Notice the central role the Holy Spirit has in your faith, life

Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor.

“Looking Ahead” is a reflection on the Sunday readings, for the Baptism of the Lord, by Father Perry.

By Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor

Trivia question of the day — “Who baptized Jesus in the Jordan?”

It depends.

In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John, it is clearly John the Baptist who does so. But in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 3:19-20), Herod has John locked up in prison. In Verses 21 to 22, John’s name is not mentioned, nor is anyone else, except the Holy Spirit.

For Luke, the Holy Spirit is very active, especially in the infancy narrative. The Spirit moved Zechariah, Mary, Elizabeth, Simeon, and most likely Anna. The Spirit was indeed busy. The Spirit is so obviously present; seemingly the only active agent at Jesus’ baptism.

Luke gives us Jesus so keenly in tune with and guided by the Spirit; the Holy Spirit takes such a unique and central role in the whole Gospel of Luke.

This continues in Luke’s Acts of the Apostles, where we discover a Spirit-led church that is born in the Spirit and grows rapidly and charismatically through the action of the Spirit. The Spirit, so much at the center of Jesus’ life and the beginning of his ministry, is the same Spirit that is central to the life of every Christian’s ministry. Just how aware are we of the Spirit’s action in our lives? Do we know how to listen and respond?

This feast of the Baptism of the Lord invites us to notice the central role of the Holy Spirit in our faith and in our lives! As we close the Christmas season with this feast day, we then immediately return to Ordinary Time which is anything but ordinary. Rather, it is extraordinary, but just not the special seasons of Advent and Christmas, and Lent and Easter.

Faith continues to saturate our life on a daily basis. We once again wear green which signifies new life.

That is what faith does to us!