“Seeing Jesus coming towards him John said: ‘Look there is the Lamb of God that takes way the sin of the world”.

John summarises his understanding of his mission and of who Jesus is. “This is the one I spoke of when I said: A man is coming after me who ranks before me because he existed before me. I did not know him myself and yet it was to reveal him to Israel that I came baptising with water.”

Jesus’ baptism had been a real moment of revelation for John.
“I did not know him myself,” John repeats, “but He who sent me to baptise with water had said to me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and rest is the one who is going to baptise with the Holy Spirit’. Yes I have seen and I am the witness that he is the Chosen One of God.”

In August 2003 I was trying to discern what God wanted of me for the rest of my life. I was convinced that a different stage was about to begin. I reflected on several options. I knew there was a group called the Sinsinawa Dominicans but never considered joining them as an option. I did not know them myself.

Then one day, as I was driving in Tunapuna, I saw Sr Jean Tranel walking, going to the market, and something inside of me connected her with the time in my life when Janet Melizan, Monica Perez and I had lived in community.

As I continued to reflect over the next weeks and months, the different parts of my life came together. I came to see the Sinsinawa Dominican congregation as the one I had “spoken” of in the past even though I did not know the group myself.

It became clear to me that God, the One who had sent me was indicating this way of life as the one God had chosen for me.

We all experience times in our lives when a new consciousness dawns on us. Something we thought we understood in one way, we begin to see in a new light. We uncover new riches in it. We see it from a different perspective.

All of a sudden we get a glimpse of how what we are doing fits into the universal picture. We want to share it with others.

As catechists we experience such moments of revelation. We are preparing to teach a class. We have taught the topic before. We think we have a good grasp of it.

Then suddenly we are surprised by a new insight, something that carries us into a much deeper understanding than we had before. It excites us. We want to share it with everyone.

We are like John setting out to reveal Christ to Israel, to the group with which we are working, and as the new insight breaks upon us we realise that we did not know him ourselves.

We think we know him until he brings us into a deeper knowing. We see him in a new way and say with conviction: “Look there is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”

Parents bring a child into the world. They work hard to give their child a good education.  Then one day they find themselves saying: I did not know him myself. They discover new depths that they never thought were there.

Let us pray
Creator God! Thank you for the reality of our ever expanding universe. There is so much that we do not know ourselves, so much to be discovered.

Thank you for the moments of insight with which you surprise us and which bring us to an awareness of the Presence, which ranks before us, because it existed before us, and which has become the Lamb of God, taking away the sin of the world.

Forgive us the times when we settle down and become comfortable with life as it is and do not open ourselves to recognise and pursue the insights you are giving We close ourselves off, sometimes because we are afraid of where it might lead, how it might change our lives.

Help us to trust You. Give us a deep awareness of us all being sent and of You as the one Who sent us. Help us to live out the implications of our relationship with the Lamb of God.
Amen.

Gospel Meditations for January are by Christina Araujo OP, a Sinsinawan Dominican who presently coordinates the Total Parish Catechesis programme in the Holy Rosary/St Martin de Porres parish.