January 11, 2021
Editor’s note: This reflection was originally published on Fr. Mark-David’s Facebook page.
“Jesus came from Nazareth and was baptized
In the river Jordan by John.”
Jesus started by going where everyone else was.
Jesus plunged into the river Jordan
With all sinners who hope for something better.
That is why they came to the river Jordan:
For a fresh start, a new beginning.
The word repentance means to change your mind-
Literally to walk across your mind-
To reverse course, 180 degrees.
Not very different from how we want 2021 to be from 2020-
We want different.
We want covid-19 under control:
We can go to work, pay the rent, go to the store.
We want to be with our friends, hug our family.
We want our kids to play, to go to school
We want to play:
go to a movie, a concert,
Broadway or a ball game.
We want to travel, see each other’s face
We want to go to Church with our friends.
We want our Capitol respected not attacked,
Our politics working together for the common good
Not engaged in trial by combat.
Jesus the Word made flesh jumped into the river Jordan
With all the rest of the flesh he came to heal.
Flesh, Jesus would teach us,
Needs to be nourished, clothed, housed.
Flesh needs to be touched, kissed and caressed;
Afforded the opportunity to discover and learn
To work and to play,
To delight in the world and care for it.
Flesh of every color, custom and disposition
Needs honor and respect.
There is no place for exploitation and prejudice.
Flesh that makes mistakes needs to be forgiven
given the chance to start again.
Flesh needs to know it is loved
Loved forever and ever by the God who made it.
Flesh needs to love and spend itself in love
If it is to find happiness,
Happiness that cannot be enjoyed by itself
if others are deprived of joy.
Jesus jumped into the river Jordan
With sinners who hope for better
Because that is what a Messiah does
If he is, as Isaiah says, “to open the eyes of the blind
Bring out prisoners from confinement
And from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.”
That is a how a Messiah grasps us by the hand
And calls us to a victory of justice,
Forming out of loneliness-a people, a community of lovers.
Being in the water, being baptized by John
Sharing the aspirations of all of us sinners
For something better, something more,
That was the easy part.
Climbing out of the water
Teaching us to find the something different,
The something different
The happiness we hope for,
Teaching us to repent, to walk across our minds
To change our thinking, our habits,
That would be harder.
The devil has made us fond
Of the path we know and control
Even if it leads us to hell.
Sisters and brothers, like Jesus,
we have all been baptized.
The Spirit that descended on Jesus
Struggles for recognition in our heart.
A life of faith hope and love is in front of us
And the Risen Christ is alongside us for the journey.
Repentance is not a lonely business.
Change happens only in concert with others.
The reason we are Christ’s Church
Is to help each other believe, hold on to, and accomplish
The transformation, the Resurrection of Christ
began in our own baptism.
In this year of our Lord 2021
Hang on to the Risen Christ who journeys with you.
Let us hang on to each other
As we journey together
to the change for which we hope. Amen.
Paulist Fr. Mark David Janus is president of Paulist Press.