A Humble Beginning

 

Today in the Catholic Church we celebrate the feast day of the Baptism of the Lord, the humble beginning of Jesus’ public life.  As I sat in the church before mass praying the Morning Prayers, I felt a tap on my shoulder.  A woman I know was there and asked me: “What did that woman in the chapel last week want?”  I knew who she was referring to, a woman who one day last week was going from person to person in the adoration chapel, speaking rather loudly.  And then she came to me, and in a very, VERY heavy accent started to ask me a question.  I said “let’s talk outside,” and we left the chapel.

Outside in the hallway, she was still hard to understand.  She said she was baptized, and “what do I do now?”  I suggested the question was better asked of a priest than me, but she insisted no, and asked again: What do I do now?  Initially, I suggested she pray to God and ask Him what He’d like her to do, and in her confusing response I perceived that she had a husband at home.  Then I responded: “Okay, I know what God would want you to do now.  God always wants us to be good to the people He puts in our lives.  He gave you a husband.  I know God wants you to pray every day, but go home now to be with your husband.  That will make God happy.”  She said Thank You and left.  And I haven’t seen her since. 

The woman in the church this morning thanked me for the explanation.  I told her I don’t know why God put that woman in our lives last week, for her or for us, but I trust He had a reason.  And the woman went back to her pew on the other side of the church, and I went back to reading my Morning Prayers.  And then these were the very first words I read, on this Feast Day of the Baptism of the Lord:

            Our Redeemer desired to be baptized in the Jordan by John; let us make this prayer to him:
                                Lord, have mercy.

Christ, you made your light shine on us by revealing yourself
grant us the spirit of humble service to all people;
                Lord, have mercy.

 Christ, you humbled yourself and received baptism from your servant to show us the way of humility. 
grant us the spirit of humble service to our fellow men;
                Lord, have mercy.

Christ, through your baptism you cleansed us of every blemish and made us children of your Father;
bestow your spirit of adoption on all who seek you.
                Lord, have mercy.

Christ, through baptism you have consecrated creation and opened the door of repentance to all who prepare for baptism;
make us servants of your Gospel in the world.
                Lord, have mercy.

Why did that woman who started out saying “I am baptized” come to talk to us last week?  Why did the woman who came over to me this morning wait until this day to ask me about what happened last week?  Why was I reading at exactly the above point in my morning prayers when she came over?  And later, as the mass began, we offered prayer intentions, remembering those for whom this mass was offered ---including Fran and Chi-Chi, two of the homebound women who I had been visiting for years, until they died this last year.  Why was this day the one chosen for a mass to be offered for them?

I don’t believe in coincidences. 

                Grant us the spirit of humble service to our fellow men.  Lord, have mercy.

 

“Today let us do honor to Christ’s baptism, and celebrate this feast in holiness ….  He wants you to become a force for all mankind, lights shining in the world.”
                --- from a sermon by Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, bishop, as written in this morning’s prayers.