He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire
We arrived back in Trinidad last Wednesday, after a five week stay with our daughter and her young family in London, only to be greeted with a baptism of fire. During the last week in London we were told that Sandee’s aging mother was rushed to the hospital with a number of critical ailments. We were deeply concerned and it triggered seeking regular updates on WhatsApp as to her status.
We arrived back with her being transferred to a nursing home. Then last Saturday, we were urgently called, together with the immediate family, and informed that she had taken a turn for the worse. That afternoon she passed away.
As I read the Gospel at Mass on Sunday, those words of John the Baptist resonated within me Luke 3: 15-22 ‘He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire’. This was a baptism of fire. It called us to confront the pain of loss, the fragility of life, the depth of our faith, and the resilience of our love.
It gave me a new perspective on the Gospel narrative. I reflected on the ‘baptisms of fire’ faced in the modern world. Unlike the ‘Barbie lifestyle’ so often portrayed on social media, life today is interwoven with profound challenges—from the horrors of war and catastrophic climate disasters to the deeply personal struggles within families.
It is in these moments of trial that Jesus Christ brings us the Holy Spirit. He consoles us in our grief, heals our wounds, and empowers us to live lives of heroic faith. He is comforter, counsellor and our strength in times of trials. He lifts us up when we are down and gives us the courage to persevere.
This week as we face, what for many, is a challenging start to the new year, let us thank Jesus for bringing us the Holy Spirit. Let us welcome Him into our lives, let us allow Him to enkindle within us the divine strength to face the year ahead with love and compassion. We do this by cultivating a deep interior life of prayer.