daily prayer

praying with daily scripture readings

Monday, after Epiphany

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

1 John 3:22-4:6, Psalm 2:7bc-8, 10-12a, Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25

I think we need to begin with what Jesus says as he begins his public life, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” This has been a strong influence on my own understanding of what Jesus was trying to do. The question for me focuses on what you mean by “at hand.” In my opinion it has too often been interpreted as some undefined future, perhaps when the world ends and God reigns over heaven and earth. Perhaps it just means it’s not here yet and someday life on this earth will be idyllic. Each of these responses is strongly influenced by ideas of what “the Kingdom of heaven” means. These are often images of life after death or God’s final victory in the end times, i.e. the end of the world.

However, I have come to believe that Jesus had something else in mind. That Jesus saw the Kingdom as a present possibility. It was “at hand” because it was available here and now. This view matches with Jesus own behavior. Today’s reading gives us a very nice summary:

“Teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness among the people.”

The construction of this summary puts proclaiming the Gospel in the center of two actions, teaching and curing. So in the style of the time the author is telling us the point of both actions is proclaiming the Kingdom. So Jesus spent his efforts not just telling people about the Kingdom but bringing it into being by curing people then and there. The good news (Gospel) is the Kingdom starts here with lives made whole. We know that Jesus cures people again and again throughout the gospels. Today’s scripture scholars admit that he was probably a wonder worker. The result is pretty clear, “great crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan followed him.”

It may be easy to go along with the idea of Jesus bringing the Kingdom into being for his contemporaries because we believe he is the Son of God. But history makes it harder for us to see the Kingdom as “at hand” for us. Too much bad stuff goes on to believe that God’s Kingdom could be part of our lives now. I think some of the answer is in our first reading where John is concerned about the anti-Christ or those people and things in the world which are opposed to Jesus and therefore the Kingdom he preached. The anti-Christ is often seen as a signal of the end of the world and John mentions this explicitly, “This is the spirit of the antichrist who, as you heard, is to come.” But then, significantly for my argument, says, “But in fact is already in the world.” This letter comes from around the time of the John’s Gospel, about 100 A.D. Already very early in the Christian tradition a sacred writer has to admit that end time events are already taking place. My point is, images and statements that can be interpreted as dealing with the final days of the human race are often also valid as statements about significance and meaning for human life. The Kingdom of heaven may well not be fully formed until the end of time but that doesn’t mean it can’t make a real difference for us right now. I believe that’s how Jesus saw it. The Kingdom is “at hand.” It is available to us if we act as John’s letter tells us, “we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us.” This belief and resulting behavior can change us and the world we live in.

Solemnity, Mary the Mother of God

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Numbers 6:22-27, Psalm 67:2-3, 5-6, 8, Galatians 4:4-7 Luke 2:16-21

One of the things about reflecting on Scripture, or our lives for that matter, is you have to pay attention to the details. Sacred Scripture is the result of many people pouring over the text for years and then other people doing the same thing again, keeping, adding and adjusting until what we have in our Bibles is an amazingly refined piece of work. Nothing is in there by accident, nor was it something that someone dashed off in a moment of hurried necessity.

So I make this point because there’s a detail in today’s reading that I think raises very interesting questions. I think I noticed it because today is the solemnity of Mary as the Mother of God. Luke is talking about the shepherd’s coming to visit Jesus and passing on to Mary and Joseph what the angel’s had told them. And then he says, “And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” This reminds me of the scene later in Luke after Jesus, now 12, has been talking with the teachers in the temple. Once again Luke says, “His mother kept all these things in her heart.” So for me, Luke is saying Mary is trying to understand what these events mean even after visits from angels. Why else do you reflect on something?

This pattern began the first time the angel comes to Mary and announces that she is favored by God. According to Luke, Mary’s response was to be disturbed and “asked herself what this greeting could mean.” Luke is portraying Mary as not being sure what is going on. To me the real indicator comes after the angel tells Mary that her cousin Elizabeth is six months pregnant and she immediately leaves and goes “as quickly as she could” to see Elizabeth. I’m convinced she’s going primarily to verify what the angel has told her.

We see this same behavior in the shepherds of today’s reading. The angel announces Jesus’ birth to a group of shepherds and gives them a sign they can verify. This child will be lying in a manger, an animals feeding trough. What do they do? They go “in haste” to see if it’s true. Luke spells out the evidence, they find “the infant lying in a manger.” And only then do they tell Mary and Joseph the message of the angel. Finally, when they return glorifying God for all they had seen it is because it was, “just as it had been told to them.” In other words they weren’t sure it was true until they could see it.

Now you could write off Mary’s reflecting on all these things in her heart as devote behavior in the face of divine revelations. However, I think Luke is giving us a sample of what happens when we encounter God acting in our lives. What, in retrospect, we interpret as God’s help in our lives is often something we didn’t recognize at the time. Coming to see God’s action is a process of real life verification, checking out what parts are good and what isn’t. I don’t think we should read these wonderful Bible stories and think, “how come that doesn’t happen anymore?” It wasn’t obvious to the people at the time. It took time for people to figure out that these events were God’s action.

Luke’s telling of the story is from the perspective of one who understands the significance of what happened. We shouldn’t take them so literally that we miss the underlying meaning. Without undercutting the point of the story Luke is hinting at what it might have been like for the original participants. Which suggests what it might be like for us. God could be bowling us over and we may not, in the moment, recognize what turns out to have been an angel in front of us.

Sixth Day, Octave of Christmas

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

1 John 2:12-17, Psalm 96:7-10, Luke 2:36-40

Today’s Gospel continues the story of Mary and Joseph bringing Jesus to the Temple to be consecrated to the Lord. Simeon, an upright and devout man, has just recognized Jesus as the promised savior. Now Anna, a prophetess, arrives and talks about Jesus to those waiting for redemption. Both are devout Jews, both, a man and a woman, were able to recognize Jesus as the redeemer. Then Mary, Joseph and Jesus go back to Nazareth where Jesus grows up.

I’m glad Luke sees these two believers as important to telling the story of Jesus. I also like that the family goes back home where Jesus “grew and became strong,” a person that God “favors.” This has an everyday feel to it. I think that’s important for us because too often religion and the belief in God are assigned to the professionals. Priests, nuns, preachers and monks are supposed to be religious. The rest of us operate in the real world and drop-in on religious events like sacraments, Mass or prayer services. It’s as if we have to take time out for religious or spiritual activities. That’s not a helpful way to see faith or things we label spiritual because it suggests the spiritual and spiritual things are separate from regular stuff.

The problem with separating the spiritual from the everyday is that we can begin to identify the spiritual as holy and the everyday stuff as something less. All this other stuff then looks like it is keeping us from being holy because we’re all tied up with kids, work, vacations, spouses and well, life. If, however, you are Christian and believe in the Incarnation, that faith tells us all this stuff is what’s holy and blessed and part of being spiritual. It’s not separate at all.

So we have to begin to rewire our thinking to understand that belief in God and religion is a language for talking about our life values and how what we do means something. I know for many people spirituality has gotten so institutionalized, so dependent on a special language that we don’t recognize ourselves or God in it anymore. I actually think the best thing to do is to talk to other people about that problem. If we talk to others, regular other believers, about what they believe and why, it helps sort out what makes sense for us. We have good evidence that this works from today’s first reading. John is praising different groups of regular Christians, people he labels as children, fathers and young men, because they “know the Father” and “are strong” noting, “the word remains in you.” This letter from John is dealing with the problem that some people had left the community and those who remained were worried that something had gone wrong. He is reassuring them that they can know what is right and act accordingly.

So can we. All of us, just as Simeon and Anna, can recognize God in our lives. The whole point of Jesus being born is to say that God is here with us every day right with the kids, work, vacations, spouses and everything else. We just have to look for God’s presence in everyday situations, perhaps talk with a few others about how they see it and accept that we too can know “him who is from the beginning.”

Advent, December 23

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Malachi 3: 1-4, 23-24, Psalm 25: 4-5, 8-10, 14, Luke 1: 57-66

Can’t you just feel the anticipation? Here we are so close, one more day and it’s Christmas. A time of wonderful excitement. That’s what is in our readings this morning. It is best expressed in the Psalm response for the day, “Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is near at hand.” No more negative thoughts, no more feelings that we can’t or shouldn’t, now is the time for everything that is new and hopeful.

That is certainly what the Gospel presents. Elizabeth gives birth to their long awaited son. As if to emphasize how new and amazing this is, he is not named for anyone in the family but a new name, John, which describes exactly what has happened, Yahweh has shown favor. This is why the villagers are amazed because there is no precedent for naming a child other than an existing family name. John is the living example of doing something “out of the box.” Zechariah, of course, knows exactly what’s going on and his first reaction is to use his renewed voice to praise God for such a wonderful gift.

Here we are one day from Christmas with all our expectations still jumping. This annual celebration of Christ bringing light into the darkness. Here in the middle of winter, cold, bleak and dark, we’re about to receive the Light of the world. Whatever has made you hang your head, the psalm speaks to you, “Lift up your head and see…” We have been in the dark long enough. Now’s the time for new life and joy because old things are passing away. They are being transformed. That’s what the first reading is saying to Israel, the refiner’s fire will purify the gold and silver. We may have had trouble finding God, we may have wondered if God was ever going to be there for us but now we will be transformed into giddy little children with a new toy, a new joy, seeing the gifts of God for ourselves.

I think Malachi points us to the kind of transformation we should expect. This is a transformation that turns the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. These are changes of heart, changes of outlook, changes inside ourselves that make all the difference in who we are. Then maybe we’ll find our own voices of praise and be like Zechariah who learned that anything is possible with God, including a new born son. Christmas may only come once each year, however its joy is available anytime. We have to be alert for the person or situation that is God’s messenger and be willing to accept something new.

Advent, December 21

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Song of Songs 2:8-14, Psalm 33:2-3, 11-12, 20-21, Luke 1:39-45

As I have said in other reflections I believe we too often spiritualize God’s relationship with us. We keep God at a distance by making contact with God something elusive, ethereal and just not substantive. Today’s readings see the God/human relationship as amazingly up close and personal.

In Song of Songs the connection is openly sexual. The woman in the Song of Songs starts out by repeatedly calling the man her lover. She describes him in wonderfully admiring, masculine terms of strength and prowess. He in turn uses pet names and admiration for her beauty to ask her to reveal herself and come to him. As part of Wisdom literature there aren’t any of the references to The Lord or God that you would find in other parts of Hebrew Scripture. However, the accepted understanding is these poems are in the Bible because they are descriptions of the relationship between God and his chosen people. The description here is of two people who not only love each other they are chasing each other.

The same theme can be seen in part of today’s Psalm response. God’s plan is described as “the design of his heart.” There is an inheritance that goes to “the people he has chosen.” And the response of the people is, “our soul waits,” “our hearts rejoice,” and “we trust.” My point is simply that these words are talking about an intimate relationship with real life consequences.

In Luke’s Gospel we have not one but two examples of God’s intimate relationship with God’s people. Elizabeth was too old to have children but conceives a child anyway. Mary, a virgin, will give birth to the Savior because she has trusted in God. The story of these two women and their sons illustrates that God’s presence is here as part of human life. Perhaps just as importantly it is a story of joy. What could be more exciting and joyful than having a child? Circumstances would seem to have prevented both these pregnancies but here they are “with child” and excited to share the news.

Mary has rushed to see Elizabeth and Elizabeth with nothing more than a greeting from Mary is filled with the Spirit of the moment. She knows Mary is pregnant and that the child is the long awaited Savior. They have come together to share their joy of new life, the children they will bear. They have a special reason to be thankful. They recognize their children, these new lives, as gifts from God. The challenge for us is to be able to recognize the moments that leap for joy within us, as gifts from God.

Like the young lovers in the Sons of Songs, so excited to embrace each other, so excited to yearn and need each other, we too should gaze through windows, peer through lattices to find the God who seeks us. The story of these two women tells us the Spirit of God is within each of us. There are fresh new lives ready to be born. Will we, like Elizabeth, recognize them? Will we trust enough, like Mary, to embrace what is offered? Human birth happens every day all over this planet. Could it be that God’s gifts are just as plentiful, just as common? Perhaps the more we come together, as Mary and Elizabeth did, the easier it is to see them.

Tuesday, Thirty-First Week, Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Philippians 2:5-11, Psalm 22:26-32, Luke 14:15-24

 

When I sat down with today’s readings the closing phrase in our first reading from Philippians, “to the glory of God the Father” is what caught my attention. Paul wants the Philippians to adopt the same attitude as Jesus had, one of selflessness. He uses a hymn that speaks of Jesus giving up his role as a divine person to become human and be like a slave with no role but obedience and to die humiliated on a cross. Why? So that God would be glorified. That isn’t usually what I think about as the purpose of Jesus life on earth.

I’m usually thinking about how God loves us. How God is selfless and wishes to share life. That’s the basic reason for creation and our existence. Jesus lives on earth as part of God’s effort to teach us what life is all about, loving and sharing what we have been given so that all the world can be a good place, perhaps even a heavenly place.

So that makes me big on gratefulness, giving thanks to God for all sorts of good things: sunny days, people who are friendly, time to read, my wife and kids, special times and even some surprising moments when the sheer beauty of something overtakes me. But I haven’t really thought much about it all “giving glory to God.” It hasn’t seemed to me that God needs to be given glory. God has it all, so to speak.  Yet today it also felt like something important. Something I should pay attention to.

So I noticed that the Psalm hit the same theme, “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord. All the families of the nations shall bow down before him.” That’s pretty explicitly worshiping God, glorifying God. It feels more intense than gratitude or just saying thanks for a good day. I think I am somewhat uncomfortable with this unabashed worship of God. Another line from the Psalm seems to say what bothers me, “To him alone shall bow down all who sleep on the earth.” It seems subservient and I’m resistant to that.

It gets even more interesting then to read the Gospel. It’s the story of a man giving a dinner and many of his invited guests are making excuses about why they can’t come. But this isn’t just any dinner, it’s a story in response to a guest at the dinner with Jesus who has just equated being righteous with dining in the kingdom of God. Someone no doubt resistant to blatant worship of God. In Jesus’s story people invited to dine in the Kingdom are turning down the invitation because of things they think are more important. So the person throwing the dinner fills it with others who are usually excluded. These are people who normally don’t have access, people who have barriers to what others have, to what others are able to do. But it is just these excluded people who are brought in to the dinner.

None of these people deserved to be invited. They are dependent on the largesse of the person giving the dinner. I think this is an image that describes us as well. This dinner is also a world of God’s making. As much as we may think of ourselves as independent and capable, we are, in fact, totally dependent on God for our place at the table. We certainly are responsible for the choices we make but the source of our life and the value of our efforts and sacrifices are all related to God’s gift to us. We have to acknowledge that, if we’re going to be honest with ourselves and have a real relationship with God. Otherwise we are likely to think we have more important things to do than accept our role as guests. We need to let go of the attitude that our responsible behavior has earned us an invitation.

To sacrifice our standing, as Jesus did, is a tribute to God’s gift, God’s love, God’s power to bring us all together. If we can accept our role as guests of God, the one who provides, then I think we can join in joyful song and praise as the Psalm says, “May your hearts be ever merry,” and wouldn’t that, in itself, give glory to God.

Friday, First Week of Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

1 Samuel 8:4-7, 10-22a, Psalm 89:16-19, Mark 2:1-12

My first reaction to the story in 1 Samuel is that God gives us the freedom to choose. Which is what Israel is doing here. Israel wants to be like other nations. They want a King, a ruler someone can see. A King represents for these people a visible leader who will “fight our battles,” and keep them safe. I think it’s easier for people to put their faith in someone they can see than a God they can’t see. God sees it that way. In talking to Samuel God says, “They are rejecting me as their King.” My suspicion is the situation with Samuel’s age and his sons not filling his shoes is a case of “what have you done for me lately?”

We might think that the God who has done so much in Israel’s history that was able to be seen and recorded might do a little wonder working here to remind everyone who’s really in charge. But that is not happening. Rather God says to Samuel, “Grant the people’s every request.” Samuel goes on to warn the elders of all sorts of bad outcomes in having a King. They want the King anyway. I think it’s interesting how much these people are willing to give up for the sake of someone who will protect them. It raises the question of whether we act the same way to protect ourselves. How much do we give up in order to feel safe?

The picture Samuel paints is one of giving up sons and daughters, possessions and finding themselves as slaves to this King. That’s a picture of giving up our future, our hopes and our freedom so that “someone” will “fight our battles.” Is trying to fit in so strong that we give up our own sense of self. Is it possible we put on a face that everyone can see in order to hide and safe guard what is unseen but more revealing of who we are? The story suggests it’s our choice to make. God doesn’t come to the rescue when our freedom to choose is involved.

We have to want to connect. The story is the Gospel is a case in point. Jesus is preaching to a packed house, literally. Nobody else can get close. So four pretty assertive guys take their paralyzed friend up on the roof and lower him on his stretcher into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. That’s serious effort to accomplish a connection. The part of this story that always gets me is what Jesus does next. He doesn’t heal the man’s paralysis instead he comments about the faith of the guys who brought their friend and then forgives the sins of the paralytic. What? My guess is these guys weren’t looking for spiritual benefits. They wanted their friend healed physically. So that incongruity says to me that Mark is definitely trying to make a point. I think it says that there’s no healing one part without the other. The spiritual healing and the physical healing are tied together. Jesus says it to the scribes this way, “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat and walk’?” Jesus does something they can see so that they might believe something they can’t see.

Some days I just don’t feel good, a down day, not a lot of personal energy. Some people have more of that than others. However, I’ve found that if I just get up, get out and do something physical I feel better. My inner spiritual life gets dragging into a better day because I got on the treadmill, went to the grocery store, cleaned the gutters, or mowed the lawn. It’s evidence our spiritual and physical selves aren’t separate. So when we operate in ways that fit what others expect instead of the values or feelings that make up who we are we create a separation, a break that hurts us. I don’t think we can create a convenient persona that will successfully “fight our battles” for us. Rather I believe knowing we are each unique individuals loved by God will help us “keep it together” in the first place and know where to go for help when we don’t.

Wednesday, First Week of Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

1 Samuel 3:1-10, 19-20, Psalm 40:2, 5, 7-10, Mark 1:29-39

Today’s first reading is the namesake for this blog. It begins by saying it was a time when revelations and visions were infrequent. A description that if it doesn’t fit our world reflects what many people believe, i.e. God doesn’t operate in our world the way God did in Biblical times. If God exists then God is distant and only watches us. A popular song a few years ago expressed this exact sentiment.

What happens next in Samuel is what I have taken to be instructive. God calls out to young Samuel in his sleep and Samuel simply goes to Eli to answer the call. Eli however, isn’t calling Samuel. This happens three times before Eli realizes that it’s God who is calling Samuel. He says, “if you are called, reply, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’” Samuel is called and replies as instructed and from then on is a prophet of the Lord. I believe God is calling to us, all of us, all the time. However, we often don’t realize who is doing the calling. Too often there is no one who can tell us who is doing the calling. We can go along for a long time trying to answer the wrong call.

Importantly I am not taking this act of being called literally. I think it’s a way to talking about knowing who we are and what we are about. The general answers to those questions are: that we are loved by God, meaning worthwhile valued human beings, who are here to love and care for one another as participants in God’s gift of God’s self to the world. How each of us works this out should be the joy of being who we are. I’m convinced God is trying to engage us in our own personal adventures, if you will. That’s how God is calling us. The question is, are we listening? Do we pay attention to the people and events in our lives that say something about what is good for us? Are taking the time away from all the rush of living to see what’s actually going on?

Today’s Gospel can be seen as a sample of what real listening to God can accomplish. Are we going to invite Jesus into our home like Simon and Andrew did? The results can be quite dramatic. Simon’s mother-in-law was restored to health. Not only were town’s people cured of illness but Jesus drove out many demons. Isn’t that exactly what we want, to rid ourselves of the demons that plague our lives?

We have to do what Samuel did and what is wonderfully expressed in our Psalm response. We have to respond, “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.” We have to say, “Here I am Lord; I come to do your will.” If we can sort out what is good and worthwhile. If we can be honest about who we are and follow our deepest desires then the words of the Psalm will truly ring home.

I have waited, waited for the LORD, and he stooped toward me and heard my cry.
Blessed the man who makes the LORD his trust;
who turns not to idolatry or to those who stray after falsehood.

Which is followed by:

To do your will, O my God, is my delight,
and your law is within my heart!”

To be happy, find satisfaction, in pursuing our deepest desires. Isn’t that Good News?

Tuesday, First Week of Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

1 Samuel 1:9-20, 1 Samuel 2:1, 4-8, Mark 1:21-28

What I noticed in today’s readings was the comment about Hannah after her visit to the temple, she “no longer appeared downcast.” That seems pretty straight forward. In her own words to Eli she describes herself as in “deep sorrow and misery.” So she had come to the Temple and “in her bitterness she prayed to the LORD, weeping copiously.” This was a heart-felt appeal. I think it’s exactly the place where we can feel God’s support.

Catholic’s have a wonderful and useful tradition of published prayers. Everything from the Eucharistic liturgy to the rosary and before and after meal prayers. Catholic schools and parish religious education programs work very hard to pass on these forms of prayer to each new generation. However, that tradition can have the tendency to steer an individual toward more formal and impersonal forms of praying. At minimum the words of prayer are not ours. Worse, we may not be connecting the act of prayer with what is happening for us at a personal level.

We can learn from Hannah. This woman is being totally honest with God and herself. That starts with coming to prayer, “in her bitterness.” Plus she blatantly wants to make a deal with God. This is not, however, a calculated action. What I see here is utter desperation. She is laying herself out there by not holding anything back. If we’re going to talk to God, I think that’s exactly what prayer requires. It involves brutal honesty about who we are, how we feel and what we want. There’s something holy in that process. According to this story it’s the kind of prayer to which God responds. It’s also been my personal experience that when I was emotionally spent and there seemed to be nothing left, at that very point, something changed and I felt better and more able to deal with what needed to be done.

I think it is from these kinds of emotional turn-arounds that the Psalmists and today Samuel exclaims, “My heart exults in the Lord, my Savior.” Note he says, “My heart.” Consider how much of what we read in the Psalms is meant to refer to human events or can be understood to be about the human emotional landscape:

 

“The LORD puts to death and gives life;

 he casts down to the nether world;

 he raises up again.

 The LORD makes poor and makes rich:

 he humbles, he also exalts.”

Isn’t that where we are most likely to find our God, connected to the deepest part of who we are? That’s certainly what is going on in today’s Gospel.

Jesus is teaching in a synagogue based on his own authority, which to me suggests he talking from his own experiences and what the Scripture of the day means in his life. So this is already a personal encounter with the group. Some man “with an unclean spirit” reveals his deepest fears. Whatever “possessed” this man, it was deeply personal. Jesus’ own personal honesty so jarred him that he couldn’t abide what that might mean for him. The Gospel has already revealed that the other people were “astonished” at what Jesus was saying. Jesus, unwilling to enable any further dysfunction, heals the pain that has occupied the deepest parts of this man.

I would suggest that praying to God: actual prayer, being able to make the connection, may require that we recognize our deepest secrets, fears, wounds and desires. Maybe we need to name the “unclean spirits” in order to expel them from our lives. God certainly is listening and waiting.

Jan. 2, Christmas Weekday

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

1 John 2:22-28; Psalm 98:1-4; John 1:19-28

Today’s readings are about identity. In the first letter of John, people are being led astray by others. Questions have been raised about what they believe as well as who Jesus was. In the John’s Gospel the issue is who is John the Baptist and what does his presence mean?

I think the place to begin is with John the Baptist since that’s how it began in the first place. The Pharisees want to know what he’s doing and by what authority. Interestingly they are believers in God and God’s works because they ask about powerful people of faith whom they think they would recognize. Is John the Christ, that is, the anointed one of God, the one who was to come or is he Elijah who was to return before the Christ or a prophet who would be another person sent by God.

It is clear John knows who he is. And he’s none of those. Rather a person clearing the way for the one to come. He baptizes as a sign of the one to come. In today’s readings the key point is John knows who he is and acts accordingly.

That is not the case for everyone addressed by the first letter of John. The people to whom he is writing are being assailed by other believers who are having doubts about what their faith means for them. Some in the community are questioning the basic element of faith that Jesus is the son of God. So this letter from John is trying to reassure them that those who believe in Jesus as Son of God have the truth. Importantly that truth was given to them as part of their anointing. Which is a reference to gifts of the Holy Spirit. These people have a sense of the Holy Spirit as a guiding force in their belief.

Hopefully today, we are closer to a place that is like the Psalms, “all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God.” It has been a long time since the first letter of John was written. Yet too often people haven’t been able to see that Jesus is still among us. What John the Baptist told the Pharisees is too often still true, “there is one among you whom you do not recognize.” We also know there are lots of people who although they were raised Catholic or Christian don’t really accept that a person named Jesus is God’s son and that his Spirit lives with us in a way that often changes hearts and refreshes our spirit.

So that is why I think these readings spoke to me about identity. Are we comfortable with who we are? Do we recognize the gifts of life’s abundance and appreciate the simple beauty of the people who love us? Do we cherish the enthusiasm of children and the peace of quiet evenings? Because if we are anxious or troubled or feeling left alone it can be hard to accept God’s desire to lead us to peace and joy.

We are celebrating Christmas. The Incarnation, is our belief that God is born into this world as one who lives among us. So the question is, do we remain in him as people who feel him with us? We are a people redeemed by God’s very presence and beloved as God’s children? Do we know who we are?