Jesus arrives at the River Jordan and encounters John the Baptist, who is timid about being the one to minister to the Son of the living God. Jesus encourages John to step out and pray over Him. The fruit from this is that the heavens open, the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus and the Father speaks out His love for His Only Begotten Son for all to hear. Those who have the ears to hear are amazed. John the Baptist prays over Jesus and is the instrument that God uses to bless Jesus and the whole world.
I just returned from the Encounter Conference put on by Encounter Ministries in Ohio. There were thousands of us who arrived: old, young and everyone in between. We came there burdened, discouraged with our problems and the daily struggles in our lives and the state of the Universal Church. We left joy-filled, encouraged, empowered and transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus arrived at the River Jordan, it was an ordinary day in the life in modern-day Israel. Jesus followed the will of His Father and arrived on the shores of the Jordan River to model for us the Way. We need the water of baptism to cleanse and purify us. We need to receive the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit to make a home for God within our hearts and to be able to hear His voice in us and animate our lives. John was going about his work of ministering to God’s people, calling them to conversion and repentance to prepare the way for the Messiah. John became an instrument of God to help others receive the gifts and graces that God wanted to bestow on his people. He ministered to the people one by one, day after day.
We arrived at the Encounter Conference with the music of praise in the air, and we watched as more and more people kept coming: priests, religious, families, little children, and even some non-Catholics and one sole, brave Bishop. We were hungry for the presence of God. We were hungry for the outpouring of God’s spirit. We wanted more; we wanted to see God working and manifesting himself in our midst. And that is what we saw! The heaviness of the crosses and trials were lifted as we sang and prayed and received Jesus in the Eucharist and in His Word at Mass. The arena went from a big open space to God’s living room. We were nourished by healings the Lord worked: a man had his cataracts healed and the Bishop had his knee healed so he could again genuflect.
Speakers shared powerful testimonies about what God is doing throughout the world, like the Archbishop in Paris who filled the largest church in Paris—St. Sulpice—and prayed for healing and deliverance for his flock. One pastor shared about 10 people that his parish prayed for who were raised from the dead. Yes, you read that correctly. One was a woman who went to the hospital with a stillborn baby inside of her to wait for a doctor to perform a D&C to remove it. Two parishioners prayed over her and she felt the baby leap and come back to life. You can imagine the mother’s joy and the shock of the doctors. By the end of the conference, we had seen and heard about the power of God alive in the world and in the midst of His people’s suffering. We began to pray for more of the Holy Spirit within our own lives and for the grace of a New Pentecost in the Body of Christ. I wonder if that is why the people kept coming to John the Baptist in the River Jordan—they were experiencing firsthand the mighty power and hand of God at work in their daily lives. Come Holy Spirit, Come Living Water of God, allow us to be instruments of God’s grace in the lives of those around us.
Sr. Jean Marie Ledsome, T.O.R.
(Picture Above: Sr. Mary Rose, T.O.R. praying over women at a conference.)
