Daily Gospel Reflection for January 3, 2020

Reflection by Kaye Park Hinckley Today's Gospel: John 1:29-34 Is it possible to meet a person for the first time and immediately recognize who they are and why they have been led to you? Well, John the Baptist did. Over two thousand years ago, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, John the Baptist immediately recognized Jesus as the Son of God. As Jesus stepped toward him for baptism, John knew at once that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and that Jesus’s mission as Savior of the world had begun. In many ways, the mission of each and every one of us began then, too. In the sacrament of Baptism, original sin is removed and we are infused with the life of God in the form of sanctifying grace to begin a new life in Christ. Through the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit in baptism, human comprehension of Jesus Christ as the Son of God became possible for us all. Through the Holy Spirit each human being becomes part of the mystical body of Christ, disciples with a mission. Of course, some of us may close our ears and eyes, but still, our mission remains. What is the human mission of discipleship--yours and mine? Just as John did on the day of Jesus’s Baptism, our mission is to pass on to our children, and all others we love and influence, our own recognition of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Savior of the world.

Ponder:

Am I living my life so that others will know that I am a disciple of Jesus Christ?

Pray:

Father, help me to live my own baptism not as some long-ago event, but as a continuous call to accept and reveal Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior of the world.

Copyright 2020 Kaye Park Hinckley Kaye Park Hinckley is the author of seven novels and a short story collection, the 2018 and the 2019 Independent Press Award Winner for Religious Fiction, and was a finalist for the 2019 American Fiction Award. She is the mother of five and grandmother of thirteen. Find her at Amazon and at her blog. Receive CatholicMom.com newsletters in your inbox, including the Daily Gospel Reflection each morning! * indicates required