62. The Baptism of the Lord

Meditations no. 56 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

(Sunday after the Epiphany)

John the Baptist’s testimony. Each of us must bear witness to Christ.

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him. Jesus went to meet John the Baptist as just one more person among the crowd; he mingled with thousands of others who had come from all over the country. St John Chrysostom comments: Jesus Christ, judge of sinners, comes to be baptized among the slaves.

As far as the other people in that crowd were concerned, the carpenter from Nazareth was a man just like any other. But John the Baptist, recognizing him as the Son of God, did not want to baptize him. I need to be baptized by you, he said, and do you come to me? But Jesus insisted, and John finally had to give in.

When Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him; and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Some days later John was faced with an unusual group of inquirers.

Do you recall the Gospel account of John the Baptist’s preaching? What a lot of gossip there was going on! Is he the Christ? Is he Elijah? Is he a Prophet? So many rumours were flying around that the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

For someone with little supernatural outlook, it might seem that John the Baptist wasted an opportunity of winning converts. John could even have answered with the testimony which Jesus was to give of him: ipse est Elias, qui venturus est. Qui habet aures audiendi audiat. He is the Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

However, those who went to ask John were in no frame of mind to understand those words correctly. He did not deny, but confessed … I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Seeing the messengers’ disappointment, he added: I baptize with water; but among you stands one whom you do not know, even he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.

Our Lord also showed himself to us when, with the light of the Holy Spirit, he made us grasp that he was at our side as we went along our path through life; and he was asking us, as he asked John, to bear witness to him. This is what he wants us to do: to get to know him, and to share with others the saving news that we have found him.

Personal apostolate: being an apostle of apostles.

The whole of John the Baptist’s life was one of intense expectation, as he strove to prepare his own heart and the hearts of others for the coming of the Redeemer. His was the voice crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Today John’s gladness overflows, for the Lord has arrived. Now he can say: This is he of whom I said, “After me comes a man who ranks before me, for he was before me.”

How often these words of the holy Gospel could be said about the friends and colleagues of my children: medius autem vestrum stetit, quem vos nescitis. In the midst of you stands one whom you do not know: Jesus Christ. Inconspicuously, in a supernaturally natural way, Christ is present in your life and words, to draw towards faith and love those who know nothing, or know very little, about true Faith and true Love.

John bears witness to Christ. Some days earlier he had declared that he was not the Messiah, and that the Christ was still to come. Later, within the intimate circle of his disciples, John reveals where the Lord is: Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! He quietly carries out his apostolate with individuals, as he prepares his listeners for God’s call. On another occasion, the Baptist points out Jesus in a more direct way to John and Andrew: The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples; and he looked at Jesus as he walked, and said, “Behold, the lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. See how effective it is! The Baptist’s words prepare the first two vocations among the Apostles. Afterwards Andrew and John will introduce others.

As we think of Christ passing along the banks of the Jordan and gathering together the first disciples, we recall our Father’s words: All my children are Christ passing through the world. You are not known. Yet all over the world friends and colleagues at work are discovering Christ in your brothers, in you. Afterwards they too will bring Christ to other hearts and minds. You are Christ passing along the street. But you must walk in his footsteps.

That is what we must do for the people we know. Each of you, our Father stresses, must try to be an apostle of apostles. We should ask ourselves, looking at the circle of our relatives, friends, acquaintances and colleagues: Mightn’t there be one… or two, who could understand us well?

Our apostolate should culminate in winning new apostles.

Many came to the Jordan to listen and be baptized by John. The prophet had words of enlightenment for them all; he prepared them all to receive the Lord. But John also had a small group of closer disciples, whom he was forming spiritually with the warmth of his direct conversation. It was from among them that the apostles of apostles came, the first followers of our Lord.

We are concerned for all souls. Every soul is important, and we want to spread Jesus’ light and love to all mankind. That is why each of us must also have a handful of chosen souls around us who could generously answer God’s call. We dedicate our best efforts to this small group of friends, preparing them for the moment of their meeting with Jesus Christ. We try to sow in their hearts a seed that could bear fruit in an apostolic vocation, like that of Andrew and John, like our own. Among those around you, apostolic soul, you are the stone fallen into the lake. With your word and example you produce a first circle… and it will produce another… and then another, and another… wider each time. Now do you understand the greatness of your mission?

Proselytism multiplies our apostolic effectiveness. It is a means of fulfilling our duty of drawing all souls to God and making Christ known and loved by all those he has come to save. What a sense of responsibility it gives us; and what daring and endurance we need, to carry out the apostolate of winning apostles!

A person who is inactive sees everything as a burden; he is seriously ill. Since proselytism is the beating of our heart, a person who does not do it suffers from heart failure. The remedy, a heart massage, is found in the life which comes from faithfully fulfilling our obligations. Proselytism. Keep on repeating this: the Father doesn’t dispense anyone from this duty. All of us, whether young or old, healthy or ill, clever or not so clever, must give an apostolic meaning to our lives. As soon as we meet someone, we try - without doing anything strange - to find a way of spreading our joy to that person, the joy that comes from knowing that we are children of God and living as children of God.

As we formulate our resolutions, let us place our closest friends under the motherly protection of our Lady.