The Baptism of the Lord (Cycle B) – January 11, 2009

Scripture Readings
First Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7
Second Acts of the Apostles 10:34-38
Gospel Mark 1:7-11

Prepared by: Fr. Peter John Cameron, O.P.

1. Subject Matter
• Why does Jesus get baptized?
• What does the baptism of Jesus have to do with my life here and now? What is the
connection of this mystery of the Lord with the sacrament of baptism?
• What are the graces of the mystery of the Baptism of the Lord; why is this mystery the first of
the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary?

2. Exegetical Notes
• “Here is…my chosen one;…he shall bring forth justice to the nations” – “He is a ‘chosen one’
like Moses, David, and all Israel;…he is commissioned to bring forth justice, a legal decision
ratifying the divine will…. The Servant accomplishes his mission by transforming people
interiorly” (JBC).
• “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good
and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him” – “The declaration ‘for
God was with him’ is remarkably similar to the phrase in Stephen’s speech which explained
the rise of Joseph in Egypt (Acts 7:9)…. The idea of God’s being with one [is] an Old
Testament motif (see Gen 39:21)” (Marion L. Soards).
• “On coming up out of the water he was the heavens being torn open…and a voice from the
heavens, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” - “The material found in Mk
1:9-11 is traditional, although the wording is Markan…. Jesus is presented as the beloved
and only Son of God (see also Mk 12:6), who possesses a unique relationship with God that
distinguishes him from all others (Mk 13:32)…. He is not the Son of God because he does
certain things; he does certain things because he is the Son of God. Who he is determinens
what he does, not vice versa. The pronoun “you” is emphatic, because it is unnecessary and
located at the beginning of the sentence” (Robert H. Stein).

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3. References to the Catechism of the Catholic Church
• 536 The baptism of Jesus is on his part the acceptance and inauguration of his mission as
God's suffering Servant. He allows himself to be numbered among sinners; he is already "the
Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world". Already he is anticipating the "baptism"
of his bloody death. Already he is coming to "fulfill all righteousness", that is, he is submitting
himself entirely to his Father's will: out of love he consents to this baptism of death for the
remission of our sins. The Father's voice responds to the Son's acceptance, proclaiming his
entire delight in his Son. The Spirit whom Jesus possessed in fullness from his conception
comes to "rest on him". Jesus will be the source of the Spirit for all mankind. At his baptism
"the heavens were opened" - the heavens that Adam's sin had closed - and the waters were
sanctified by the descent of Jesus and the Spirit, a prelude to the new creation.
• 556 On the threshold of the public life: the baptism; on the threshold of the Passover: the
Transfiguration. Jesus' baptism proclaimed "the mystery of the first regeneration", namely,
our Baptism.
• 1224 Our Lord voluntarily submitted himself to the baptism of St. John, intended for sinners,
in order to "fulfill all righteousness." Jesus' gesture is a manifestation of his self-emptying.
The Spirit who had hovered over the waters of the first creation descended then on the Christ
as a prelude of the new creation, and the Father revealed Jesus as his "beloved Son."
• 1286 In the Old Testament the prophets announced that the Spirit of the Lord would rest on
the hoped-for Messiah for his saving mission. The descent of the Holy Spirit on Jesus at his
baptism by John was the sign that this was he who was to come, the Messiah, the Son of
God. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit; his whole life and his whole mission are carried out
in total communion with the Holy Spirit whom the Father gives him "without measure."
• 1694 Incorporated into Christ by Baptism, Christians are "dead to sin and alive to God in
Christ Jesus" and so participate in the life of the Risen Lord. Following Christ and united with
him, Christians can strive to be "imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love" by
conforming their thoughts, words and actions to the "mind . . . which is yours in Christ Jesus,"
and by following his example.

4. Patristic Commentary and Other Authorities

• St. Hippolytus: “If the Lord had yielded to John’s persuasion and had not been baptized, do
you realize what great blessings and how many we should have been deprived of? Heaven
was closed until then; our homeland on high was inaccessible. Once we had descended into
the depths we were incapable of rising again to such lofty heights. The Lord was not only
baptized himself; he also renewed our fallen nature and restored to us our status as God’s
children.The world we see was reconciled with the world that lies beyond our vision; the
angels were filled with joy; earthly disorders were remedied; mysteries were revealed;
enemies were made friends.”
• St. Augustine: “You believed, you were baptized, your old life died, slain on the cross, buried
in baptism. The old, which you lived so badly, has been buried; let the new life arise. Live a
good life; live in such a way that you may live; live in such a way that when you die, you don’t
die.”

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• St. Ephrem the Syrian: His birth gives us purification, his baptism gives us forgiveness, his
death is life to us, his ascension is our exaltation. How we should thank him!”
• St. Leo the Great: "The Lord Jesus placed in the font of baptism that very origin which he had
assumed in the Virgin's womb. He gave to the water what he had given to his Mother. For,
the same power of the Most High and overshadowing of the Holy Spirit that caused Mary to
bear the Savior makes the water regenerate the believer."
• St. Ignatius of Antioch: “Let your baptism be ever your shield.”
• St. Thomas Aquinas: “The Lord was baptized not so that the waters would cleanse him but
so that he could cleanse them, purifying them by his sinless flesh to assume the power of
baptism. When the sons of Israel passed through the river Jordan they entered the promised
land. What is special about Christ’s baptism is that it admits one to the kingdom of God:
unless one is born again of water and the Spirit, one cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Christ’s passion opened heaven to men in general, but needs to be applied to those who are
to enter heaven through baptism: when we were baptized in Christ Jesus, we were baptized
in his death. As the begetter of the Word of the Father was appropriately revealed at Christ’s
baptism through a voice, a voice bearing witness to the Sonship of the Word. At the moment
when Christ came of age, and the time was opportune for him to teach and work miracles
and turn people to himself, his Father witnessed publicly to his divinity so that his teaching
might be believed.”
• St. Thomas Aquinas: “Christ shared features of all three states in which men have found
themselves: the state of innocence, of guilt, and of glory. He shared the sight of God with the
saints’ state of glory, immunity from sin with Adam’s state of innocence, and the necessity of
suffering this life’s pains with our state of guilt. And because he himself suffered and was
tried, he has the power to help others who are tried. It was fitting for the Son of God to take
on a body subject to human weaknesses and failings, since he came into the world to make
amends for the sin of mankind, and one makes amends for another’s sin by taking on oneself
the penalty the other has incurred. Our bodily failings—death, hunger, thirst, and so on—are
penalties of the sin Adam brought into the world, so it was fitting, given the purpose of the
Incarnation, that the Son of God should take on these penalties on our behalf—surely he has
born our infirmities. Moreover, doing this buttressed our faith in his Incarnation: we know
human nature only with such failings, and if he had taken a nature without them he would not
have seemed real but imaginary. So he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, born in
the likeness of men. By seeing his wounds Thomas was recalled to faith. Thirdly, by
courageously bearing human sufferings and failing, the Word of God gave us an example of
patience: consider him who endured the hostility of sinners, and do not grow weary or
fainthearted. But, whereas the material, so to speak, which makes amends for another’s sin
are the penalties born on is behalf, the efficacy of the amends made depends on the
disposition of soul which inspired this making amends for others, the love of charity.”
• St. Gregory Palamas: “Christ came for baptism partly out of obedience towards the One who
sent John. Other reasons were to make himself known, to make a beginning of guiding us
towards salvation, and to confirm to his followers, who were baptized in accordance with his
teaching and commandments, that the Holy Spirit is given in baptism, and that through the
Holy Spirit baptism is made a cleansing remedy for the stains sunk deeply into us, because
of having been born and living in the passions. Even if the heavy burden of mortal flesh still
weighs them down so as to exercise, test, and correct them, and so that they might forsake

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 the wretchedness of this world, invisibly, however, they have put on Christ (Gal 3:27), so they
can strive to share in his manner of life here and now, and afterwards, when they depart
hence, to be partakers of his blessedness, radiance, and incorruption. Just as through one
man, Adam, liability to death passed, down by heredity to those born afterwards, so the
grace of eternal and heavenly life passed down from the one divine and human Word to all
those born again of him.”
• Nicholas Cabasilas: “Baptism confers being and, in short, existence according to Christ. It
receives us when we are dead and corrupted, and first leads us into life. The anointing with
chrism perfects him who has received birth by infusing into him the energy that befits such a
life.”
• Venerable Louis of Grenada: “Jesus came into the company of publicans, sinners, and
Pharisees as if he were one of them, and waited his turn to be baptized. Whenever Christ
humbled himself, he was glorified in some manner. He was born in a stable and praised with
music from heaven; he was circumcised like any sinner and was given the name of Jesus,
which means Savior of sinners; he would die on a cross between two thieves and the
heavens would become dark, the earth would tremble, rocks would split, the dead would
come to life, and all the elements would be affected. So also in this event; he is the Son of
God. From this all his disciples can know that never again will they be humbled for the love of
God without being glorified by the same God.”
• Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity:
Do you not see the cloud that’s full of light—
It reaches us, this blaze from splendent skies!—
All-silent, let us gaze upon the sight
To fix on Changeless Beauty with our eyes.
A look from Christ…as water is made clear,
God’s purity is formed in us by this.
That he may deify, let us dwell here—
Our souls in his soul, and our eyes in his.

Himself, he comes to kiss us! so to be

Our love beyond the telling. In his shade
(He hovers over, to protect us) we
By sight of him are fruitful virgins made.
The Father’s Splendor, beautiful; how bright
Is Christ our Lord. Lit by Divinity,
He is himself a burning hearth of Light
That wraps his own about with radiancy…

When will it end at last, our waiting-state?

When, offer up ourselves as though to fire?
Let us adore our dear Lamb as we wait.
To purify us— this is his desire.
Do you not feel a passion now to show
To Christ a little of his love? That way
I want to die: to say ‘I love you, so
As you did, I yield up myself today!’

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• Fr. Barthelemy Froget, O.P.: “‘That holiness which exists in God essentially and substantially
is by grace given to our soul as a gift and a boon; we are thus to share in a goodness
essentially divine” (St. Thomas Aquinas). Grace is a very great and precious gift by which we
are made partakers of the divine nature; or by the mouth of Saint John, that we are called
and really are the sons of God, being born of God. This communication of God’s nature is
real, actual, and specific. This communication consisting in the granting of a created gift
which is distinct from the divine nature and yet the living image of it.”
• Msgr. Luigi Giussani: “It is in baptism that man is enabled to grow and become aware of
himself, with an awareness that opens into an announcement of a relationship that exceeds
our capacity…. Baptism is the place where belonging to God acquires from God himself…a
nature that is greater.”
• Sr. Aemiliana Löhr: “Our life in Christ that began with our baptism has been renewed. Christ
our God has led us from death to life. No matter how long ago the day of our baptism, time
and space count for nothing in the sacred mystery. It has happened now; it is now that we
have put on the new being.”
• Msgr. Luigi Giussani: “Belonging to Christ in the whole of one’s existence implies the event of
a new humanity: in Christ we are born as a new man. This event has a place where it
emerges: Baptism. Baptism is the act with which Christ takes a life, elects, and chooses a
life. Baptism is the place where the mystery dies inside human evil and rises by the divine
power that it has within it. It is the place where belonging to God acquires from God himself a
super-nature, a nature that is greater. It is in Baptism that man is enabled to grow and
become aware of himself, with an awareness that opens through an announcement in his
soul of an exceptional, surpassing relationship, that would exceed his capacity. Every
baptized person has a capacity to be united before every diversity: every baptized person
echoes the unity of God as mystery.”
• Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar: "If Jesus at his baptism associates with sinners and the
excluded, this is because he is the worldly countenance of God the Father, a face that meets
the lonely and isolated in their inner and outer loneliness and isolation."
• Msgr. Luigi Giussani: “If I am baptized, I was baptized so that the power which transformed
me in Baptism, the power of the mystery which has transformed me in Baptism, wanted to
pass through me in order to reach others along many paths and occasions. This is the
ontology of our relationship. The relationship between the baptized person and all men wells
up from this end, from this aim that the mystery communicated to us in Baptism. This energy
that he gave us in Baptism has begun to make us know the aim he had in baptizing us, in
choosing and baptizing us. This is the source of the ethics, the behavior to be followed, that
which I must follow when I become aware of my Baptism, which cannot be forgotten in any
action—; on no day, in no hour has man the right to forget this choice. The aim of this choice
penetrates the whole organics of the human phenomenon, of the human gesture, of man’s
commitment: it penetrates everything in order to reach an aim that surpasses it on every
side, an aim that is greater.… So the presence of Jesus Christ which is in every day, every
hour of the life of the baptized, and, therefore for the whole of mankind, is an event—
according to the perception given us (quite persuasively!) by our charisma. It is an event that
we encounter in the present, in the “now,” in circumstances, which spread the evidence of a

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 vocational companionship as emergence of the mystery of the Church, the mysterious Body
of Christ.”
5. Examples from the Saints and Other Exemplars
• St. Genesius, martyr (+303) – A former pagan Roman actor, he deceived the local Church
into believing that he wanted to convert. Genesius was enrolled as a catechumen. He was
particularly interested in baptism. With what he learned, he decided that this would form the
theme of a comedy to mock Christianity. When he had done enough research, he
abandoned the catechumenate. As he had hoped, the emperor was present at the
performance and Genesius himself led his troupe of actors in the farce: he was playing the
role of a sick man confined to bed who was crying out for baptism. As the play grew more
outrageous – to the delight of the emperor, an actor playing a priest came on stage to
“baptize” the ailing catechumen. As the actor poured the water over his head, Genesius was
suddenly struck by the grace of God: he saw the truth of Christianity and began to profess his
faith in Jesus Christ. It soon became clear to the emperor and the audience that he was no
longer acting.
According to the Acts of his martyrdom, Genesius addressed the emperor himself and called
on him to embrace Christianity: “I came here today to please an earthly Emperor but what I
have done is please a heavenly King. I came here to give you laughter, but what I have done
is give joy to God and his angels. From this moment on, believe me, I will never mock these
great mysteries again. I now know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the true God, the Light, the
Truth and the Mercy of all who have received his gift of baptism. O great Emperor, believe in
these mysteries! I will teach you, and you will know the Lord Jesus Christ is the true God.”

6. Quotations from Pope Benedict XVI

• “In Baptism the tiny human being receives a new life, the life of grace, which enables him or
her to enter into a personal relationship with the Creator for ever, for the whole of eternity. In
us sin creates an abyss in which we risk being engulfed for ever unless the Father who is in
Heaven stretches out his hand to us. This is the mystery of Baptism: God desired to save us
by going to the bottom of this abyss himself so that every person, even those who have fallen
so low that they can no longer perceive Heaven, may find God's hand to cling to and rise
from the darkness to see once again the light for which he or she was made. We all feel, we
all inwardly comprehend that our existence is a desire for life which invokes fullness and
salvation. This fullness is given to us in Baptism. Basically, the whole mystery of Christ in the
world can be summed up in this term: ‘baptism’, which in Greek means ‘immersion.’ The Son
of God, who from eternity shares the fullness of life with the Father and the Holy Spirit, was
‘immersed’ in our reality as sinners to make us share in his own life. Why did the Father
desire this? The purpose of Christ's existence was precisely to give humanity God's life and
his Spirit of love so that every person might be able to draw from this inexhaustible source of
salvation. For this reason Christian parents, bring their children to the baptismal font as soon
as possible, knowing that life which they have communicated calls for a fullness, a salvation
that God alone can give. And parents thus become collaborators of God, transmitting to their
children not only physical but also spiritual life.
• “What do we hope for from Baptism? We hope for eternal life for our children. This is the
purpose of Baptism. But how can it be obtained? How can Baptism offer eternal life? What is
eternal life? In simpler words, we might say: we hope for a good life, the true life, for these

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 children of ours; and also for happiness in a future that is still unknown. We are unable to
guarantee this gift for the entire span of the unknown future, so we turn to the Lord to obtain
this gift from him. Through Baptism each child is inserted into a gathering of friends who
never abandon him in life or in death because these companions are God's family, which in
itself bears the promise of eternity. And if we can say that love and truth are sources of life,
are life itself - and a life without love is not life - we can say that this companionship with the
One who is truly life, with the One who is the Sacrament of life, will respond to your
expectation, to your hope.”
• “In Jesus’ world, righteousness is man’s answer to the Torah, acceptance of the whole of
God’s will, the bearing of the ‘yoke of God’s kingdom,’ as one formulation had it. In a world
marked by sin, Jesus’ Yes to the entire will of God in his Baptism also expresses solidarity
with men, who have incurred guilt but yearn for righteousness.”
• “Jesus loaded the burden of all mankind’s guilt upon his shoulders; he bore it down into the
depths off the Jordan. He inaugurated his public activity by stepping into the place of sinners.
His inaugural gesture is an anticipation of the cross. The Baptism is an acceptance of deth
for the sins of humanity.”
• “To accept the invitation to be baptized now means to go to the place of Jesus’ Baptism. It is
to go where he identifies himself with us and to receive there our identification with him. The
point where he anticipates death has now become the point where we anticipate rising again
with him.”
• “Jesus’ Baptism is a descent into the house of the evil one, combat with the ‘strong man’ (cf.
Lk 11:22) who holds men captive (and the truth is that we are all very much captive to
powers that anonymously manipulate us!).”
• “By his entrance into a communion of name with God, man is drawn into a new existence,
that he is, as it were, one who has been born anew, who has already been. The Yes of love
for another involves a far-reaching renunciation of self. Only in the measure in which man
risks the passion of truth does he become a man. Being baptized means assuming the name
of Christ, means becoming a son with and in him. The demand made by the name into which
one here enters is more radical than the demand of any earthly name can be. It attacks the
roots of our autonomy more deeply than the deepest earthly bond can do. For it demands
that our existence become ‘sonlike’, that we belong so totally to God that we become an
‘attribute’ of God. And as sons we are to acknowledge so totally that we belong to Christ that
we know ourselves to be one flesh, ‘one body’, with all his brethren. Baptism means, then,
that we lose ourselves as a separate, independent ‘I’ and find ourselves again in a new ‘I.’”
• Baptism serves the purpose of giving a meaning to man’s life, above and beyond biological
life, so that this life is justified. The gift of life can only be justified if I can give a new person
more than mere biological life. If I can give him, along with it, a meaning that I know to be
stronger than all the darkness of history. That is what baptism is, which takes him up into
fellowship with Christ. Baptism is, in fact, much more than a ritual conferring membership in a
community, as many people conceive it nowadays. It is a process of birth, through which a
new dimension of life opens out.
• At Baptism, my “I” is taken away from me and is incorporated into a new and greater subject.
This means that my “I” is back again, but now transformed, broken up, opened through

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 incorporation into the other, in whom it acquires its new breadth of existence. Christ alone
carries within himself the whole “promise.”
• In the Gospel account of the baptism of Jesus, the mystery of death and Resurrection, sin
and redemption, sin and forgiveness is prefigured: Jesus descends into the depths of the
Jordan. Being submerged in the river is a symbolic representation of the process of death.
An old life is buried, so that a new one can arise. Because Jesus himself is without sin and
has no old life to bury, his acceptance of baptism is an anticipation of the cross, whereby he
begins to share in our lot and to take upon himself our sins and our death. The opening of
heaven is a sign that this descent into our night is the dawning of a new day, that the barrier
between God and man is being broken down by this identification of the Son with us: God is
no longer inaccessible; in the depths of our sins, and even of death, he searches for us and
brings us into the light again. To this extent the baptism of Jesus anticipates the entire drama
of his life and death and at the same time explains them to us. Baptism establishes a
communion of name with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is, in this respect, somewhat
analogous to the act of marriage, which establishes between two individuals a communion of
name. Baptism is the inception of Resurrection, inclusion in the name of God and, by the
same token, in the indestructible aliveness of God. Being baptized would thus be the call to
share in Jesus’ relationship with God.

7. Other Considerations
• We are familiar with the famous ancient myth of Narcissus. One day this handsome young
man, wearied and overheated with hunting, stretched out by an alluring pool of water to
quench his thirst. As he drank he became enraptured with the beautiful reflection that peered
back at him. Spellbound, he fell in love with his own self, mistaking a mere shadow for a real
body. Again and again, the frustrated Narcissus tried to embrace the vision he beheld…but
to no avail. Yet, as futile as his efforts were, Narcissus refused to give up and turn away. So,
after a long time, worn out by languish and longing, Narcissus laid down his head by the
water and died.
The myth of Narcissus strikes a deep chord in us because it takes us back to paradise
and the sin of our first parents. Professor John Saward explains that “the devil and his
demons are angels who were created good and beautiful by God but who fell into hell
because they fell in love with their own beauty…The sin of Satan is the sin of Narcissus…
The devil can and does abuse beauty in order to entice men into the worship of self and the
rejection of God.”
In the book The Dilemma of Narcissus, professor Louis Lavelle describes just how
much like Narcissus we really are. He writes that Narcissus “had to go out from himself in
order to give himself someone to love, and yet the object of his passion would dissolve away
if he succeeded in reaching it. Nothing but a little water separates him from himself. He
thrusts his arms in to grasp what he longs for, but which must remain for ever a mere image.
He can gaze at himself, but he cannot lay hold upon himself. He is wasting away, but he
cannot tear himself from the spot…He watches himself, instead of living; and this is his first
sin. He tries to find his essence, and finds nothing but his image, which leaves him eternally
dissatisfied…In the end the spectacle unnerves him: from now onwards, he loses his
capacity to live…He must go forth from himself if he is to possess himself; if he seeks
himself, he will waste away in the search…Narcissus thinks he can find the secret of the

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 world in himself, and that is why he fails to find himself…Narcissus’ crime is to choose his
image and reject his self…”
As a result of the effects of original sin, we, like Narcissus, remain caught up in a kind
of idolatry of self, deluded and delirious. We cannot tear ourselves away from our self-
infatuation. That is why One who is breathtakingly beautiful comes to us by way of his
baptism. As Jesus begins his public ministry, God-made-man is, like Narcissus, “hunting”—
but he is hunting for the salvation of souls who in their spellbound self-obsession reject God.
The Lord’s hunt takes him to the river Jordan where, like Narcissus, Jesus too is thirsty, but
with the thirst for our redemption that will leave Christ parched on the cross. Peering into
those waters, Jesus adores, not a gorgeous body, but his own eternal Father whom he
recognizes in the image of God that is reflected back to him.
In order to break our addiction to self-worship, Jesus must lay hold of that injured and
impaired image he loves. He must unite himself with wasted humanity. But to do this, Jesus
must go forth from himself. However, Jesus doesn’t grasp at the water. Rather, the Lord asks
John the Baptist to pour a little water on him so that, in identifying with our sinful condition,
Jesus can begin to eliminate that alienation that keeps us separated from ourselves. Despite
the agony and longing involved, Christ will not give up. He will persist until he reaches
Calvary…until he effects our reconciliation. At his baptism, Jesus lays down his life in the
water, not out of desolation and defeat, but out of love and obedience to the Father. He
sacrifices his self in choosing to restore and perfect our divine image. Through Christ’s death,
and our baptism into it (see Rom 6:3), Jesus recovers our capacity to live.
Jesus in his baptism shows us how much we need to go out of ourselves if we are to
find ourselves. The incomparable beauty of Christ’s gesture compels us. We cannot find the
secret of the world in ourselves. It is found only in the death and resurrection of the Son of
God. Soon Jesus will teach us: “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life
for my sake will find it” (Mt 10:39). That is what the mystery of the baptism of the Lord is all
about.

• Parable for the Baptism of the Lord:

Once upon a time, a great king arrived in a beautiful land to establish his kingdom.
But the land was so very beautiful that he had a hard time choosing just where to make his
home. And so he turned to his new country and asked it to help him decide on the perfect
place to live.
The sea spoke up first. “You must make your home on me, the majestic sea, O great
king,” said the sea. “For Moses passed through me leading the Hebrews to the promised
land. I am beautiful to look at, and my salty surf is soothing.”
But at that moment, the mountain interrupted: “Ah, but sea, you are sneaky. Since
you are so wide and vast, sometimes you hide the fish from the fisherman so that they
cannot catch them. Because of you, people go without food, and sometimes the fishermen
even lose their jobs.”
“Not only that,” interjected the garden, “but on you raging storms suddenly swell up,
shipwrecking all those going about you on boats. You are an angry, savage sea. That is
why I think I am the perfect place to live,” continued the garden. “In me Adam and Eve made
their paradise. I am peaceful, sweet, and lush, filled with splendid flowers and fruits.”
“But,” argued the sea, “you grow tempting, tricky trees. Because of you, Adam and
Eve were expelled from their paradise and cast out into the wasteland to till the rocky
ground.”

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 “Not only that,” objected the mountain, “but a garden is the place where disciples
desert their master. No, you growing garden are the home of agony, desertion, and betrayal.
Which makes it clear that I, the great mountain, am the only place for a king to live. It was on
the mountain that Moses received the Ten Commandments. I am the perfect place for a king
to proclaim Beatitudes, for a king to be transfigured, for a king even to ascend into heaven.”
“You mean the perfect place to be tempted by Satan,” sniped the jealous sea.
“You mean the perfect place to be crucified,” growled the grouchy garden.
And as the king winced at the awful bickering between the mountain, the garden, and
sea, he saw not far away a humble river flowing past them slowly and silently, looking broken
and sad.
“And what about you, O river,” said the king, “why don’t you make your bid for my
royal home?”
And the river softly replied, “O great king, I am not worthy of such a regal guest. The
great sea offers you its pleasing beaches, but my rough current would sweep you away. You
can climb the great mountain and reach great heights, but if you step into me you will sink to
my dark depths. The great garden is filled with beauty, but my waters are polluted. If you get
too close, you can tell how they smell. In them surely you would drown. No, I am so dirty
that I do not deserve any kind of a king.”
And with that, the hurting river began to weep. And its tears were so great that they
flooded over the river’s tall banks. And then the king cried too.
After a long while, the king spoke again and he said, “I have come to my decision.
Great sea, you are majestic; great garden you are splendid; great mountain, you are lofty.
But you, murky river, you are not great at all. You are miserable, you are needy, you are
humble...and you smell pretty bad. And for that reason, I choose you for my home. A
majestic sea does not need a king. Neither does a splendid garden, nor a lofty mountain. I
choose you, lowly river, because you need me most.”
And with that, the king stepped into the river. And suddenly the river’s muddy waters
turned crystal clear, perfect in their purity, brilliant, glistening, glorious, and sparkling with
radiant new life.
And as he emerged from the river, the great king said, “Now I am ready to walk across
you, O sea, to still your storms and to comfort my fearful fisherman in their wave-tossed boat.
Now I am ready to pray in you, O garden, even though rivers of sweat may pour from me like
blood in my agony. Now I am ready to carry my cross up to your high summit, O mountain.
For there my heart shall be pierced as it must. And a river of blood and water shall pour forth
from my side. And in that life-giving river, all those called to my kingdom shall forever make
their home…”

Recommended Resources

Benedict XVI, Pope. Benedictus. Yonkers: Magnificat, 2006.

________________. Jesus of Nazareth. New York: Doubleday, 2007. pp. 9-24.

Biblia Clerus: http://www.clerus.org/bibliaclerus/index_eng.html

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Cameron, Peter John. To Praise, To Bless, To Preach—Cycle B. Huntington: Our Sunday
Visitor, 2001.

Hahn, Scott:
http://www.salvationhistory.com/library/scripture/churchandbible/homilyhelps/homilyhelps.cfm.

Martin, Francis: http://www.hasnehmedia.com/homilies.shtml

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