“For the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the broken hearted. To proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the Lord and a day of vindication by our God… and a day of vindication by our God…”
…Any Matt Maher fans out there? There is a song that he sings that puts Isaiah 61 to music, almost like a battle cry to energize the troops. If you’ve never heard it, we encourage you to look it up (Matt Maher, CD: Welcome to Life, Spirit & Song Recording Label). If you know of the song, you were probably singing it as you were reading. Even though it’s a good song, and beautiful verses, it is relatable? How are we supposed to proclaim liberty to captives or a day of vindication? YES WE CAN!!!!
When we are baptized, we are baptized priest, prophet, and king. In these three roles we are to help bring others to heaven (to sanctify), to teach, and to rule. We are also baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit making us part of mission of Jesus: to be a priest, a prophet, and a king.
Though we are women, we are called to be priestly. This is not to be mistaken as to become an ordained priest – no. We are called to have a priestly role, to sanctify others through a spirit of sacrifice in our daily lives and with family. To sanctify is to make holy. We are called to be holy and to sacrifice through our work and tasks. St. Therese of Liseux said that “love proves itself by deeds, so how am I supposed to show my love?” – “The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and doing the least of these actions for love.” To St. Therese, to become a saint (to be holy) is to sacrifice – in her book Story of a Soul, she even remarked how scrubbing the toilet is getting her to heaven, and how if done in joy brings her that much closer. If only I felt the same way!! But this, in the mundane of life, is where we become holy. It’s in our outlook.
To be a prophet doesn’t mean that you have heightened spiritual enlightenment and need to live in a mountainous cave somewhere. To be a prophet means simply to teach. We are called in our baptism to teach others about God, His love for us, and His gift of salvation for us. We do this through being the best version of ourselves, bringing the family to Mass, showing love to another person, even inviting others to faith studies – like HOMWF! We don’t need to know all the answers – we just need to be willing to talk to people and look up the answers together. If it’s too scary to talk to others about God, it is absolutely ok to simply be Jesus to others. Love them. Through this, you and I still share God with them.
Oh to be a king (or “queen”)! Though the idea of running around town in a tiara requesting people to get me a venti iced vanilla latte with soy, no whip, sounds appealing, this is not what the Church means by “king”. To be king is to rule. But in the Kingdom of God, rulership is not shown through domination, but service. Just like Jesus – our King – we are called to service & humility. Aren’t the best kings those that serve the people? I would take King David over King Henry VIII any day. We too are called to service and to recognize the dignity in others, in that we are all children of God. How do we treat others? Are we demanding or expecting of them? Do we serve or like to be served?
