2nd Sunday In Ordinary Time - Reflection by Fr. Leo

Liturgically, every year we celebrate the paschal mystery, the life death and resurrection of the Christ.  Having just completed the celebration of Christ’s birth, we now move into the remembrance and celebration of his public ministry.  It is rooted in his baptism by John in the river Jordan.  This beginning is made known to us though the person of John the Baptist.  He is a figure to consider in our own coming to recognize the Christ with us today.

John was a mystic, a spiritual man who lived in the desert to better know his God.  It was there that he was able to hear the voice of “the one who sent him to baptize.”  Through his spiritual seeking he came to know his purpose in life and how to recognize the one who was to come through the decent of the Holy Spirit.

For us to recognize Christ today, we need to imitate John.  We need our time in the desert to learn how to hear the voice of God within us, the voice that teaches us to recognize the work of the Spirit.  Thomas Merton, a mystic himself, wrote this sentence in the forward of his book “Thoughts in Solitude.”

“The ears with which one hears the message of the Gospel are hidden in man’s heart, and these ears do not hear anything unless they are favored with a certain interior solitude and silence.”

As we journey through Christ’s life in this new liturgical year, let us do so with the necessary solitude and silence to hear the voice of God who’s voice of love calls us from within.  The Spirit’s voice may be heard with our ears in the community of believers, but will not be understood and effective unless heard in the interior place of solitude within. This constant dialogue is what brings us into the fullness of the reality of Christ. May God guide us and direct us in our journey into the fullness of God’s light.