“Here I am Lord, I come to do your will,” the psalmist sings. We are now praying in what the Church liturgical calendar calls Ordinary Time, having last week ended the season of Christmas. The Church year consists of special seasons – Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter – which have a special focus on the life, ministry and saving gift of Jesus Christ. In between them for a majority of the calendar year is Ordinary Time. The fact is that there is nothing ordinary about this in-between time.
Monday is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. We pray in thanksgiving for advances made in equality among all peoples, remembering that Dr. King rooted the civil rights movement in his faith in Christ. The fact is that there remains much inequality around the world reflected in persecutions, refugees, poverty, slavery and other hardships. On Friday a new President will be inaugurated, the lead up to which has been anything but ordinary. Let us pray for our elected leaders and greater unity and focus on the common good. Next week with sadness we will recall the United States Supreme Court decision allowing abortions on demand which has resulted in nearly 60 million little ones not allowed to become who God created them to be and offer a special Mass for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children. In the midst of all that, which can be disheartening and about which we individually can do little but pray, each of us in our own ways can be signs of hope and lights of Christ to those around us just by living well the faith we profess which includes loving God through loving our neighbors.
There is a legend about a man who was so holy that the angels rejoiced at the sight of him. His secret was that he forgot people’s pasts and looked beyond their appearance to their hearts. He loved and forgave everyone he met. One day an angel said to him: “God wants to grant you a wish. What then do you wish for?” “The grace of God, that is all I desire”, he said. “No, you must ask for some miracle.” “Well then, I ask, let good be done through me without my being aware of it.” And so it happened that everywhere his shadow fell behind him healing and reconciliation came, good flowed from him without his knowing it. The light of Christ shined through him. Who has touched our lives in this way? What good is done through us without our knowing it?
Our second reading is the beginning of St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. That letter is a treasure trove for discovering how to live out the Christian life well, to do His will, to be lights of Christ doing good whether we know it or not. He directs his message to the church of God that is in Corinth. It is personal. It is like addressing it to the Church of God in Sioux Falls. It reflects the universal nature of the Church Christ instituted. The Church in Sioux Falls, in Corinth, in Rome is all one, God’s church united around the Holy Father. Each of us is part of and represents the whole church as well as our own parish and diocese.
In the Gospel reading John the Baptist declares Jesus to be the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”. In Holy Mass the priest declares when holding up the consecrated host, “Behold the Lamb of God. Behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.” We are among those so blessed. The lamb is a symbol of sacrifice for others and a symbol of love.
On the front of a church in Germany there is a stone sculpture of a lamb. A man was working on the roof when his safety rope broke and he fell down into the churchyard which was full of large stones. But the man was not seriously injured because he fell between the stones and landed on a lamb which was nibbling on the grass and broke his fall. In gratitude he carved the lamb sculpture now on the Church.
The Lamb of God, Our Lord on the cross and present in the Holy Eucharist has cushioned our fall into sin and through the sacraments and His Church gives us the tools to get up and to not fall again.
St. Paul defines the Church as: “You, who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus”. Sanctified means consecrated, blessed, made holy. We are sanctified in the sacrament of baptism. The baptismal rite puts it: “you have put on Christ, in him you have been baptized, alleluia, alleluia.” Through baptism we are called to be lights of Christ, doing good by living lives of holiness. To symbolize it a candle is lit from the Easter Candle given to the baptized or parents on the baptized behalf with the words spoken “receive the light of Christ which is to be kept burning brightly.” It is the expectation that the light of Christ will be carried out into the world through us.
In the words of Vatican Council II: “through faith and baptism all Christians in any stage or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of love.” Wherever we go, whatever we do, we are called to that fullness of Christian life. It is reflected especially in how we see and treat others, as objects to be encountered or brothers and sisters to be respected. Our baptismal call is to make Christ known to others even in the discouragement that is so much a part of ordinary time. It does not require great sacrifice, only great sensitive, great compassion.
A little girl’s best friend died suddenly. The little girl went over to her friend’s house to visit the grieving mother and was there quite a while. When she came home her mom asked her what she did while there. She responded, “I just sat on her lap and helped her cry.” That little girl reflected the light of Christ who died and rose for us all.
May we identify those who have been such lights for us and thank God for them. And then may we with grateful hearts let good be done through us without our knowing it. Let our new year resolution be: here I am Lord, I come to do your will.