SUNDAY 1 MARCH 2026: THE SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT.

25/02/202625/02/2026 | bayswater2016

The Transfiguration, Leandro Miguel Velasco 2007, Incarnation Dome of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington DC, USA.

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And (Jesus) was transfigured before [Peter, James and John]; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him. Matthew 17:2-3.

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At the end of this remarkable event, Jesus told Peter, James and John, “Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead” (verse 9). They could not comprehend neither the event, nor the words “Son of Man has been raised from the dead” but it is clear they remembered everything, written down years later. It seems to parallel Jesus’ baptism, the first revelation of the Blessed Trinity, but with two divine presences this time, God the Father and God the Son (both identified by what the Voice said) rather than three. The Holy Spirit might have been present in the dazzling light though… The disciples saw two towering figures from the Hebrew Scriptures appearing with Jesus. Moses, he who had actually encountered God, both in the burning bush episode and when he received the Tablets of the Law, the 10 Commandments, from God on Mount Sinai (and note that he holds the two Tablets of the Law in the picture above, the first three commands with reference to God, and the remaining seven to us, the children of God). And Elijah, who had also experienced God’s presence on Mount Horeb (some say it is another name for Mount Sinai) and, most famously, was taken into heaven in his chariot of fire!

Elijah Taken Up in a Chariot of Fire, Giuseppe Angeli c.1740, Samuel H. Kress Collection, The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA.

But almost universally the scholars say the two figures with Jesus embody the Law of God and the Prophets of God. It also displays the continuity of the Law and the Prophets leading inexorably to the Messiah standing between them. The man kneeling and watching Elijah ascend to heaven is his disciple and successor, Elisha.

Today’s first reading goes back even further than Elijah and Moses, back to Abram (even before God renamed him Abraham). This was back to the original promise, to make Abram’s successors into a “great nation”. And remember there are three Abrahamic peoples: the Jewish people, the Muslims and us Christians. It might even seem to suggest that God looks on us three almost as “a great nation” and that all others will find blessing in us all… In which case we should all try to outdo ourselves in putting God’s law, love of God, neighbor and self, into fullest action! How about that for a Lenten thought!

But we Christians are called back to our own mission in life by today’s second reading. Here we are reminded of the “grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began, but now made manifest through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus, who destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel”. And we are part and parcel of that “light through the gospel”. It has to be through each one of us that Jesus is clearly seen, in our words and actions. And so we end up in Lent once more. This is the ultimate time of the year when we examine our own lives, actions, words. Do we try and make everything we do and say a reflection of the Lord living in us? Not that we should be sanctimonious, because that smacks of being “holier than thou” which is NOT the idea! Just simple generosity on every true level is what we are called to. And once more, we are not alone in this. If we allow it, the Lord’s strength is within us to help and guide us. We just have to ask and apply….

The Transfiguration, Lattanzia Gambara c.1570, Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, Parma, Italy.

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Today, 1st March, is St. David of Wales’ feast day, my patron and confirmation saint. I was born in Newport in Wales and although brought up in London, have always considered myself Welsh. David was a tough leader, nicknamed WaterMan as he forbade beer in his monasteries… He was one of only two UK patron saints who actually lived there (Patrick 0f Ireland was the other – possibly Welsh himself; George of England and Andrew of Scotland never set foot in old Britannia).

St. David pray for us!

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SUNDAY 22 FEBRUARY 2026: THE FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT.

18/02/202622/02/2026 | bayswater2016

The Baptism of Christ, Andrea del Verrocchio & Leonardo da Vinci c.1475, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.

“At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry.” Matthew 4:1-2.

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Sometimes the root meaning of words are guides to their true meaning. Lent, unhappily, is not one. The German for Lent, for example, is fastenzeit, meaning the time of fasting, clearly more applicable to the season! The German for spring is lenz… from which we get the old English word Lent, meaning the time of year, spring (in the northern hemisphere). Other languages tend to reflect the 40 days of Lent in one way or another. As the Latin for 40 is quadragesima, perhaps one can appreciate the way our English-speaking forefathers named the season! It reflects the time Jesus spent in the desert immediately following the double revelation to him at his baptism: that he was the Son of God and the long-awaited Messiah, a word meaning Anointed. As Son of God he had divine power; and he had a mission: to fulfill all the revelations in Scripture (the Old Testament) concerning the Messiah. That would overwhelm anyone! Jesus needed time and distance to come to some understanding of what it all meant. 40 days in the wilderness provided both.

So the idea is that we all symbolically follow the Lord into the wilderness also. Why? Because we too are called to be Christ, the Anointed One, to the world (our vocation) and we all became children of God (our identity), both of these at our baptism. And this is the season to see if we are fulfilling both of these in our lives, our Christian vocation in whatever field our God-given gifts lead us, and acting appropriately as a child of God with others (and ourselves) throughout our lives.

Our first reading today is particularly famous, the first temptation in the Garden of Eden. Satan was playing on the human weakness of wanting more. Adam and Eve had everything they needed: each other, food in abundance, no need to work, and, most importantly, freedom. They had been given one prohibition, not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Then the temptation: Eat that fruit and you too will be a god! You will decide what is right and what is wrong, and no-one else; you will have all power to do whatever you will. All power to you…. And so it was done. And the immediate result was the opposite – shame, embarrassment, alienation of self as they were ashamed to be naked. Instead of the promised freedom, they became imprisoned by their own bodies! Note also that when God confronted Adam with this breaking of the law, Adam blamed Eve – two further alienations, one from God (as he hid from God) and one from each other. Further condemnation followed: pain in childbirth, working hard to make a living (alienation of man and nature), and expulsion from the Garden of Eden. It was pride which brought Satan/Lucifer down (Isaiah 14:12-15); it was pride which destroyed the peace and plenty of Eden. Now take that thought to today’s gospel of Jesus in the wilderness and apply it to his actions there…..

So it might be an idea for each of us to consider if there are seeds of pride in us, quietly eating away at the roots of our way to heaven/Eden. No-one is immune. If it can bring down the principal angel in heaven, then we are sitting ducks! It must have been a real challenge for Jesus to deal with the devil and his temptations in the desert offering everything on a platter, if only he would bow down…..

The Temptation of Christ, Duccio c.1311, The Frick Collection, New York City, New York, USA.

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SUNDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2026: THE SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME.

11/02/202615/02/2026 | bayswater2016

Let Go and Let God, Daily Homily Reflections, Jacob Steinhardt, c.1952.

Jesus said, “… go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” Matthew 5:24.

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The gospel today is taken from the Sermon on the Mount, which began last Sunday. Several weighty topics are covered here, including the meaning of the Jacob Steinhardt woodcut above. Jesus’ words are spoken so easily: ….go first and be reconciled with your brother. The reality of putting that demand into practice is most definitely not. But it sets the correct priority. It usually means having to eat some crow, and I don’t know anyone who wants to do that! It might well be a fact that in any dispute, the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle, but even that means that fault may well be on both sides. And then there is the necessity of one person in the dispute having to try and set the situation right, even if they believe they are in the right. Something festering is most unlikely to dwindle away to nothing. Someone in the dispute has to make the first move. Clearly in today’s gospel, Jesus is teaching each one of us to make the first move! He gives no indication of who is at fault in the dispute, only teaching the necessity of putting it to right one way or another. And in the wider view, taking all of today’s gospel into account, Jesus says flatly that the law is clear, and is to be obeyed: “….whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven”. And then there are the examples of Jesus’ hyperbole: “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna”. Yes, there is sense in that statement, but the intent is to make sure that the hearer understands that a remedy is essential – you have to do something about a dispute to end it satisfactorily. But at the root of all this is the necessity of having a law at all. Law if the foundation of all societies. It gives a picture of what society states is necessary behavior from members of that society. In Legally Blonde, for example, certain stereotypes prevalent in the USA legal system (and no doubt in many others too) are challenged and defeated rather splendidly, showing that inherent intelligence is clearly more important than judgments based on appearance or sex. Furthermore, it varies depending on whichever society has formulated its law. For example, there are laws in communist China which require behavior which, in USA society for example, would never be considered illegal – free speech is one example. What one is free to say or criticize the government in New York may well have you incarcerated in Hong Kong! But on another level entirely there is Divine Law, given by God. And today’s gospel addresses that dimension.

Moses’ Descent from Mount Sinai, Rosselli 1482, Sistine Chapel. Vatican City State.

Now in this dimension there is no police force, there are no lockups where we might consider our fate, no threat of punishment (except that which we bring on ourselves). There is also no ignorance. We all know, taking one example from this law, that we must honor our parents. For some that might be an enormous and unacceptable demand, but for most of us it is not. Also, stealing another’s property is illegal in just about all the laws of every society in every age! In ancient Greece there was a wide variety of what was deemed acceptable and unacceptable behavior. However, each society had a legal system, which is my point. It became a necessary construct very early on when humanity began to gather together in any organized way. And so it was that the Hebrews accepted the Law of God (eventually), brought down to them by Moses, who had received it from God on Mount Sinai. (And, on another plane, the magazine Elle is referred to as “the bible” in Legally Blonde…). And given all that, it is not at all surprising that Jesus said, in today’s gospel, Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. Once all things had taken place, he summed everything up in the single command to love God, neighbor and self. And it is by that law we are all asked to take to heart, absorb and live day by day by day, as they sing in Godspell. Those words, by the way, were written by St. Richard of Chichester in England many years ago. Take a look.

St. Richard of Chichester, Anastpaul, Breathing Catholic.

This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the great season of Lent, the time when we all prepare for the commemoration of the Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection. It is the special time of introspection, when we address our identity as children of God. What exactly does that mean for each one of us? Have we taken on that great identity with power and strength, or unwillingly and without conviction? It is the season to address such foundational questions and what we should do as a result. Let us ask God to guide us through those 40 days in the wilderness, and help us emerge as stronger children of God.

What does Lent want from us? National Catholic Reporter, March 2025.

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SUNDAY 8TH FEBRUARY 2026: THE FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME.

04/02/202604/02/2026 | bayswater2016

“If that salt has lost its flavor, it ain’t got much in its favor….” Godspell “(Movie 1973), Schwartz & Gordon.

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Jesus said to his disciples: “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?” Matthew 5:13.

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I remember seeing “Godspell” for the first time more years ago than I care to recall. I remember being overwhelmed at the Last Supper scene and the overall joy of the musical (even it it does not really picture Jesus’ resurrection). The gospel of Matthew was its primary inspiration, and today’s gospel passage reminded me of the line quoted above. And the simple truth that it carried, and its clarion call: “You are the salt of the earth…” Yes – we are! And then I started to brood on the significance of salt. It is true that salt is detrimental to agriculture. We may be the salt of the earth, but earth itself might well say “no thanks”! However, without it, our own bodies begin to suffer. Salt is essential to all animal life, in moderation of course. Recall the famous “Salt March” initiated by Mahatma Gandhi as part of his non-violent campaign for Indian independence from Britain. Rather than agitating for political rights, which was somewhat esoteric, campaigning for the right to make such a basic substance appealed to everyone, as salt-making was then a government monopoly. And then there are many beautiful salt towns in Austria which made their fortune being located near salt deposits, and the resulting salt mines. And (finally) never forget the success of salted codfish, a very successful industry in Norway (where cod is plentiful) and other parts of maritime Europe with its extensive trade with Catholic Europe over the centuries. Fish on Friday, a dish which is very quick to deteriorate, was a weekly demand, springing from a prohibition on meat by the church even into my own memory (and still a rule in Lent). Salt preserved fish even after a long journey to the dinner table. I believe the church would prefer a year-long return to such a tradition… So Jesus, as ever, knew what he was doing by picking such an important element of life. If we are the salt of the earth, then we are required by God to become essential to the life around us. That would be in the sense of presenting as excellent an example of living as the Lord would have us live, setting a superb example, and being as reliable and generous as much as we can. In other words, being entirely and happily Christian! The rest of today’s gospel offers similar examples on how to be totally Christian.

Today’s second reading, once more taken from Paul’s first letter to the Christians in the port city of Corinth, suggests a good way to achieve this. He says it should not be done by being clever or superior but by being strong in Spirit and power; in other words, once more, by being truly Christian! That means we allow God to shine through us rather than us promoting ourselves. And how do we do that? Take a look at today’s first reading. It’s all there: “Share your bread with the hungry; shelter the oppressed and the homeless; clothe the naked”, and so on and on. We have heard this a million times, but each time we hear it, we should look to our own lives once more to see if we are still being true to ourselves and to God. I know I am prone to slipping from that generous height into what I want for me to the exclusion of all others. Yes we must take proper care of ourselves, but we should always be aware of the less fortunate and act accordingly as best we can. In that way we are, truly, the salt of the earth.

St. Kinga’s Chapel, Wieliczka Salt Mine, Wieliczka, Poland.

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SUNDAY 1ST FEBRUARY: THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME.

28/01/202629/01/2026 | bayswater2016

The Sermon on the Mount, Rosselli c.1482, Sistine Chapel. Vatican City State.

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When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying…… Matthew 5:1-2.

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Thus begins Jesus’ central, most important teaching in Matthew, known as the Sermon on the Mount. It incorporates his central message, with all its demands and challenges. The traditional name for this central teaching is “The Beatitudes”, namely the actions and thoughts that would make us worthy in the eyes of God. “Do this”, Jesus seems to say,“and heaven is yours”. Beatitudes is an interesting word. First, “blessed” is the translation from the original Greek word μακάριος, makarios. (Remember that all our Christian scriptures are translations from Greek originals). So for most English speakers today, “blessed” means, basically, very holy: the Blessed Mother, the Blessed Sacrament, and so on. But if we dig a little deeper into the original word μακάριος, we find more layers of meaning which perhaps elude us in the Latin and English translations. The root of the Greek word “μάκαρ” or makar, is poetic. It can mean, for example, divinely bestowed happiness, coming from the gods themselves. One is deeply happy when that has happened. When Our Lady, in her great hymn of praise called the Magnificat, says: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed…” there is no self-glorification there (though I have heard something along those lines in the past), but rather a statement of pure happiness in the Lord! Following the Lord has been, she seems to say, the happiest, best thing that has ever happened to her! So Jesus must be saying in this central message that if you follow this teaching, the Beatitudes, the most profound contentment, satisfaction and happiness will come upon you, even when things seem to be at their worst. And the only way of proving that is to put them all into practice! So it would be quite acceptable for today’s reading to say, for example, “Happy are they who mourn…” which upturns all we might expect from such a sad, painful situation. But there it is, loud and clear from the lips of the Lord! But remember the second half: “for they will be comforted”. He might well be saying that the beloved and departed one might well now enjoy life eternal with the All-Happy, All-Blessed and All-Good Lord of all, and we should stress that among those of us who remain, to bring at least a little comfort into a grim situation.

If anything, the readings today strongly advocate humility at the very deepest level. Look at Paul’s words to the Christians in Corinth: “Consider your own calling, brothers and sisters. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God…. ‘ Can you even imagine a politician saying anything like that today? It would mean instant political death! Yet there it is, Paul talking to the new Christians in the rough port city of Corinth. Who would want to be called not wise, not noble, but foolish, weak, lowly, despised, counting for nothing? It is simply incredible, but there it all is in today’s second reading! We must assume that Paul does not intend to insult every new Christian in Corinth, but must mean something much deeper, very positive. It might mean, for example, that there is hope for us all! Even if each of us, reluctantly and regrettably agrees to such a description, Paul is saying in that case we are not far from God! Compared to the Lord, for example, who are we to even imagine we can stand next to him as worthy of praise? But… but.. this is the man who died that we might live! His supreme example of utter humility is the touchstone of all Christian life and love. We, like the Lord, are here for each other.

So our lives must be an example of how we serve others. If we ask the Lord how much does he love us, the answer is the cross – that’s how much he loved us! And some might add that such represents the deepest level of foolishness and stupidity imaginable. But not when it is done for others. When we live, it is for the Lord we live; when we suffer it is for the Lord we suffer, when we die it is for the Lord we die. All must be focussed on the Lord, and all the beatitudes state that. The focus is very clear; in every moment of life, good bad and indifferent, it should all be done for the Lord. If we can live up to that standard, then we live for the Lord and we will not be betrayed. After all, we each have a guardian angel…..

My Guardian Dear, Turning to Our Guardian Angels in Times of Need October 2024, Catholic Women in Business.

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SUNDAY 25 JANUARY 2026: THE THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME.

20/01/202625/01/2026 | bayswater2016

Fishing in the Sea of Galilee, Library of Congress: Matson (G. Eric and Edith) Photograph Collection, between 1898-1914.

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“As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, (Jesus) saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Matthew 4:18-20.

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Today’s gospel comes from the fourth chapter of Matthew’s gospel, so it is early in Jesus’ mission following the revelations at his baptism. He had emerged from his 40 days and nights in the desert with a much clearer idea of what God wanted him to do, what God’s vocation for him was. He was aware of the prophesy in Isaiah, today’s first reading, that “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing…” – in the land north of Jerusalem. He possibly moved from Nazareth to Capernaum in order that the “light” he was to bring them would shine on more people there! It is estimated that Nazareth in his time had a population of maximum 400, whereas Capernaum was estimated at about 1000-3000 strong. His new message would certainly reach a larger number of people there. Also, perhaps he thought there was a greater likelihood of finding those who would become his faithful followers, which turned out to be the case. His message clearly required a close-knit set of apostles….. And remember that Jesus’ experience of Nazareth later in his ministry was bitter. Perhaps he anticipated that right at the beginning of his mission and moved elsewhere in anticipation. Additionally, it is thought that Capernaum had a mixed Jewish/Gentile population, and Jesus’ message would have been heard by both groups. Although he clearly aimed his message to a Jewish audience, it was not long after his ascension that Gentiles began to be attracted to it. Perhaps one last thing should be noted. Fishing has always been, and still remains, a very dangerous activity. In other words, the men who worked on that Galilean shore were brave, persistent and and strong, all qualities that would be needed in the life Jesus was calling them to. The Lord knew exactly the type of people he was looking for, and he found them!

So Jesus’ mission began in Capernaum, not Nazareth. Indeed the floor of the synagogue where he most certainly walked is still there:

The remains of the synagogue in Capernaum, 2018. The dark large stone level is thought to have been the floor of the synagogue in Jesus’ day.

And that theme of faithful followers is clearly taken up in today’s second reading. Paul’s first letter to the Christians in Corinth addresses that concern directly. He focusses clearly on the goal of the early Christians – to direct all attention to the Lord and him alone. There is a strong human attraction to create competing teams to see who is “the best”. We have it in sports teams, in car races, in horse racing and even countries. Paul says quite definitely, “no!” to all that. The aim and the goal is simply to be that person the Lord, and no-one and nothing else, wants us to be.

So perhaps the lesson today is to re-examen our priorities and ensure they are correct. Are we still faithful to Christ to the end? Do we have the strength, especially inner strength, to face the challenges that we will meet if we insist on doing the right thing, as taught by Jesus, even if those around us accuse us of being a Holy Joe or something equally insulting? Do we have the inner strength to explain quietly and from conviction that we wish to do the right thing?

Additionally, is there anything or anyone else standing in the way? Are our own worries such that we exclude the very one who could bring us peace and clarity? Returning to roots, what are our priorities today? What makes life good, rewarding and stable? Where does the Lord fit in there? Is God the central focus of our life so that the way we react to and with others reflects God’s goodness? Jesus had to adapt all his feelings, message and reactions to that simple goal. Can each of us do the same? Can we be fishers of those around us?

Coming to Light, Christian Living Devotionals.

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SUNDAY 18 JANUARY 2026: SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME.

14/01/202618/01/2026 | bayswater2016

The Lamb of God: Triumph and Salvation, Stained Glass Inc., Greenville, Texas, USA.

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John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. John 1:29.

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The Old Testament is very clear about the sacrificial offerings to be made to the Lord. Among many other instructions, every day, one lamb, spotless, without blemish, was to be offered in the morning, and one to be offered in the evening. On the Sabbath, two were to be sacrificed in the morning, and two in the evening. The lamb was chosen presumably symbolizing purity and innocence, offered as an atonement for the sins which we humans have committed. Originally these sacrifices were to be made outside the Tent of Meeting during the 40 years wandering in the desert, then in the Temple in Jerusalem (which was discontinued after its destruction by the Roman army in AD70). Certainly there is something about lambs gamboling about in the joy of life. They are an expression of innocence and vivacity! It is entirely possible that the crucifixion of the Lord took place at the time when the Passover lambs were being sacrificed in the Temple, preparing for the Passover celebration… So, for John the Baptist to have declared Jesus to be the Lamb of God certainly has a depth of meaning which is astonishing. Jesus, like the lambs, was utterly innocent of any crime or misdemeanor yet underwent a death as brutal as can be imagined. We Christians say that he was punished for our sins in order for us to be liberated and live as the children of God. We have no excuse in that case for any sins we might commit; in a sense we add to the suffering of the Lord when we sin. That thought should at least give us pause before entering upon a sinful pathway. So, instead of lambs being offered as atonement for our sins, God’s Only Son offered himself in their place. The wages of sin are death; Jesus dying for us in a sense changed that – we now can enter heaven when we leave this world having followed his teaching and, especially, his example. After all, he conquered death itself! And that echoes the blood of the lamb marking the homes of the Hebrews in Egypt when the 10th plague was visited upon the country, the death of the first-born sons. Those homes with the blood of the sacrificed lamb were spared death – so the sacrificed lamb’s blood meant life. So imagine, how much more, the blood of Christ, the Anointed One, THE Lamb of God, allows us to live lives pleasing to God, with sins forgiven and our soul’s life spared.

John the Baptist, in today’s gospel, states that he was witness to the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus at his baptism, and that was, indeed, the very reason he had been called by God – to bear such witness to the arrival of God’s Son, the longed-for Messiah. Isaiah’s teaching in today’s first reading is, as it were, a premonition of that event. That Jesus was, indeed, the light to the nations, and that God’s message would be extended to all the nations of the world, even to the Gentiles. And today’s second reading, to the Christians in Corinth, was one of salvation: “called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” quite a message to a rough and ready port city. Typically ports at all times and places were, and are, not exactly places of peace and quiet but are often rough and ready places of vice of every kind. The message and power of Christ took root even there! There is something to be said of peace, hope and the happiness of clean living!

The Lamb of God, AI Generated, unknown provenance.

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SUNDAY 11 JANUARY 2026: THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD.

07/01/202610/01/2026 | bayswater2016

The Baptism of the Lord, Fra Angelico c.1440, Convent of St. Mark, Florence, Italy.

After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:16-17.

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The baptism of the Lord marks the beginning of his ministry, the reason why God, his and our Father, had sent him to earth. It is possible that Jesus until then had no real idea what God expected of him. He was probably a carpenter as was the man who had adopted him; that would be normal. But on hearing the activities of John, the wild one living on “locusts and wild honey” both specifically permitted in the book of Leviticus 11:22: “All kinds of locusts, bald locusts, crickets, and grasshoppers” and Leviticus 20:24, and God’s promise of a land flowing with milk and honey, he and many others had traveled into the wilderness to see what this man was all about. But it was all unusual, even then. So I imagine that people became intrigued at this strange man, and came just to see what all the fuss was about, perhaps even Jesus (after all, John was his cousin!). Some must have thought John was the promised Messiah, as he was so intent on making sure that they did NOT think that by saying “I am not the Messiah” (John 1:20). But some did indeed follow him even down to today, an ethno-religious group called the Mandaeans. But Christian scripture is quite clear that he was not the Messiah, but all this does suggest that he did have a following. Into this mix of the curious came Jesus from Nazareth. And when John baptized him, everything changed, as you can see above, in the quotation from Matthew, today’s gospel. Two things happened. God’s Holy Spirit descended on him “like a dove”. And there came a voice from the heavens proclaiming that this man was “My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” Two events then, each highly significant. The Spirit of God anointed Jesus. In Hebrew the word is Messiah, and in Greek the word is Christos, both meaning “Anointed One”. Jesus therefore received his Vocation at that moment – he was the Messiah! Now it was his vocation to fulfill all the prophecies concerning the Messiah as proclaimed down through the centuries. The Messiah had, at last, appeared. Not only that, but the Voice from Heaven, clearly God’s voice, declared him to be his Son… Jesus then received his Identity. He was God’s Son clearly with the powers of God prove it! Not surprisingly Jesus had to figure out what had happened to him and what it all meant, hence the desert experience of 40 days and 40 nights.

Among the thoughts and feelings and revelations and realizations that he must have gone through at that time, today’s first reading from Isaiah must have become real:

I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice,
I have grasped you by the hand;
I formed you, and set you
as a covenant of the people,
a light for the nations,
to open the eyes of the blind,
to bring out prisoners from confinement,
and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.

– today’s first reading. And all the other prophecies must have presented themselves to him, including those of the Suffering Servant also in Isaiah. The glory and the suffering, the challenges and the fulfillment are all to be found in Scripture, and for a man tutored in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, such as Jesus, he would now apply them all to himself. His identity and vocation, both given to him by his Father and confirmed by the Holy Spirit, were clear.

One further revelation was present at Jesus’ baptism, that of the Blessed Trinity. Until that moment God was thought of as a single Omnipotent Being clearly responsible for all creation. At the moment of Jesus’ baptism, three clear elements, or persons, appear, utterly unknown until that time: Father (the Voice from heaven), Son (declared to be such by the heavenly Voice, hence had to be the Father) and the Third Person, “as of a dove” descending upon the Lord, the Holy Spirit of God, anointing him as the Messiah. Thus began two thousand years of debate, controversy and argument as to the Nature of God following this event and the other allusions to it in Jesus’ history. Suddenly, God was revealed to be Three Persons, yet One God. This was an utterly new reality, unique in Judeo-Christian thought, rejected by the other Abrahamic faiths, but completely intelligible, though challenging, to Christian reality. The God of Love was at last revealed, the all-powerful generative essence of the Father and Spirit showing forth forever in the Son. This revealed Almighty God as the essence of Love. And we are, each and every one of us, is invited to respond in kind.

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SUNDAY JANUARY 4 2026, THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD.

31/12/202503/01/2026 | bayswater2016

The Three Magi, J.C. Leyendecker, Success Christmas 1900, Diocesan Library of art.

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? Matthew 2:12.

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The question which might spring to mind today could be: “Who or what on earth are Magi”? Every year on this feast day we might well ask the same question. That word never seems to come up in any other context except today’s feast. You might think that today is the only time such a question arises. But that would be technically wrong. The word “magic” comes from the same source! The word crept into English through a complicated history. The origin is not Latin or Greek; it comes from an ancient Persian word maguš, pronounced magus, or, some scholars say, mayus. It originally referred to the priestly caste in the ancient religion called Zoroastrianism, currently called Parsees, possibly carrying a meaning of power or ability. Read all about that here. So it seems as if the event of the Three Wise Men has been taken from an eastern tradition of wisdom and, as with many things centuries ago, astrology. Certainly with them following a star which rested above the stable where Jesus was born, strongly suggests a thorough knowledge of astronomy and the sky at night, plus a tradition of interpreting it all to a contemporary audience. And this may or may not be part of the “Three Kings” story in the Gospel. But clearly there was an expectation, which exists to this day, of “wisdom from the East” and, incidentally, to the clear, uncanny and evident skill of a good magician, able to do things which are apparently impossible and point to a skill and talent not often met with. And note in all this there is no mention of kings! That seems to have come from the apparent cost and quality of the three gifts (from which also comes the tradition of three visitors to the stable but again not actually mentioned in the Bible, and as for their gifts, look here. One more point; the visitors were clearly not Jewish and scholars have linked this to the universal message of Christ, open to all and inviting to all, from the very moment of his birth, from the best educated, the wise men, to the lowest station in society, the shepherds. No-one is excluded from the message of the Lord!

These themes are echoed in the other readings today, from Isaiah:

Nations shall walk by your light,
and kings by your shining radiance.
Raise your eyes and look about;
they all gather and come to you:
your sons come from afar….

to Paul’s letter to the Christians in Ephesus, that God’s grace….

has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit:
that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body,
and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

So all are welcome at the table of the Lord, no exclusions, no conditions, from the illiterate to the brightest in the land! It is an open invitation, but it does need those of us who cherish this life-saving call of goodness to spread the Word. We can do this above all by the example we set in daily living, in what we say, in what we do and in being generous and open to all. If you want magic today, that is the way to do it, but not through trickery, but by the real demonstration of goodness in our life. And we are never alone in doing that. We have the Lord at our side, the Lord in our mind and heart, and in the strength we show in living as He wants us to live and gives us the strength to do it.

Anne Rice.

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