The grace of baptism is lifelong. We are always and forever missioned to give witness of the love of Jesus in our lives.

 

BAPTISM OF THE LORD 2021

 

Today’s feast celebrates the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by John the Baptist.   As Jesus was baptized, the Spirit, like a dove, descended upon Him.  And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” 

 

The Baptism of the Lord marks the end of his hidden ministry in the town of Nazareth with his parents and the beginning of his public ministry proclaiming the kingdom of God is at hand.  The Lord’s Baptism is his coming party, so to speak, that will ultimately to his suffering, death and resurrection for our salvation and our sharing in His Risen life.

 

With the voice from his heavenly Father, his baptismal identity is being staked out.  “This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”  God the Father is declaring that Jesus is more than a prophet.  He comes from God; he is the Son of God. With the presence of the Spirit and the voice of God the Father, the mystery of the Trinity is being revealed.

 

Along with his identity, Jesus inaugurates his baptismal mission to teach, to heal, to forgive, to love, to save us from our sins, and to give us share in His Risen Life.  Jesus is our Lord and Savior.  He has come to save us from our sinfulness and to give a share in his risen life.

This feast invites us to see the connection between the Baptism of Jesus and our own baptism.

I call your attention to the front entrance of our Church.  As you come in the front entrance of the Church, you bump into the baptismal font.  This is not a design fault that the baptismal font is in your way as you come into Church.  It is placed at the front entrance as a clear reminder that our life in Christ, our spiritual journey begins at Baptism. 

 

When we get behind our Covid regimen and our baptism font is again brimming with water, we bless ourselves with the water from our baptismal font to remind us of the day of our Baptism when we received the life of Christ Jesus and when we first became of member of the Church – the Body of Christ.

 

You will notice that the baptismal font is positioned on a direct line to the altar of God.  This is symbolic that our spiritual journey goes from the baptismal font to the altar of God where we give thanks to the Lord our God and are fed and nourished at the Table of the Lord.

In our Baptism, we claim our baptismal identity.  We become God’s beloved son and God’s beloved daughter in whom the Father is well pleased.  We claim who we are and whose we are.    We are sons and daughters of a loving Father; we are brothers and sisters to each other; we are welcomed into the Church, the Body of Christ.  Such an incredible grace we receive in Baptism, and the grace of Baptism is lifelong.  In the spiritual journey of each of us, we need to ask ourselves the question:  Do we claim our own baptismal identity as a beloved child of God?   When I am stressed out, when I am fearful and a bit anxious, am I claiming my baptismal identity as God’s beloved?   The words spoken to Jesus are words that are spoken to us as part of our baptismal identity.

May you hear this day and every day these words spoken to you by our loving God: “This is my beloved son; this is my beloved daughter in whom I am well pleased.”  These are spoken not because of our worthiness; rather these words are spoken because of God’s unconditional love for us.  May you always be able to recognize this voice of God in your life.

Now it is true that throughout all our lives, a cacophony of voices will attempt to drown our attentiveness to the voice of God.  There’s the voice of Wall Street calling us to find our security in stocks, bonds and mutual funds.  There’s the voice of Madison Avenue alerting us to unnecessary needs and undue desires.  There’s the voice of Rodeo Drive warning us not to be out of style, and the voice of Broadway luring us to the superficial aspects of contemporary entertainment.

Amid the clamor of all these voices, it may be difficult to hear the voice of God and grasp the hand of God.  Nevertheless, that voice and that hand are ever near, and God’s grace is ever at the ready to keep our hearing acute and our understanding full and clear.  The question for our prayerful reflection this day is: Whose voice will you listen to? 

In today’s Gospel, after the baptism of Jesus, a voice came from the heavens, “You are my beloved Son: with you I am well pleased.”    As we pray over these words, may we ask ourselves:  What actions of ours this past week is our heavenly Father well pleased with?

 

Baptismal mission

We are to embrace our baptismal identity and our baptismal mission.

Sacrament of Baptism -- not just a Church ceremony.  It is your life as a disciple of Jesus.  Baptism is your lifelong call that commissions us to service in the name of Jesus.

We are co-creators with God in building up the kingdom of heaven on earth.

When we are baptized into Christ Jesus, there is no part of our life that does not belong to God.  There is no part of our life that God is not present.

We are drawn into the very life of God.  We no longer live for ourselves in an individualistic fashion.  We are connected with each other.  We are connected with all baptized people across the centuries.  We are the community of the baptized.

The grace of baptism is lifelong.  We are always and forever the community of the baptized.  We are always and forever missioned to give witness to the love of Jesus in our lives.  

Our mission is to bring the peace and love of Jesus into our world.  The violence we saw in Washington this past Wednesday in our halls of Congress is not a Gospel way of living.  Our mission is to bring healing and love and dialogue into our political process.

In the baptismal identity of each one of us, we are given a charism or charisms for the building of the Body of Christ.  Your charism is your particular giftedness given to you by our loving God for the building of the Body of Christ, for making a difference in our world.  Our charisms are not to be buried into the ground, but they are to see the light of day and to be used in the service of others.

As we celebrate this feast day of the Lord, I invite you to name the charism, the giftedness that is given to you and ask if we have used our God given giftedness to bring the love and the healing and the compassion of Christ into our parish and into our world.

 May we pay attention to both our baptismal identity and to our baptismal mission.  What is our baptismal mission?  Your baptismal mission is to serve the needs of one another.   It is in our love for one another that we become more aware that God remains in us. 

We are the community of the baptized.  We are God’s beloved sons and daughters.  We are missioned t be brothers and sisters to each other; we are missioned to wash the feet of God’s poor; and our first requirement as a baptized disciple of Jesus is to love one another.

 

Have a Blessed Day.