As we begin this period of Ordinary Time leading up to the beginning of the Lenten Season on March 1, we are challenged by John the Baptizer to “behold the Lamb of God.” At the outset the familiarity of the text to the average Catholic draws our attention to the invitation to Communion that is proclaimed at every Mass. We recognize immediately the familiar and necessary components of that invitation.
This invitation is also a challenge.
Firstly, and through the power of our Eucharistic consciousness, we are drawn to recognize and adore Jesus Christ present in our midst in the Blessed Sacrament. In a real sense for Catholics this is the sine qua non of our experience of faith. We behold the Lamb of God in prayerful contemplation and we prepare ourselves to receive the Sacrament in a worthy and noble manner. This is essential to our life of faith as the source of our spiritual strength and nourishment.
Unlike John, who needed to witness the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus in order to know the Lamb of God, we rely upon the testimony of the Church and the certainty of faith to know Jesus.
It is also not merely enough to recognize the Lamb. John continued beyond just pointing to Jesus as he walked by. John also testified to the raison d’etre of the ministry of Jesus – to take away the sin of the world.
The presence of God in our midst, the realization of his power in the world, is connected to the reconciliation of humanity with the Father. As we read through the Gospel According to John we are struck by the frequency with which the world is identified in opposition to the proclamation of the Gospel and the works of the Son. The world wishes to glory in its sinfulness and to deny that there is anything or anyone greater than itself. The world, effectively, desires to be its own God.
For the Son to take away the sin of the world (note the intentional singularity of the word by John) he must overcome the hostility and resistance of the world. This requires a triumph not of the battle of war, but by the glorification of Christ’s Death on the Cross.
As John calls Jesus the Lamb of God, he already announces to Jesus and to those who would hear and understand, that Jesus must die in order for this forgiveness of the sin of the world to be accomplished. We know from the beginning of the Gospel what the end of the Gospel will look like.
As Catholics, enlivened by the Eucharist, we put full stock and measure in this proclamation. We have the struggle to be in the world but not of the world. The world, in its sin, will always necessarily resist the power of God present and active in the world. John the Baptizer proclaimed this and John the Evangelist chose this announcement at the opening of the Gospel so that we might also know it.
This doesn’t make the struggle of the journey of faith any easier, indeed it might even make it more difficult. The world has its allurements. The cross brings with it suffering and death. We all too often prefer our sin and the sin of the world to the promise of forgiveness, reconciliation and eternal life.
Strengthened by the Lamb of God through our spiritual preparation for and reception of the Eucharist is one clear way that we can engage the struggle in a positive way. The occasion and opportunity to rest in the presence of the Lamb of God is a great gift given to us by Christ himself to overcome sin and find eternal life.
Jan. 22 – The Light of Christ overcomes the darkness of the world
A new and challenging time has begun in our country and our world. Some people are excited about the opportunities that are ahead while others are approaching these same opportunities with a sense of angst. This is a time, perhaps unlike any other, and yet not dissimilar at all.
Our readings for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time put us into the contrast between light and darkness. This is not an uncommon apocalyptic image from the Scriptures. The struggle between light and darkness is one that is a real and daily occurrence for ancient peoples, and especially for those who live on the precipice of the desert as did the Israelites. While for us it gets dark at night, there is always ample ambient light to offer us a sense of direction and orientation. The sheer starkness of the dark when no ambient light exists is jarring for our modern senses. Those first rays of dawn, peering over the horizon offered showed the promise of a new day ahead.
The ancient prophets foresaw the day when the world would be filled with light – not the artificial light created by technology – but the Light of the World – the Messiah – that would overcome the spiritual darkness that afflicted the world.
The imagery of light and darkness is so strong a metaphor that it has found its way into the secular lexicon as well. We are always living in the tension between peace and war, boom or collapse, freedom or oppression, life or death, hope or despair.
For us the challenge goes even deeper. Do we place our hope in the Light of the world or the Light created by the world? Many people cannot perceive the difference. They allow the artificial light of the world to illumine their minds and hearts not realizing that ultimately the Light created by the world is merely masking and not overcoming the darkness.
In the midst of the perception of the darkness of our times we cannot allow that darkness to become all-encompassing or enveloping of our consciousness. Genocide and religious persecution as epitomized by the conflict in Aleppo, Syria; the increasing cyber and rhetorical war with Russia; the disruption of the presidential inauguration; the twenty-fourth anniversary of Roe v. Wade; economic unease both here and abroad; and any host of other issues hot buttons of darkness for many people. It is easy, indeed all too easy, to wallow in despair or to react either as a Chicken Little or the figurative action of the ostrich.
We are called to bring light in the midst of the darkness. This does not mean that we take a polly-annaish view of the world where we do not recognize the reality in front of us. But it does mean that through our prayer, words, and actions, we work to be agents of the Light of the World illumining that darkness. It means that we need to take the bold steps to secure peace and justice for all peoples. Yes, we always point to Jesus first – as the “great light” that has appeared in our midst. Jesus proclaimed throughout his ministry: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” We as his disciples proclaim and live that kingdom as we make present that Light in the world. Ours is not to contribute to or to rage against the darkness, but rather to bring that Light through our interactions with others.
We know that this is not an easy task. It demands of us that change of heart – true repentance – that allows us to recognize the presence of God in our midst and to be enthusiastic for the kingdom of heaven that shatters all semblance of darkness.
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.