Comfort is something for which we all long. That word, comfort, can mean different things to different people in our secular world. For some, comfort is a soft-cushioned couch on which to sit and watch television. For others, comfort might be a new car or a windfall of money. For others, comfort might be a family gathering, or shelter, or food for a meal.
The prophet, Isaiah, is really speaking of a different kind of comfort, one that is not measurable by “human” standards, but by God’s standards. By human standards, frankly, we will never know comfort for its derivative is not from the heart of God, but, as St. Paul writes to Titus, from godless ways and worldly desires. God’s comfort is the glory of the Lord revealed, it is the herald of Good News, it is the love of God touching the depth of our soul, filling our heart with His nourishment. This comfort is God’s offering of His Son, coming as one of us, to dwell with us.
This Sunday, we join Jesus at His Baptism. We stand in wonder at the River Jordan wondering why Jesus would seek Baptism. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Covenant and always points us to God. He seeks Baptism as He is one of us. Baptism is the grace of a total life transformation and Jesus tells us that His life is now beginning in a new way. He begins His life of public ministry, the saving mission of God. He receives the Holy Spirit and is called Beloved. He gives us this name when we are baptized. We become His Beloved! We also agree to live out the saving mission of God.
When we are clothed with Christ in Baptism, the status markers that determine our place in the secular world exist no longer. We are wrapped in the comfort of God’s love. Our Baptism in Christ gives all equal status in the family of God—all are descendants of Abraham and Sarah; all are children of God, and all are equal heirs. There are no different levels of inheritance; all are one and equal in Christ.
What a beautiful gift we are given on this last day of the Christmas season! How glorious to know that we are the heart of God, His Beloved! Pope Francis wrote an encyclical recently on the Sacred Heart of Jesus called “Dilexit Nos,” He loved us. He said, “All of us need to rediscover the importance of the heart (no 2). It is in the Sacred Heart of Jesus “we find the whole Gospel, a synthesis of the truths of our faith, all that we adore and seek in faith, all that responds to our deepest needs” (no 89). He tells us the love of God is where we find repose, comfort and strength.
Pope Francis wrote, “The heart is also the locus of sincerity, where deceit and disguise have no place. It usually indicates our true intentions, what we really think, believe and desire, the “secrets” that we tell no one: in a word, the naked truth about ourselves” (no 5). Pope Francis reminds us, “The heart of Christ, as the symbol of the deepest and most personal source of his love for us, is the very core of the initial preaching of the Gospel. It stands at the origin of our faith, as the wellspring that refreshes and enlivens our Christian beliefs” (no 32).
The love of God is birthed every day by each one of us if we choose. Imagine the sacred earth we would impart — in our family home, in our neighborhood, in our city, county, state, entire world. We would honor each person from conception through death as holy and full of dignity. I invite you to join me Friday, Jan. 17, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe for the fifth annual Culture of Life Mass, beginning at noon.
Pope Francis declared 2025 as a Jubilee Year and asks each one of us to reflect upon being a pilgrim of hope. As we receive Jesus the Eucharist, we are called to participate in the saving mission of God by offering one another this hope as we serve through, with and in God. As we begin this new year, pray about the many ways that you might serve God as one of His pilgrims of hope.
Our Holy Father during the opening of the Jubilee Year prayed, “During the Holy Year, may the light of Christian hope illumine every man and woman, as a message of God’s love addressed to all! And may the Church bear faithful witness to this message in every part of the world!