Baptism: being pilgrims of hope (12 January 2025; Luke 3:15-22)

A reflection sparked by the Gospel on being pilgrims of hope as we walk the synodal pathway. Written and spoken by Kieran J. O'Mahony OSA

www.tarsus.ie and www.tarsusscriptureschool.ie

Gentle piano music to close the meditation

Transcript

John’s Lane
D08 F8NW
12 January 2025
Baptism of the Lord
Being pilgrims of hope

Welcome

Welcome again everybody. We are still at the start of a new year and we find ourselves looking ahead, perhaps with trepidation, given the world scene. We may well wonder what will the new year hold for us as it unfolds — for myself, my family and my work. We may also wonder what will the year hold for us a people of faith, as disciples of Jesus Christ. 

Topic

2025 is a Jubilee year with the motto “Pilgrims of Hope.” This year, we have particular, practical reasons for hope and renewal.  

Steps

This Jubilee year is the year when the Synodal Pathways, started by Pope Francis, will become, please God, a practical reality in our local churches. The worldwide consultation of 1.2 billion Catholics undertaken two years ago had never, ever been done before. Such a consultation or better such a vast listening exercise has revolutionary potential. Last October, the second gathering of the Synod in Rome brought the universal stage to a certain point of arrival and relaunch. The concluding discernments have been published and these are well worth reading carefully. One of proposals is a commitment to embed the synodal vision in the life of the church at at every level: universal, national, diocesan, parochial and personal. 

Now is the time for the vision of the synod to become a reality in our local communities. Two things stand out. This year, 2025, will be a year of preparation for an Irish national assembly in 2026. And secondly, the readings today for this feast of the Baptism are a good “launching pad” for deeper reflection as we walk together a good deal further on the Synodal Path. 

One of the rock-solid facts of our faith is that John the Baptist baptised Jesus. This means that Jesus had heard what John was saying and had become a disciple of John. His acceptance of John’s vision was confirmed in a public way at his immersion in the waters of the Jordan river. This was surely a vital step in Jesus’ own awareness of who he was and what his mission would be. The voice from heaven represents something of that awareness: You are my Son, the beloved, my favours rests on you. Jesus heard a resounding “yes” from God. Eventually, after John’s arrest, Jesus took up the preaching of the Good News. What was that Good News? And how can we express it in our time? There are different summaries of the Gospel and I am choosing a very contemporary one.

A modern writer, Dorothee Sölle, summarises the Gospel in a new contemporary creed, which begins in vigorous fashion:

I believe in God who created the world not ready made like a thing that must forever stay what it is, who does not govern according to eternal laws that have perpetual validity, nor according to natural orders of poor and rich, experts and ignoramuses, people who dominate and people subjected. I believe in God who desires the counter-argument of the living and the alteration of every condition through our work, through our politics.

And so on. Fighting, visionary words. Words not far from the project of Jesus himself. 

This Good News means we are “in there” too.  As human beings, we do wonder if God has ever disclosed himself to us. As Christians, we believe God has — in our conscience, in nature, in the different religions, in Judaism and finally in a single fragile human life — the life of Jesus of Nazareth, celebrated over the Christian season 

The reason for God’s disclosure is made clear in the letter to Titus: it was for no reason, except his own compassion — a  phrase foreshadowed at the start of the paragraph: the kindness and love of God our saviour for humankind. In the words of a Christmas prayer: in Jesus we see our God made visible and are caught up in love of the God we cannot see. If at all true, all this is immensely good news for everyone and also for us. Our “task” as disciples then is to receive this Good News, to live this Good News and to proclaim this Good News, in deed and in word. That is who we are, individually and as a community of faith. 

In the next year, our task as disciples will take us further along the synodal pathway, a vital initiative for the future not of church but of the Christian way in our time and culture. In the course of the year, we will be asking ourselves again: how should we effectively be as a community of faith so that we may successfully offer this good news today? The question affects each of us personally and all of us as members of the faith community. It touches vision, celebration, evangelisation, catechetics, government and ministry. In a word, it is about the Christian faith today. To be absolutely clear, this is not first of all about church — it is first of all about Christian faith, which the church as an organisation exists to serve. We are entering upon a thrilling time of opportunity, a time not just of renewal but even rebirth. We must all engage as fully as we can simply because there is nothing other “game” in town. 

Conclusion

For that task we will definitely need to grace and guidance of the Holy Spirit. We are all invited to continue to pray for the synodal pathway and I would like to conclude with the synodal prayer for Sundays, followed by the opening prayer for this Sunday:

We stand before you, Holy Spirit, 
as we gather together in your name. 
While we walk the synodal pathway, 
let there be a new Pentecost among us. 
Send upon us again the fire of your love
Breathe in us again the breath of new life. 

Open the heavens, almighty Father, and pour out your Spirit upon your people gathered in prayer. Renew the power of our baptismal cleansing and fill us with zeal for good deeds. Let us hear your voice once again, that we may recognise in your beloved Son our hope of inheriting eternal life. Through Christ our Lord. Amen