Sunday Sermon: God already spoke

Fr Dominik Domagala

Baptism of the Lord, Year C
Key question: What does Baptism mean for you?

Readings:
Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11.
Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7.
Luke 3:15-16. 21-22.

What marvellous words we are hearing in today’s First Reading from Prophet Isaiah, who proclaims on behalf of God: “Comfort, give comfort to my people! Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated” (Isaiah 40:1). This exciting news of the freedom and happiness should come immediately, yet the struggle and longing for the saviour has much longer to persist. Historically, the prophet Isaiah spoke of the liberation from the oppressive Babylonians and King Cyrus, which ended. Yet, after that, the People of God had to prevail over many other challenges, tears and scars, and their prayers for the Saviour will last for another 500 years!

Now, a different story. I still vividly remember the experience of the World Youth Days, which took place in August 2023. Full disclosure: I was not keen on going there. Before travelling to Portugal, the thought of sleeping with hundreds of people in sleeping bags, journeying across the country and the city of Lisbon every day for hours with a rucksack on my shoulders, and finally, the hot weather and nowhere to hide from it, these and more reasons were telling me: “Run away!” However, when I read that one of the speakers during the experience would be Bishop Robert Barron, the American speaker, writer, and evangelist, I took all these worries away. I said, “If not for anything else, it is worth going to Portugal just to hear what the man will say.”
And so, when we arrived, I made it my constant point to go and chase the guy whenever I heard people saying, “Barron is going to meet the Youth here,” or “Bishop Barron is going to visit the University there.” I was going, bringing, at times, others with me, and building up the expectations in everyone. What a disappointment it was when we were constantly sent away for the first two or three occasions despite the long journey throughout the city and queuing in lines for hours. They always told us: “It is too many”, “You are too late,” or: “There is no more room.”
All of a sudden, the World Youth Days experience became increasingly disappointing. I was unhappy because I didn’t get what I wanted. Then, at the least expected moment, a friend told me, “There is this one open-space location where Barron will lead an Adoration and Mass, but don’t expect too much.” And so I did. I stopped expecting anything and just went there with others from my group. I knew that the bishop would not say anything special anymore; all the fancy talks were already done. I thought tough: “At least I will see him.”
But this one day at the World Youth Days changed me. When the bishop came out to speak to us, he only said a few words. A small catechesis on the importance of private prayer and “being with the Lord.” He repeated the same thing I had heard from his online catechesis so many times. Then, the best part started. He cleared the podium and invited everybody to welcome the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament for an Adoration and private prayer. Anyone who wished could have a confession during the silent Holy Hour. The Mass? Peaceful and serene, with the bishop speaking, yet as if he would be only in the background.
Many thoughts came through my mind at that time. But those I remember the most are the faces of people I have encountered while unsuccessfully waiting for the previous talks. I remembered and started being thankful. The time I considered before as wasted, unsuccessful and useless suddenly became the most important. Not only did it teach me patience. The Holy Spirit taught me a crucial lesson at that time. What was it? I realised what it was that I should be waiting for. It was not the best of speakers, teaching me new ways of evangelising! No. I should have waited for what Saint Paul names in this Sunday’s second reading: “the appearance of the glory of our great God and saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us” (Titus 2:13). And that I have certainly experienced. Waiting in the lines, I have heard so many stories of people from different parts of the world and how God saved them and blessed them in their lives. I saw compassion and love when the tired and wearied pilgrims were taken care of by the others. Finally, I saw the genuine joy on the faces of people who, in their spare time, prayed together for their families and for the world.

This weekend, we celebrate a great feast, the Baptism of the Lord. The gospel states: “People were filled with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Christ” (Luke 3:15). Indeed, the sense of expectation, arising for centuries, was also heard in the words of the Prophet Isaiah, whose voice was also crying out: “Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low” (Isaiah 40:3-4).
Here we have it. God’s message is already heard! The will of God is proclaimed as we speak! Yet, people tend to focus on things they decide as the most important at the moment: “Is John the Christ or not,” “Will we recognise him or ask for proof?” These and many other questions unnecessarily occupied the minds of John the Baptist’s audience. Yet, God can take care of his plan and reveal His Anointed One without their help. And God does so when he speaks: “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22).
Our faith journey might also pause at things we decide as most important. How will I become a better preacher, or how will I hear Bishop Barron and thus learn new evangelising skills? These questions were important to me, yet they missed the key point: the Lord is already here! And all it takes is to be with Him.

At the beginning of the New Year, while celebrating the Baptism of Jesus, we also remember our own baptisms. The question of how to move things in me and in the entire Church might occupy us—and rightly so. But let me suggest, dear reader, that we take a step back and have a moment of silence with the Lord. It might occur to us that God already spoke, but we just missed his voice.

Fr Dominik Domagala, OMI, serves in Inchicore, Dublin. Studied Theology in Poznan (Poland) and currently is working on a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture. Author of the sermon-video-blog The Social Oblate. Send your questions to thesocialoblate@icloud.com