__ Click Here for Audio of Homily __
__Click / Watch Video: "Baptism of Lord Jan. 9" (7:30 am)___
---------------------
Homily – 11:30 am Mass on Jan. 9, 2022 / Baptism of Lord ● Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11 "Comfort, give comfort ● Titus 2:11-14, 3:4-7, "Beloved, the grace of God has appeared.." ● Luke 3:15-16, 21-22 ●
Perhaps you saw the news that there were
people trapped for 16 hours, 18 hours or longer in their cars in their
vehicles, some in their trucks, they could not get out or move.
And the regular law enforcement, first
responders, State Troopers, could not help everyone in need. Some “good news” I read about this incident of the
ice/snow in Virginia was about the identity of those who did help and rescue.
They were truckers who were on the road. Big
truck drivers who are known to have a lot of supplies on board.
They were already in the traffic jam. And
they put the word out from Facebook, Twitter, social media that if you're in
trouble, you should go and find a trucker find a truck driver along I-95.
And
the truck driver will help you the truck drivers had flashlights, they had
extra blankets, they had extra food, they could charge people's phones. The
truckers could help on the “inside” of the incident in ways that the regular
first responders and law enforcement could not.
I just use that as an example that Jesus is
coming to be with us on the “inside” of our lives. Yes, his the 2nd person of Trinity,
dwelling in eternal glory as the Son with the Father and Holy Spirit.
Yet, he is also the incarnate son, born of
Mary, one person both divine and human.
[__02_] Today is the feast / Sunday of the Baptism of
the Lord.
Today we read that Jesus is baptized in
this Gospel of the 1130 mass on Sunday at Our Lady of Lourdes. What's going on?
Why does Jesus get baptized?
Jesus is not being freed from original sin.
Jesus is not going to make his 1st Holy Communion in the way that we
make our 1st Holy Communion.
Jesus is being baptized to show us that he is
on the inside of our lives that he's the incarnate Son of God, he is blessing .
Jesus is not being blessed by the water Jesus
himself is blessing the water.
And we refer to a sacrament as a visible sign
of an invisible reality, that there's something invisibly happening even
through the visible sign. And there's three visible signs that are brought up
in baptism, or words that come up in the Gospel, there's the water,
there's the worthiness,
and there's the wildfire.
[__03_] [1st WATER.]
Have you ever tried to be the
photographer at a baptism? If so, you have tried to capture the precise moment
at which the deacon or priest pours the water over the child’s head?
You
are also interested to note exactly how the child receives this water – calmly?
Out of control?
And going into water has a similar effect on
us imagine you are going into water going to the beach (not today though !).
But you're going to the beach in theory
someday in the future, and you may wish to enter the very, very slowly. Because
the water is bracing the water can be shocking. And even for a child who sleeps
through the baptism.
We've all seen that children who are so calm,
that they don't even wake up during the baptism, I would suggest that the water
even has a shocking surprising effect on them.
Because that's what water does. It has kind
of a shocking effect on the outside, but also on the inside. But baptism is
meant to have this instantaneous change on us.
Forgiveness is meant to have this instantaneous
change on us. If you think about how hard it sometimes is to admit we are
wrong. But then once we do it once we do admit we're wrong once we repent,
going to confession, for example, to a priest or admitting our we're wrong to
another person. Sometimes we're surprised how fast the moment passes, how
instantaneous it is. The water symbolizes something instantaneous.
The water reminds us of this baptismal vow to
renounce sin, so as to live in the freedom of the children of God. That's a
baptismal question. Do you renounce sin? So it's living the freedom of the
children of God, and to renounce something is something instantaneous. We may have to do it repeatedly.
[__04_] [2nd WORTHINESS.]
Am I worthy, are you worthy to to be
baptized?
The answer is complicated.
Am I worthy or are you worthy to be baptized?
We read in the Gospel today, John the Baptist says, I am not worthy to untie
the sandals of his feet.
At Holy Communion before we before we
receive, we pray these words: “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only
say the word and my soul shall be healed.”
Forgiveness is not about being worthy.
Sometimes we put it in those terms, for example, and say, I'm not going to
forgive that person. I didn't get the apology I expected. Because I didn't get
the apology I expected I'm not going to forgive him or her. And we might say
the same thing about ourselves. When I do something wrong. I might say, Well, I
really don't know how to apologize. I really don't know what to say.
So I'm
not going to say anything, I'm going to hope this whole thing blows blows over,
because I offended somebody.
And so we might also judge ourselves
“unworthy” or cut off from mercy and forgiveness. But forgiveness is not
something we are given because of our worthiness. Forgiveness is something we
are given because we repent, because we asked for it.
And I'm sure that you have forgiven others,
not because you thought the other person was were worthy, but because you saw
something good, invisible, that somebody else didn't see.
And God sees something good in us an
invisible reality in us. And I'd like to connect this to the baptismal promise
that says, we are you know, the 2nd baptismal promise:
“Do you renounce the lure of evil so that sin
may have no mastery over you do renounce the law or the attraction of evil, we
are called to renounce the attraction of evil, because that's not worthy of us.”
We are seeking a greater worthiness.
[__05_] [3rd WILDFIRE.]
Baptism is about FIRE, and about
WILDFIRE. I guess I had to say “wildfire” to get this word to line up with
“water” and “worthiness”
Baptism is about a wildfire.
But, it is a good wildfire.
We only hear these days about
uncontrollable wildfires that burn for weeks and months and destroy billions of
dollars in property and do untold damage.
In a time of crisis, sometimes people do a
lot of good things in a time of crisis, those truckers on I-95 in Virginia were
spreading the word on social media that they were willing to help anybody
unconditionally who came to them in the storm.
That's a wildfire of goodness. And there are
wildfires of goodness that have happened during this COVID 19 pandemic as well.
People reaching out to each other people reaching out through the community of West
Orange through Our Lady of Lourdes in many different ways. The wildfire is
meant to remind us of this baptismal promise do you reject Satan, the author
and Prince of sin?
Yes, these wildfires are bad.
But, there is – in the natural world –
a way in which even “wildfires” are good because the fire burns up – on its own
– dead branches, leaves and the fire can actually restore the environment.
Wildfire is connected to baptism
forgiveness in that it is also meant to restore, to clean up, to purify our
lives, and not just in a superficial way.
It is also connected this baptismal
renunciation:
“do you reject Satan, the author and
prince of sin ”
The Devil or Satan has another fire in mind
for us but we are reminded that we are motivated by the fire of the Holy
Spirit, the fire of God's goodness, the fire that burns in our conscience, the
fire to do the right thing, sometimes in in ways that other people do not see.
In our lives, we seeking an invisible reality, the invisible reality of the Holy Spirit, which we learned first from our baptism in this through the symbols of water of worthiness and the wildfire [END]
No comments:
Post a Comment