Did John Know?
Homily on Saturday before Epiphany, 3 Jan 2026, Divine Mercy Chapel, Estancia
Christmas parties are over and fireworks have faded away. But why do people like you still come to attend Mass today? Haven’t you had enough Masses and Holy communions during the Christmas Novena and the Christmas Octave? Perhaps you’ll tell me “Father, it is precisely because we have encountered Christ so personally during the past days and weeks that we are drawn to keep following him even today.” Am I right?
Yes, today, we keep coming back to the manger in the quietness of this beautiful chapel to reflect more deeply on the wondrous mystery that has been unfolding before us. And as we gaze upon the Infant Jesus, we feel that we can never really have enough of him.
Para bang isang araw, nakakita kayo ng isang Cadbury chocolate bar sa loob ng ref nyo. Tapos kinuha nyo ito at pinunit nyo ang ballot nito, at gusto nyo lang sanang tumikim ng isang maliit na piraso nito, pero pagkatapos nyong lasapin ang sarap nito, feeling nyo, gusto nyo pang kumain ng isa pang piraso, at pangatlo at pang-apat, hanggang sa naubos na ninyo yung isang buong chocolate bar nang hindi nyo inaasahan. Parang ganun din ang experience ng isang real encounter with Jesus. Once you meet him for real, ayaw mo na siya talagang pakawalan, ‘di po ba?
Hearing the Gospel passage from St John the Evangelist, we realize that the Baby born in the manger is the same person John the Baptist testified about when, pointing to Jesus, he said to his disciples “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29-34). I would like to underline the words “He takes away sin.”
I’m sure many of us by this time are already getting tired of committing sin and of confessing the same sins again and again. We in fact make certain resolutions year after year and it seems to us that we become good only for a while, and then after some weeks we are back to our old self, our old habits, and our old vices. Today John the Baptist proclaims to us who Christ is. He is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” This means, it is Jesus alone who can take sin away from our lives once and for all. And so, the more we follow Jesus, the farther away we move from sin, and from all occasions of sin.
Allow me to share with you another insight from the same Scripture passage. We know that John the Baptist and our Lord Jesus were cousins. While growing up as kids and teen-agers they must have met and bonded together several times. And despite the wonderful signs that surrounded their conception inside their mother’s womb as well as their birth six months apart, they must have grown up as good and upright Jews, yet not knowing who they really were and what their real vocation and mission in life would be.
Parang tayo din po nung tayo’t maliliit pa. When you were young, did you already know exactly that you would be the kind of doctor or engineer you are today? Or were you already so sure you would be the CEO of the company you are running at present?
When I was in early elementary I wanted to become a priest, but I lost that desire when I started to have a crush on the girl next door where we used to live. However, after my graduation I did find out that God was really calling me to serve him in the Church, not as a married man but as a Salesian priest. And so, I made the choice to enter the seminary. In other words, we all had to go through the process of discovering and discerning where our life’s real vocation and mission would be.
The good news is, when Jesus reached thirty years old, that was the only time when he closed down his carpentry shop for good, after which he began his real mission as the Messiah. Like Jesus who at his baptism at the Jordan River received from the Father a clear confirmation of his real identity as God’s beloved Son, John the Baptist too received from the Father a revelation of who his cousin really was while he was baptizing him. And he himself gave this strong and surprising testimony about him “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain upon him. I did not know him… Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”
From this passage proclaimed for us today, we learn that John the Baptist honestly admitted that he did not know who the Messiah was. He came to discover and discern who that outstanding person was only by being fully open and perceptive to the movement of the Spirit in his life. Today, therefore, we realize that it is only by being fully open and perceptive to the same Spirit that we can rightly discern what our exact mission in life might really be, and at the same time come to recognize the persons who really matter in God’s plan of salvation.
And once we allow ourselves to be totally driven by that Spirit sin will have no more room in our lives as the First Reading says (1 John 2:29 – 3:6). The more Spirit-driven we are in what we do, the more righteous and holy we will be. And the holier we strive to become, the more we will be able to please God and give him glory.
This 2026, God is inviting us to live righteous lives fully driven by his Spirit to continue his Son’s mission of salvation for his greater glory. May this daily encounter with him in the Eucharist help us become a better version of ourselves this year – more faithful to God’s loving plan and more dedicated to the mission entrusted to us. GiGsss!
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