January 18 – 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Beloved Disciple recounts that, upon seeing Jesus approaching, St. John the Baptist said to his disciples, filled with interior joy: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29). And then he declared: “A Man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because He existed before me” (Jn 1:30).
In these words of the Precursor, we see a manifestation of Our Lord Jesus Christ’s divinity because, on the one hand, He comes to forgive sins – and for the Hebrew people of that time it was clear that only God can do this – and, on the other hand, He exists from all eternity, a notion difficult for our chronological mentality to comprehend.
These considerations help us to develop and grow in our faith.
In the subsequent passage, the Baptist reveals to us the mystery of the Blessed Trinity – by which we affirm that there is one God in Three Persons – and that of the Incarnation, the two greatest mysteries of our holy Religion. We do not understand them by simple reason, without the supernatural aid of faith, through which we believe in these sublime truths. If they had not been revealed, we would never come to know them.
Here are the words with which the Gospel of St. John presents this revelation: “the One who sent me to baptize with water [the Father] told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit [the Holy Spirit] come down and remain, He is the One who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ Now I have seen and testified that He is the Son of God [the Son]” (1:33-34).
What a marvel the Precursor witnessed and understood! But this mystery – if we are faithful to God, respond to grace and are saved – we too will be able to contemplate for all eternity.
Among the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity, there is a relationship which constitutes the eternal life of God, so extraordinary, elevated and rich that we cannot even begin to grasp it: “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared” (1 Cor 2:9). However, by grace we can participate in this divine life even during our earthly existence, persevering on the path of Faith and in the practice of virtue, until it blossoms in fullness, forever and ever, in Heaven.
The reading of the Gospel of the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time helps us to remember these most eminent mysteries and to raise our souls to them.
Let us strive, during our earthly pilgrimage, to cherish our faith, to live in accordance with it, to duly nourish it with prayer and the Sacraments, so that we may be worthy of eternal blessedness, where we will see the one and triune God face to face. ◊
