Bulletin January 13, 2012 The Baptism
of the Lord
Isaiah 40: 1-5, 9-11; Titus 2:11-14, 3:4-7; Luke 3:15-16, 21-22
Today is the feast of the Baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan River. I look back at my own baptism? What was it like? I don’t know. I was baptized in the hospital because they thought that I might not survive. My baptism in St. Anthony of Padua church was on November 30th, the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle. Was my mother there; I don’t know; in those days the mother didn’t come out until after the child was baptized. What did my baptism mean? What does it mean now?
Baptism has been celebrated in the Church from the very first Pentecost, where Peter spoke to the astonished crowd about Jesus and how He was the Savior of the World and then Peter declared, “Repent, be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call.” Acts 2:38 Was I aware of this…no…it’s a nice passage and I could stop there and then miss what my baptism and each baptism is like.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church makes this powerful statement which brings this sacrament closer to me: “From the time of the apostles, becoming a Christian has been accomplished by a journey and initiation in several stages. This journey can be covered rapidly or slowly, but certain essential elements will always have to be present: proclamation of the Word, acceptance of the Gospel entailing conversion, profession of faith, Baptism itself, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and admission to Eucharistic communion.” Since I’m a ‘cradle Catholic’ the Catechism said that “Where infant Baptism has become the form in which this sacrament is usually celebrated, it has become a single act encapsulating the preparatory stages of Christian initiation in a very abridged way. By its very nature infant Baptism requires a post-baptismal catechumenate. Now only is there a need for instruction after Baptism, but also for the necessary flowering of baptismal grace in personal growth. The catechism has its proper place here.”
Was this accomplished in my study in Catholic Grammar and High School…no. My training in the seminary was helpful but still very incomplete in this manner. Being ordained right after the conclusion of Vatican II made me go back and do quite a bit of studying and experiencing what this sacrament really should mean for me.
Alice Camille has done great work in explaining Beliefs, Teachings and Practices of the Church. In her book, Invitation to Catholicism she described Baptism as an invitation. She uses the example of receiving an invitation in the mail from a hugely famous individual to an exclusive club. The others in this club are the ‘movers and shakers’ of the world. The cost is nothing, not in dollars, but there are commitments, a big one, “All members must die in order to gain full benefits within this organization.” Put in this way, I might say, ‘No, I don’t think so, not at this time.’ But this really is what the cost of the gift that comes from God…the gift of God choosing me and each person to come and be baptized into the faith.
Baptism is about membership in the ‘Club Christian’ Alice Camille continues, “It is an invitation to a new life within the Body of Christ, the church, but that new life is achieved at the cost of the old life. A New Testament letter quotes a Christian hymn: ‘If we have died with Him, we will also live with Him.’” (2 Timothy 2:11) So I have to die to myself…I’ve heard this many times…I’ve preached this a lot...what does this dying entail? Alice Camille continues, “We can’t hang onto our false selves, that part of us drawn to concupiscence—the sin of wanting more and more, also called original sin. We have to let go of our (let’s be honest) defective wills and surrender to God’s perfect will. Surrender isn’t easy, and it can feel exactly like a death. But paradoxically, for Christians it is the one sure way out of death and into authentic life.”
For me this means every day and many times during the day to say that my commitment is to Jesus and to live as He taught me to live. It is to realize that the gifts that I have been blessed with are for precisely this purpose: to show God’s love. Now my love is always included in this but I must live that it’s only God’s love through me that I am able to live as a baptized Christian. If I live for me; I’m fooling myself and not being Christ. This is a lifelong process. It’s my goal each day…I progress…I regress…I’m blessed and I try to be grateful but often I fall back into being the ‘enemy of the Lord.’ But the Lord always picks me up, if I come to Him and allow Him to be God to me. This is the cross part of the journey…I don’t like crosses…but Jesus accepted the cross, carried it…fell under its weight…was continually beaten; was crucified and died on that cross TO SHOW LOVE…for me and for each person individually. I find it so interesting in today’s Gospel that verses 17-20 are cut out. They tell how Herod had John put in prison (his cross) because John spoke out (what the demands of love are) because Herod had entered an immoral marriage with his brother’s wife and done other evil deeds (love demands the Christian to be instruments of love and speak out where love is absent).
My baptism acknowledges that I have been chosen; that I have been gifted; that I have a mission: to be Jesus…at all times, whether convenient or inconvenient. Am I doing this? Or do I just take comfort and saying that I am a follower but not being a follower. In the book of revelation it says, “To the angel of the church in Laodicea, write this: ‘The Amen, the faithful and true witness, the source of God’s creation, says this: ‘I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” STRONG WORDS! So I reflect on:
- Am I asking the Spirit each day to enroll me in the school of
Christ so I may learn from Him? Am I asking that He increases in my
life and I diminish?
- My pride does not want to admit that I need to be purified.
Yet what makes me unclean—the rejection of love, not wanting to be
loved, not loving. Am I letting God in?
- Dorothy Day asked Jesus in prayer about the Gospel call to
see Him even in the most rejected: “Let me tell You something.
They smell. They have, lice, and tuberculosis. Am I to find You in
them? The answer she received was ‘Yes”.
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