importance of John the Baptist, what we should remember is the meaning of John’s name, the Lord has shown favor. We know that’s what God is about, grace and blessings. Like John, it is our job to pass it on by how we live. Whether we can always see the value of what we do or not, we are part of spreading God’s salvation to the ends of the earth.