The Baptism of Christ and Our Ministry

To date I have not read many pages of church documents written by newly elected Pope Francis, nor have I studied closely interviews with him, nor examined his actions closely. And note that I am inviting all of us to make some study of Pope Francis’ teaching this year. So far, I have read enough to realize that Pope Francis has much to teach us, and that if we take his words and actions seriously, each of us will be challenged in various ways, and probably no one of us would be left feeling complacently content with our own Catholic faith and practice. Even in my relative ignorance of our new Pope, I will suggest a few thoughts that may be in line with his approach to the gospel on the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus. I think that in the spirit of Pope Francis, on this feast each of us should ask ourselves a few questions. We can ask, “Given that I was baptized into Christ, and therefore have a share in Christ Jesus and in his ministry, what am I doing about it?  How do I live out my calling as a servant of God? How do I seek to serve God’s people? In what ways do I carry the gospel of joy into the world? Am I willing to leave my own comfortable beliefs and ways of living and venture forward, bringing Christ to the disadvantaged, and finding Christ in them, and serving Christ in them? Moreover, for years I have emphasized on this feast that Jesus accepted the baptism of John, which was repentance from dead sins. But Jesus was without sin, so why did he let John baptize him? I see in Jesus the same mentality that shows up throughout his brief ministry, and especially on the cross: Jesus willingly identifying with us sinners, and ultimately taking our place. Now, what might Pope Francis say to us in light of Jesus’ solidarity with sinners? Perhaps he would ask us a few more questions: “How do you identify with sinners, with the disadvantaged, the marginalized, with those whom our society ignores, overlooks, or would discard? How do you extend the grace of God in Christ to those who may appear graceless, or even to those who have wronged you, or do not wish you well? What do you do in your life to live out Christ’s solidarity with sinners? Do you yourself dabble in sin, rather than gently and lovingly help draw others away from it?” You see, Pope Francis says that he wants to dialogue with us, in order to further dialogue in the Church. How does one dialogue without asking questions and listening for answers? We conclude with words from Pope Francis in his recent exhortation on “The Gospel of Joy”:  “The great danger in today’s world, pervaded as it is by consumerism, is the desolation and anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, the feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience.”  What do we do about this condition?