The Right Attitude

 " Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased. "

First Reading: Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7

Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the nations He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not fail or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law. "I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.

Psalm: Psalm 29:1-4, 3, 9-10

Second Reading: Acts 10: 34-38

And Peter opened his mouth and said: "Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation any one who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the word which he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace by Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), the word which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

Gospel: Luke 3:15-16, 21-22

As the people were in expectation, and all men questioned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he were the Christ, John answered them all, "I baptize you with water; but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form, as a dove, and a voice came from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased."

Reflection
By Pietro S. Albano

John's baptism signified repentance. It was an act that he called people to do as part of changing their ways in preparation for the Coming Savior.  It was a shock then for John (as well as for us later on) to find out that Jesus also came to be baptized. He is all-holy so there is really no need for Him to be baptized, isn't it? And yet, according to some commentaries, Jesus' attitude of humility, of being identified with sinners, is the right attitude to approach God. In the subsequent chapters of the Gospels, one could see this attitude of Jesus till the very end of his earthly life.

Though we were still babies when we were baptized, our parents and godparents saw to it that we become part of God's big family. And as we grew up, we have received instruction from our elders, the school, the parish, etc. about our faith, about Jesus Himself.  Our learning and living as Christians is a continuous process that would only end when God finally calls us to our true home.  As we continue our journey of faith, let's keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. Sometimes, we're tempted to become complacent or conceited as Christians.  We care less our how we can spread our faith to others. "Why bother when almost everyone in the Philippines is Catholic?" we might say.  Or "I am better than those people in this or that religion because I belong to the true one." We can sometimes be choosy too with people we would like to mingle or deal with in the parish or any other community. Jesus wasn't complacent, conceited, or choosy. Why should we?

Let's therefore follow Jesus' way of life, His attitude of humble obdedience to the Father's will so that we too can hear those beautiful words: "You are my beloved son/daughter; with you I am well pleased."

Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank You for humbly sharing Your life with me in baptism. May I always do my best in sharing this with others for they too are our brothers and sisters.  Amen.