{"id":705,"date":"2011-01-16T08:00:51","date_gmt":"2011-01-16T00:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=705"},"modified":"2022-04-07T09:30:58","modified_gmt":"2022-04-07T01:30:58","slug":"24-baptism-identity-and-prayers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=705","title":{"rendered":"24. Identity and Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cY<\/span>ou<\/span> are my beloved Son; my favour rests on you<\/span><\/strong>.\u201d<\/em> [Mark 1:11<\/span>]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0The Baptism of Christ<\/em>\u00a0(detail), El Greco, c.1614<\/span><\/p>\n

St Mark makes it clear that Jesus\u2019 baptism was nothing short of a call experience for him personally. The point is, in the experience of his call to mission, Jesus\u2019 appreciation of his identity was the most important key. After he was baptized, and as he rose from the water, the heavens opened and the Spirit descended upon him like a dove, and a voice spoke from beyond the clouds, \u201cThou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased\u201d (Mk 1:11). This was spoken to Jesus personally, in the second person singular. He heard this intimate love directly, from Father to Son, in a family language of love. Jesus heard it deep in his soul, quite unlike the narrative in Matthew. Written some ten years after Mark, by which time Matthew had become more conscious of the ecclesia<\/em>, the voice spoke to the crowds about the Son in the third person singular: \u201cThis is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased\u201d (Matt 3:17).<\/span><\/p>\n

At River Jordan, Jesus experienced a call to public ministry, to step out of his relative anonymity at that time, precisely at the very moment when he heard the voice of love \u2013 the affirmation that He was Son of the loving Father. Up to that point, Jesus of Nazareth in his hidden life as son of a carpenter, had been waiting, studying, praying, and discerning what his life mission was going to be. Now, it all made sense. The moment he came to hear deep in his soul and to know his Sonship in relation to God, his heart was set on doing the Father\u2019s will. Remember what he declared to the crowds who later on followed him everywhere he went: \u201cAnyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, my <\/em>sister, my mother [Matt 12:50].\u201d So right there at River Jordan, at last, his whole mission here on earth has crystallized in a clear vision. Hearing the divine voice of love and accepting his identity of sonship is the key to that discernment.<\/span><\/p>\n

And to us, a crucial lesson is revealed right there: identity and vocation are inseparable<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hearing the divine voice of love and accepting our sonship and daughterhood is the key to an authentic discipleship for us as well. What is<\/em> our life mission? Whatever job we may do for a living, whoever we are in relation to the people around us, we are first and foremost a child of God<\/em>. Like the story of Jesus, our Christian life ought to be a story of a child of God.<\/span><\/p>\n

Forget about the external descriptions and trappings society offers us individually and with which it defines us before others. If we know, deep down<\/em>, who we are in relation to God, we can better appreciate what vocation we are called to live out in this life.<\/span><\/p>\n

So who am I? That<\/em> is a question about our identity. Our answer will determine our life orientation at the depth dimension, whatever our station in life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then there is a practical question. How then do we discern our ultimate identity? St Mark moves fast and is economical in words. If we turn to St Luke, we will find a typical piece of Lukan detail that is most helpful. Throughout his Gospel, Luke portrays Jesus as a very prayerful person. Right here at River Jordan, when Jesus rose from the water, Luke says, \u201cwhile he was praying<\/em><\/strong>\u201d, heaven opened, the Spirit descended upon him like a dove, and a voice spoke from beyond the clouds, \u201cThou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased.\u201d Notice the words, \u201cwhile he was praying<\/em><\/strong>\u201d (Luke 3:21) \u2013 that is a typical detail in the Lukan Jesus. It is good to know that Luke\u2019s portrait of Jesus is a very prayerful person. He takes special care to mention Jesus at prayer before doing something important.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Baptism of the Lord is so popular with artists that there is no shortage of classical paintings on this theme. Different artists may choose different dimensions of that episode for emphasis. Whenever a painting portrays Jesus praying at the River Jordan, viewers are witnessing the influence of St Luke\u2019s Gospel, as in the following two selected representations.<\/span><\/p>\n

And so, St Luke adds to our understanding in one important respect: Prayers reveal our identity<\/em>. When we pray, we must know the one to Whom we pray. Knowing who God is, we know who we are \u2013 children of the loving, compassionate, merciful, forgiving Father, as we see in the father-figure in the Parable of the Prodigal Son.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is the key we need. When we are confused by the neon lights of the modern society over who we are, St Luke in narrating the story of Jesus calls us back to prayers. \u201cAs he was praying\u201d is the Lukan encouragement to pray.<\/span><\/p>\n

That gives us an occasion to ask: But what is prayer all about? Let\u2019s learn from two vastly different writers, to add to our understanding.<\/span><\/p>\n

First, the late Cardinal Basil Hume of London has written what to us is the best definition of prayer. He says: \u201cPrayer is trying<\/em> to raise our minds and hearts to God<\/strong>\u201d. If we find that our minds are filled with thoughts that are holy, and if our hearts are moved to want God and to want what He wants, then that is His doing, and not ours. It is His gift. Our part in prayer is to try to raise our minds and hearts to God, to spend time making the effort. \u201cTrying to pray is prayer,\u201d the Cardinal said, \u201cand it is very good prayer. The will to try is also His gift.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Once, Archbishop Fulton Sheen had a long and tiring day traveling to Paris. Despite his exhaustion, he did not wish to miss his daily holy hour before the Tabernacle. So he made his way to the Cathedral of Notre Dame and slept right through the hour keeping company with the Lord. Did that count as holy hour? \u201cOf course it did,\u201d Sheen declared. \u201cChrist must know that I was exhausted. I tried. I made the hour.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The morning session in Malaysian schools begin very early. A mother gets up around five in the morning to prepare breakfast. She is busy; her hands are occupied. But she wants to say her rosary to the Blessed Mother. So she says her rosary while doing her chores, without holding the rosary in her hands. Wondering if her effort counts as praying the rosary, she once raised the question in her cell group. Lo and behold, someone in the group declared authoritatively, \u201cNo, it does not count. You must hold the rosary and touch the beads.\u201d One was spiritually innocent enough to ask, and another was spiritually \u201carrogant\u201d enough to authoritatively answer in as confused a manner as one can imagine. We would have thought, this mother being such a loving and faithful mother, getting up so early each morning to take care of the family\u2019s breakfast, God must be very pleased with her. And, because despite all that work of love, she still tries to say her prayers, we cannot but imagine our Blessed Mother looking down from heaven smiling as she blesses this faithful daughter of hers.<\/span><\/p>\n

The second writer we have in mind is Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber<\/a>. She brings up the point that perhaps prayers have less to do with changing God and more to do with God changing us. From the parable of the persistent widow and the unrighteous judge (Luke 18:1-8), people commonly draw the message about praying constantly and not lose hope<\/a>. That\u2019s fine. But she helpfully goes on to suggest for spiritual reflection that we could see an alternative reading of this parable as maybe about the persistence of God. Maybe it is us who, even though we fail to fear God or care about people, are finally worn down by the persistence of a God who longs for justice. \u201cMaybe prayer isn\u2019t the way in which we manipulate God, but is simply the posture in which we finally become worn down by God\u2019s persistence – God\u2019s persistence in loving us, God\u2019s persistence in forgiving and being known, and God\u2019s persistence in being faithful and always, always, always bringing life out of death.\u201d Indeed, she says, \u201cour prayer is less how we get what we want and more how God gets what God wants<\/strong>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The fact that Christians pray implies that we accept and trust in a deity whom we know as God. The more we pray properly, the more we will conform to the reality God desires us to know, that is, each of us is a child of God. That is our true identity. It is implicit in our very act of praying. That surely must have consequences for our discipleship.<\/span><\/p>\n

The world is breaking its neck moving so fast. We seriously need to find time for prayers to get the right orientation in modern life. This need to pray finally caught up with an engineer [say, Jonathan] who was so busy in his professional life that he was crisscrossing the air spaces of different continents supervising projects and sometimes, getting a change of clothes from his wife who brought them to the airport while he was on transit for the next flight out. Then, his son was diagnosed with a serious illness that required special medical care for the rest of the child’s life. He needed to slow down; he wanted to slow down, to spend time with the family. So he took another job, at a reduced position and salary, which did not require him to travel anymore. Then, for a year, he committed to doing the holy hour in church during his lunch, sacrificing his mid-day break so as to commune with Christ. He wanted to pray, to discern his way forward, for the sake of his son. After one whole year of lunch-time holy hour, he found the resolve to uproot the family and move to another country where specialised medical care is available for his son. After communing with the Lord for one whole year in this way, Jonathan has found the courage and the strength to do the near impossible \u2013 giving up his professional career and moving to another country. \u201cI don\u2019t mind at all if I have to deliver newspapers for a living. God wants me to do the best for my son.\u201d This is a stunning story of the power of prayers. It is amazing grace indeed.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the light of great figures of prayers from the Old Testament to Jesus and the Mother of God and the saints, the lesson according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church is that \u201cPrayer is a battle<\/strong>.\u201d But a battle against whom? “Against ourselves and against the wiles of the Tempter who does all he can to turn man away from prayer, away from union with God<\/strong>” [CCC, 2725]. The Lord God said: \u201cIf my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land\u201d (2 Chronicles 7:14<\/a>). We would see a great healing in our communities if believers would take 2 Chronicles 7:14 into our everyday lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

In prayers we learn with the help of God, to die to our ego, to empty ourselves, and to let go of the unimportant, so that we may leave more space for God and others.<\/span><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 Dr. Jeffrey & Angie Goh, January 2011. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/p>\n

You are most welcome to respond to this post. Email your comments to us at jeffangiegoh@gmail.com.<\/strong> You can also be dialogue partners in this Ephphatha Coffee-Corner Ministry<\/em> by sending us questions for discussion.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cYou are my beloved Son; my favour rests on you.\u201d [Mark 1:11] \u00a0The Baptism of Christ\u00a0(detail), El Greco, c.1614 St Mark makes it clear that Jesus\u2019 baptism was nothing short of a call experience for him personally. The point is, in the experience of his call to mission, Jesus\u2019 appreciation of his identity was the Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Dr. Jeffrey & Angie Goh","author_link":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?author=1"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"From Our Perspective<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"\u201cYou are my beloved Son; my favour rests on you.\u201d [Mark 1:11] \u00a0The Baptism of Christ\u00a0(detail), El Greco, c.1614 St Mark makes it clear that Jesus\u2019 baptism was nothing short of a call experience for him personally. The point is, in the experience of his call to mission, Jesus\u2019 appreciation of his identity was the…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=705"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7020,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705\/revisions\/7020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}