The Sacred Ground of the Other

“I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.” // Mark 1:7

I was sitting there attentively listening when it hit me: I had lost sight of the dignity of those around me. While we were gathered together for a meal, one of my friends began talking about the subject of accompaniment. The way he spoke was beautiful and was beginning to unthaw the frozen places in my heart. Quoting our Holy Father Pope Francis, my friend said to me, “Accompaniment 'teaches us to remove our sandals before the sacred ground of the other’” (Evangelii Gaudium § 169). At that moment I remembered the words of Saint John the Baptist about the sandals of his cousin Jesus in today’s Gospel (see Mark 1:7) and saw how much I needed to ask for the grace to step into the humility of this blessed Saint. 

After that conversation I took an honest look at why I had lost the reverence for the other in front of me. In my prayer the Lord showed me how I had quietly begun to grow bitter and harsh at how others may not be removing their own sandals before me. I had turned inward and was focusing on what people owed me and not what I could give. I found that I was calculating love rather than creating it, and forgetting that all who I encountered were beloved sons and daughters in whom the Father was “well pleased” (Mark 1:11). I knew it was time to take a deep breath, reassess, and, with His mercy and grace, try again. 

Sister, on this blessed Feast of the Baptism of the Lord may we remember that Christ became a Man to draw us all into sonship and daughterhood with Father. May we, like John the Baptist, have the grace to continue to love others out of our love for the Beloved Son, humbling ourselves before the sacred ground of the other, and always choose first to reverence and love. Be not afraid!