In this section you can find a daily commentary on the Gospel of the Day.

Sunday 10 January 2021

Baptism of the Lord – Year B

Word for today
The Gospel of Mark 1,7-11

Immerse Yourself

Immerse your internal dialogue in fear.
Immerse your internal dialogue in the fear of losing what you are attached to.
Immerse your internal dialogue in the fear of not being understood.
Immerse your internal dialogue in the fear of making a mistake.
Immerse your internal dialogue in the fear of what others will say
Immerse your internal dialogue in fear of the future or in feelings of guilt about the past.
Immerse your internal dialogue in the fear of not having enough.
Immerse your internal dialogue in fear of God.
Immerse your internal dialogue in fear of yourself.
Immerse your internal dialogue in fear of life.
Immerse your internal dialogue in fear of others.
Immerse your internal dialogue in trust that you can detach yourself from what you fear you will lose and continue to love even more than before.
Immerse, in any case, immerse.
Immerse your internal dialogue in trust that even when your are not understood you can nonetheless try to understand others, even if you do not agree with them.
Immerse your internal dialogue in trust that it is possible to make a mistake and then start over again, to ask for forgiveness and to start afresh with even greater force and enthusiasm.
Immerse your internal dialogue in trust that what others think and say about you is not at all comparable with what God thinks and says about you and life.
Immerse your internal dialogue in trust that only the present exists, and that you have the strength to face only the present because it is all that exists.
Immerse your internal dialogue in trust that providence will take care of you always if you will think more about the necessities of others.
Immerse your internal dialogue in trust in God, in yourself, in others, in life.
Immerse, in any case, immerse.
Immerse yourself where you want, where you are able to, where you feel like it, where your anger or your capacity to forgive and to ask for forgiveness lead you, and you will see if and what changes will take place in your life.
In whatever case you immerse yourself, you are baptized every day.
You are consecrating yourself in whatever case [1] every moment to love or to fear, to conflict or to non-conflict, to God or to nothing, to life or to death.
If you immerse yourself in God, as Jesus did, the Dove of the Spirt will protect you with its great wings [2] and God will say of you: "You are my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased." If you immerse yourself in fear and anger, dark black wings of the vulture, the lord of the fallen angels, will descend on you.

 

[1] From the Latin con-secràre, made up of cum, “with, together” and sacràre, a verb whose roots are found in the Indo-european ord sak/sag, meaning “attach, adhere, captivate.” Consecrating oneself is captivating oneself, attaching oneself until one's entire being is completely affixed to something, separating oneself completely from something else.

[2] Frequently, especially in the Psalms, there are biblical images in which man is seeking refuge under the wings of God: Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings (Psalm 17:8). Let me dwell in Your tent forever; Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. (Psalm 61:5)