St. John’s
Mark 1, 1-11
This is the beginning of the new word from the realm of
the angels, sounding forth through Jesus Christ. Fulfilled is the word of the
prophet Isaiah:
Behold, I send my angel before your face.
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He is to prepare your way.
Hear the voice of one calling in the loneliness of the
human soul
Prepare the way for the Lord within the soul,
Make his paths straight, so that he may find entrance
into Man’s innermost being!
Thus did John the Baptist appear in the loneliness of the
desert. He proclaimed Baptism, the way of a change of heart and mind, for the
acknowledgement of sin. And they went out to him from all of Judea and
Jerusalem and received baptism from him in the river Jordan and recognized and
confessed their failings.
John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt
around his waist. Fruits and wild honey were his food. And he proclaimed:
‘After me comes one who is mightier than I. I am not even
worthy to bend down before Him and to undo the straps of His sandals. I have
baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the fire of the Holy
[healing] Spirit.’
In those days it happened: Jesus of Nazareth came to
Galilee, and was baptized in the Jordan by John.
And at the same time as he rose up again out of the
water, he beheld how the spheres of the heavens were torn open, and the spirit
of God descended upon him like a dove.
And a voice sounded from the world of the spirit:
‘You are my son, the beloved —in you is my revelation.’
[‘Today I have conceived (begotten) you.’ Luke 3:22]
St. John’s
June 24, 28, 2015
Mark 1, 1-11
Annual plants sprout and
grow and grow, laddering out green leaf after green leaf. Then at a certain
point, the activity compresses and finally comes to a standstill. What comes
next is a transformation into something entirely different – a different form,
color, scent, nectar and pollen – the blossom.
The perfume and pollen rise up. This in turn attracts bees and
butterflies. It is as though the blossom has grown into a life beyond itself.
Carried by the air, warmed by the sun and infused with the stars, the pollen
descends and returns to the plant. It brings with the image, the archetype of
next year’s plant, freshly created by the angels. This image is then bound to
the newly forming seed. This is the gesture of summer: transformation, opening,
encountering forces from above, the blessing of new life.
Christ’s
baptism in the Jordan partakes of this great living summer process. The soul of
Jesus had been broken open in sorrowing compassion for the state of humankind.
He comes to the Jordan to offer himself – his bodily form, his compassionate
soul, the fragrance and sweetness of his moral nature. The heavens open and the
Holy, healing Spirit of the Father’s love descends into him. He has been made
fruitful from above. The freshly created archetype of the true human being has
created seeds of new life in him.
We
know that we are needy of healing here on earth. In the Act of Consecration of
Man , aware of our separation from the world of the divine, we open our hearts
and minds. We offer our noblest and purest thoughts, the yearning of our
hearts, our willingness. We hope that as the fragrance of our offering ascends,
something, Someone will approach us from the other side. We hope that the grace
of the Father’s love will descend upon us, enter into us. We hope to be made
fruitful, that the seeds of real love will begin to form within us. For our
deepest yearning is to be enkindled from above, united with our true nature.
John
the Baptist reminds us that we must change. We must turn ourselves around
inwardly. Think differently. Then the living light of the Christ-Sun can
enkindle and ripen in us.
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