Reflection: Evening Prayer
(Jerry Stookey - Rome/USA)

Theme:  Witness of Christ

Central Message:  You and I have all the credentials necessary to testify on Jesus’ behalf!

Baptism:  I wonder how many of us here know the date of our Baptism?  I bet a good number of you know the date of your first profession as a Dominican.  And probably all of the priests here present remember perfectly the date of our ordination, right?  But our Baptismal date?  Hmm?

Well, in the first place, most of us don’t even remember being there—since infant baptism is the most common practice. Although we remember so many big events in our lives, especially our birthdays, it would be a good thing for Christians, especially for us Dominicans, to celebrate our birth in Christ— that is, our Baptismal date!  Why?

Our Baptism is the start of being a Preacher.  By our Baptism we began to be Preachers, not at our Dominican profession!  We are obliged by our baptism to live as witnesses of Christ and to tell the whole world and tell the Good News.   All of the symbols of the Sacrament of Baptism speak to this:  anointing, water, new clothing in white, lighted candle—all for setting us on the road of witnessing to Christ for all our lives. Coming from a largely Protestant country, I am often intrigued by the clear understanding of the meaning of baptism among our “separated Christians”.  Their style of preaching and their continuous knocking at our door may be obnoxious to us. 

However, one has to admire their commitment to fulfill their baptism and their correct interpretation of what it means.  By our baptism we followers of Christ are given not only the authority but also the duty to tell all the world the Good News of the Resurrection.  If all Catholics understood this, we would have millions of preachers giving testimony to Christ.  And if all Lay Dominicans realized this, they would not be so hesitant to call themselves lay preachers or to actually be one.

Testimony not accepted:  Even so, our testimony as preachers is not always accepted.  In this passage of John’s Gospel for today, Jesus laments that when He gave testimony to his fellow Jews, they would not accept it as valid. He points out that John the Baptist came as his witness too, but John’s testimony was not enough.  Jesus’ own works are a testimony that He was sent by the Father—but no one believed in the one that was sent.  They did not even believe in the writings of Moses, as Jesus commented saying “if you refuse to believe what he wrote, how can you believe in what I say?” I found it interesting that in this short Gospel reading today the word “testifies” or “testimony” is repeated 10 times!  In fact, the language of this text is full of expressions like:  witness, testimony, on my behalf, believe me, sent me, accuse me, accept me, truth!   Jesus is a testimony to the Father and he had a hard time getting people to believe he was who he said he was!

Prove who you are:  Recently you and I have had several personal experiences of what this is like, right here in relation to the Congress.  I remember when Bernard Perez, who is the webmaster of our Congress website back at Santa Sabina, began putting up the names of those who registered.  For a long time, I never got around to it, and so my name was not in bold, blue letters on the list of Participants.  I had to fill out the Registration Form just like you!  One had to prove that you were really registered to attend this Congress!  And worse than that for many others.  So many needed to get a passport for the first time or renew the one that they had.  How about those of you who needed a visa to get in, eh?  Oh, what a litany of official letters and legal documents, from the president of the Laity in Argentina, from the Master of the Order, from the Provincial in Argentina, from the Promoter General, from the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Argentina, with the help of Alejandro Speroni and DHL mailing service and anyone else who could  please help now—you may or may not have been accepted!  For those whose testimony was not accepted over and over again, they felt just like Jesus in this Gospel today!   If you don’t think it matters whether a giving testimony is important or not, just recall how much you scrambled to get your Credential Letter to Laurie so that you could vote in this Congress!  And there will be Roll Call each day to prove their your presence and testimony at this Congress is valid.  The world runs on having and giving testimonial proof all the time!  But with all those testimonies and documents in hand, above all show the world your credentials as a Christian preacher!

Give me a Dominican to Witness for Christ.  For like Jesus, we know that mere human testimony is nothing in comparison to the great witnessing to the love of God by a Christian!  In fact, if someone offered me $25,000 or a Dominican preacher — I would take the Dominican preacher any day!  For even if money is needed for our mission, and even if an office in Rome would be nice for the Dominican Laity, none of it is worth half of the testimony of one dear Dominican preacher, who is worth his or her weight in gold, for sure! We can all go home and find our Baptismal Certificate to see when our preaching life actually began.  It might be fun actually!  And we can celebrate our birthdays and profession days and ordination anniversaries year after year.  But it will never be an adequate credential unless we truly testify to Christ as living witnesses.  I say, give me a Dominican Companion in Preaching, and together we will testify that Jesus was sent by God and that through Him God is alive in us and in our world today.