Baptism: for Jesus, it was LESS than it appeared to be; for us, it was MORE than it appeared to be.

(Baptism of the Lord (A): This homily was given on January 12, 2014 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani.  Read Matthew 3: 13-17.)

[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Baptism of the Lord 2014]

 

For Jesus, it was less than it appeared to be; for us, it was more than it appeared to be.

I’m talking here about baptism: Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist, and our baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

When Jesus arrived at the Jordan and presented himself to his cousin, John, he appeared to be a sinner.  St. Luke tells us that John the Baptist “went throughout [the] whole region of Judea, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

The whole purpose for receiving John’s baptism was to acknowledge that you were a sinner, and to seek God’s mercy and pardon.

But Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, never sinned!  He had no need of the heavenly Father’s forgiveness, like the rest of us do.

Although he appeared to need it.

Perhaps it also appeared to some of the bystanders who witnessed this event that John was greater than Jesus, since John was the person who baptized our Lord.  But, of course, he wasn’t (as he himself acknowledged in the gospel reading we just heard). 

John knew the truth, and so he said, “I should be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?”

At the Jordan Jesus appeared to be a sinner, but he wasn’t; he appeared to be someone less important than John the Baptist, but he wasn’t.

In reality, he was much more important!

After all, he had created John—and everyone else who was there that day.

So why did he get baptized?

John, in effect, asks Jesus that question here, and our Lord responds by saying, “It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

There’s a footnote in the New American Bible which explains that response very well.  It reads, “To fulfill all righteousness is to submit to the plan of God for the salvation of the human race.  This involves Jesus’ identification with sinners; hence the propriety of accepting John’s baptism.”

To save us, in other words, Jesus had to take our sins upon himself.  But in order to take our sins upon himself he needed to look like a sinner, even though he wasn’t.

And he did!  He certainly looked like a sinner on Good Friday as he hung on the cross.  But that identification with sinners was also present in his 3-year ministry (remember, his enemies called him “a glutton” and “a drunkard” and a lot of other not-so-nice things!).

And that identification with sinners was present at his baptism.

Jesus’ baptism was an act of humility and love.  It did not bring him any forgiveness—which is why I say it was less than it appeared to be.

Now that’s the exact opposite of the way it was for you and for me!  Our baptism—whether it occurred in infancy or in adulthood—was more than it appeared to be!

If you’ve been to a baptism recently, you know that it’s a very simple and I would say “visually-unspectacular” event!  One person—usually a member of the clergy—pours water 3 times over another person’s forehead (or dunks the person 3 times in a pool of water), and says a very short sentence: “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

What’s so special about that?

Aside from being a good excuse to have a family party on a Sunday afternoon, the ceremony of Catholic baptism appears to be little more than a nice, ordinary, very brief religious ritual.

But in reality it’s a ritual that’s packed with power!  Literally!

If you’ve been unaware of this up until now don’t be too upset: apparently even many of the earliest Christians failed to appreciate the power of this sacrament.  St. Paul wrote to some them in Romans 6 when he said:

Are you unaware [apparently some were] that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.

For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.

The effects of baptism are many:

• Through baptism we are born again of water and the Spirit—which Jesus says in John 3 we MUST BE in order to enter the kingdom of God at the end of our earthly lives.
• Through baptism original sin is taken away.  Original sin, remember, is not like the personal sins we commit every day.  When we say we are born with original sin we are saying that we’re born into this world lacking sanctifying grace in our soul.  Sanctifying grace is the grace Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead to give us; it’s the grace that we need in our soul in order to get into the kingdom of heaven.
• Through baptism all our personal sins are also forgiven (this obviously applies to those who are baptized later in life)—and all the temporal punishment due to those sins is taken away.
• As it says in paragraph 1265 of the Catechism, “Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes the neophyte ‘a new creature,’ an adopted son of God, who has become a ‘partaker of the divine nature,’ member of Christ and co-heir with him, and a temple of the Holy Spirit.”
• Baptism also makes us a member of the Church; it imprints an indelible spiritual mark on our soul; it gives us a share in the royal priesthood of Jesus Christ; and it opens us to the possibility of receiving the other sacraments.

Not bad for a nice, ordinary, very brief religious ritual!

This, by the way, is why a priest will sometimes delay the baptism of an infant.  It’s because baptism is so powerful and so important!  It’s not to be taken lightly! 

But sometimes, unfortunately, it is.  In this regard, paragraph 1270 of the Catechism says the following: “Reborn as sons of God, [the baptized] must profess before men the faith they have received from God through the Church and participate in the apostolic and missionary activity of the People of God.”

In other words, the baptized person needs to live the Catholic Faith that they profess (when they’re old enough to do so).  But if the priest has a good reason to believe that a particular child will not be educated and brought up in the Catholic Faith, he can—and he should—delay the sacrament. 

The official policy of the Church on the matter is found in a 1980 document entitled, “Instruction on Infant Baptism.”  It was prepared by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and was approved by Pope John Paul II.

In section 28 of that document it says this:

Assurances must be given that the gift [the gift of sanctifying grace]  thus granted can grow by an authentic education in the faith and Christian life, in order to fulfill the true meaning of the sacrament.   As a rule, these assurances are to be given by the parents or close relatives, although various substitutions are possible within the Christian community.  But if these assurances are not really serious there can be grounds for delaying the sacrament; and if they are certainly non-existent the sacrament should even be refused.

Of course, when those responsible for the child’s upbringing change and do give those assurances by their words—and, even more importantly, by their actions!—then the baptism can (and should!) take place.

I’ll end my homily now the way I began it, by reminding you once again of those two important truths: the baptism of Jesus was less than it appeared to be, while our baptism was more than it appeared to be.

Because Jesus’ baptism was less than it appeared to be, he can save us; and because our baptism was more than appeared to be, we can be saved.

Obviously, therefore, we should thank God for BOTH those truths—today and every day.

 

 

God’s ‘Inclusiveness’

 

(Epiphany 2014: This homily was given on January 5, 2014 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I. by Fr. Raymond Suriani.  Read Ephesians 3: 2-6; Matthew 2: 1-12.)

 

[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Epiphany 2014]

 

A buzzword is defined as “a word or phrase . . . that is fashionable at a particular time or in a particular context.” 

Every age has its buzzwords.  Some modern ones include: “globalization;” “Generation X;” “millenials;” “viral;” “gravitas;”—and one that you hear all the time these days: “inclusiveness.”

What brought this to mind was an editorial from the Times of Trenton newspaper that I came across online the other day.  It was entitled, “Pope Francis Offers Refreshing Message of Inclusiveness.”

The good news is that this was a very complimentary editorial--at least it was complimentary toward Francis.  The bad news is that it was not so complimentary toward the popes that came before him.  In fact, the editors tried to portray our new Holy Father as being completely different from his predecessors, and as teaching things that are actually in direct conflict with the teachings of previous popes.  He’s humble; they were not.  He’s compassionate; they were not.  He’s not materialistic; they were.  He’s not concerned with doctrine; they were obsessed with it.  He’s “inclusive”—he accepts everybody, almost totally ignoring their sins; they divided and excluded people, because they were almost exclusively focused on people’s sins.

And to support that last point they wrote the following, quoting Francis himself: “[The Church’s true] message, says Pope Francis is ‘the saving love of God comes before moral and religious imperatives.’”

Now I presume the editors of the Times of Trenton were English majors (or that they at least took an English course or two in college); however they seem to be completely unaware of the fact that there’s a very big difference between the word “before” and the expression “in place of”.  Pope Francis did not say, ‘the saving love of God comes IN PLACE OF moral and religious imperatives’”—which is what they imply in their editorial.  Rather, he said, ‘the saving love of God comes BEFORE moral and religious imperatives’”—which is, in essence, the very same thing that Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope John Paul II, and every other good pope of the past has said!

The teaching, in other words, that God loves us and has saved us through his Son, Jesus Christ, comes first.  It has a certain priority over other aspects of the Faith.  But that teaching about the Father’s love and the sacrificial death of Jesus doesn’t negate or replace the teaching on the commandments!

If anything, it makes the teaching on the commandments more important!

I mention this today because the Feast of the Epiphany which we celebrate in the Church this weekend is about “inclusiveness”—but not the kind of inclusiveness that the editors of the Times of Trenton advocate.  This feast is about the inclusiveness of God’s plan of salvation.

The Magi were the first Gentiles—the first non-Jews—to worship Jesus.  Scripture tells us that they were “from the east”—which probably means that they were from ancient Persia (an area now known to the world as Iran).

The very fact that St. Matthew—who was writing primarily for Jewish converts to Christianity—mentioned these Magi in his gospel was significant.  He wanted to make the point to his fellow Israelites that Jesus didn’t just come into the world to save the Jews.  He came to save EVERYBODY—Jew and Gentile alike.

God’s plan to save the human race, in other words, is characterized by inclusiveness!  The best kind of inclusiveness!  As St. Paul put it in today’s second reading: “the Gentiles are now coheirs with the Jews, members of the same body and sharers of the promise through the preaching of the gospel.”

Everyone is included in the plan.  To that we Gentiles should say, “Praise God!”  But this does not mean that everyone will actually be saved! 

This is the point that often gets forgotten or ignored.

To be saved we need to follow the example of the Magi, who, we are told here “prostrated themselves [before Jesus] and did him homage.”

You prostrate yourself in front of someone who has authority over you and over your life.  You give homage—that is to say, worship—to God.  So by this simple act of prostrating themselves before Jesus and doing him homage, these Magi were implicitly acknowledging our Lord’s divinity, and proclaiming their desire and intention to obey him—and his commandments.

Simply put, the Magi were included in God’s plan of salvation, and, just as importantly, they did nothing to exclude themselves from the fulfillment of that plan in them.

The same, unfortunately, cannot be said for Herod.

God loved Herod, of course, just like he loved the Magi; he loved Herod and wanted Herod to be saved—just as he wanted the Magi to be saved.  As one of the great saints put it in a meditation he wrote:

A tiny child is born, who is a great king.  Wise men are led to him from afar.  They come to adore one who lies in a manger and yet reigns in heaven and on earth.  [But] when they tell of one who is born a king, Herod is disturbed.  To save his kingdom he resolves to kill him, though if he would have faith in the child, [Herod] himself would reign in peace in this life and for ever in the life to come.  (Second reading from Office of Readings, December 28)

Herod, as evil as he was, was included in the plan of God for the salvation of the world, but the Scriptures indicate that he did almost everything he could possibly do to exclude himself from the fulfillment of that plan in him.

Like murdering the Holy Innocents.

What the editors of the Times of Trenton (and many others in the secular media) don’t seem to understand is, yes God’s salvific plan includes each and every one of us—but it does not include our sins!  Which means that if we refuse to repent and insist on clinging to our sins (as, it seems, Herod insisted on doing in his life), then we will exclude ourselves from the fulfillment of the Lord’s plan in us.

Which obviously means we will exclude ourselves from the glorious and eternal kingdom of heaven.

If the Times editors and others like them actually took the time to read and study—in context—all that Pope Francis has said and written, they would see that his message is substantially the very same message that was given to the world by Benedict XVI and John Paul II and every good pope that came before them. 

They all preach and teach “inclusiveness”—but not an inclusiveness that denies or ignores sin!  Rather, they preach and teach an inclusiveness that calls people to repentance and to freedom from their sins.

And ultimately to eternal life!

Pope Francis put it simply and beautifully at the beginning of his recent apostolic exhortation when he wrote this line: “Those who accept [Jesus’] offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness.”

To which the Magi—and every good pope of the past—would certainly say, “Amen!”

Mary: She Pondered the Past to Prepare for the Future

Mary "pondering"

 

(Mary, the Mother of God, 2014: This homily was given on January 1, 2014 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani.  Read Luke 2: 16-21.)

 

[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Mary, the Mother of God 2014]

 

She pondered the past to prepare for the future.

I’m talking, of course, about Mary, our Blessed Mother.

She pondered the past in order to prepare herself for what was to come in her life.

We know this from today’s gospel reading, in which we read the following line: “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.”  We also know it from Luke 2: 51 which says pretty much the same thing.  There the evangelist writes, “[Jesus] went down with [Mary and Joseph] and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart.”

And what exactly were “these things?”

Well, very simply, they were the events surrounding Jesus’ birth and youth.  That’s obvious since the first reference to Mary “keeping these things in her heart” occurs during St. Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus, while the second one occurs after he tells the story of the finding of Jesus in the Temple when our Lord was twelve-years-old.

At the time, Mary didn’t know exactly what the future held for her and for her family.  Much of that was hidden from her eyes—as our future is hidden from our eyes.  Yes, Mary knew that her Son, Jesus, was unique—the only man ever to be conceived directly through the power of the Holy Spirit.  She knew that her Son Jesus had a special relationship with God, and that he was the fulfillment of the messianic prophecies which are found in what we now call the Old Testament.  She also knew that Jesus would somehow “save his people from their sins” (as the angel had told Joseph before our Lord was born).  And she knew that he would establish some kind of kingdom that would never end.

But beyond that Mary didn’t know too many other things regarding God’s plan to reconcile the world to himself through his divine Son.  She certainly didn’t know all of the details of the story that we know—although she was aware of the fact that, in some way, she—and her Son—would suffer greatly.  She became aware of that disturbing detail courtesy of the holy man Simeon, who said to her at the Presentation, “And a sword will pierce your own soul too, so that the secret thoughts of many will be laid bare.”

But our Blessed Mother faced all those future events with faith and strength when they actually occurred—because she had prepared for them well by “pondering” the past.  In other words, she got ready to face the future events of her life by reflecting on—by meditating on—by praying about—the things God had already done for her and for her family.

And even for her nation.

We see evidence of this in her Magnificat: that prayer of praise that Mary said when she visited her pregnant cousin, Elizabeth, at the Visitation.

Notice how the lines of that prayer that I’m about to read to you point to past events either in Mary’s own personal life or in the life of the nation of Israel—past events that Mary had obviously pondered and reflected on in her heart.  Mary said in her Magnificat, “God has looked with favor on his lowly servant; the Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his name; he has shown the strength of his arm, he has scattered the proud in their conceit.  He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly.  He has filled the hungry with good things, and rich he has sent away empty.  He has come to the help of his servant Israel, for he remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever.”

As I said a few moments ago, just as Mary’s future was hidden from her eyes, so our future is hidden from our eyes.  None of us knows what tomorrow—or even the rest of today—will bring.  And this uncertainty about the future can easily cause us to become fearful or anxious or depressed (or all of the above!)—unless we learn from our Blessed Mother, and follow her example of pondering the past.

In this case, our past!

This is something we should do frequently when we pray—and especially when we pray in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.  We should spend some time reflecting on the ways—the many ways—that God has been there for us in the past; on the ways he has helped us and provided for us in the past; on the ways he has gotten us through every difficulty and trial that we’ve faced in the past.

And he has!  In one sense, at least, Almighty God has helped each and every one of us to deal successfully with everything we’ve had to face in our lives thus far.  We know that because we’re still here!  We know that because we’re still alive!  The very fact that we’re still breathing and have a pulse after all that we’ve been through is a living testimony to the faithfulness of God!  His words to St. Paul are true for everyone: “My grace is sufficient for you, for in your weakness my power reaches its perfection.”

This means that we can—and that we should—have confidence and trust in God as we look to our uncertain future, as Mary had confidence and trust in God in the face of her uncertain future.

Her pondering prepared her well—and helped her to stay faithful to God and on the road to heaven.

May our pondering help all of us to do the very same thing.