Restate the promise to bring life

The feast celebrated today by the texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary, the Baptism of the Lord, marks the end of the liturgical season of Christmas. The liturgy returns to the promise of the Advent season from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. The Lord God delights in His people. His plan as proclaimed by Isaiah goes out as word to the nations of the world and it will not return empty but will accomplish the purpose of God. Isaiah reminds us that the thoughts and ways of God are not our thoughts and ways. We wonder about the condition required to participate in a relationship of joy and fulfillment with the Divine in which God is Immanuel, God with us, and as the words of the canticle psalm declare "I will trust and will not be afraid for the Lord God is my strength and my might". The Gospel of Mark underlines the unexpectedness of the thought and action of God and the desire of God to be intimately involved in the searching and thirsting of humanity for unity and reconciliation with God. The one who is without sin, as the Voice proclaims, the Son, the Beloved is presented and given to humanity as one also baptized by John, a brother in our lives and this is witnessed by the Spirit of Love between Father and Son and in resonance with the indwelling Spirit of John the Baptist, the witnesses at the Jordan and our being as we live with and in the Incarnate. The cost? Returning to Isaiah, it is our free choice to join the ranks of those seeking greater intimacy with God. We only need to arouse that Spirit within and "do whatever He tells you".