The Baptism of the Lord

Today's Mass Readings

One of the things that parents, grandparents, and any who try to hand on the faith, find difficult is how to do this in a society that is not always friendly to the life of faith. The difficulty is real in a world increasingly competing for our time. Religious observances, family life, leisure time, all have to compete in a superabundant electronic atmosphere of distraction.

The challenge facing us lies in not realizing who we have become in Christ, where we are actually strong.

A good woman came to the U.S. from Russia some years ago. She eventually settled in Canada. Her name was Catherine de Hueck Doherty. She promoted the Russian form of a hermitage, a poustinia – a small house in the woods to have solitude for prayer. She wrote: “The real obstacle to sobornost [the Russian word for unity] lies in the hearts, lies in the minds of all Christians who have not understood or who have forgotten what it means to be baptized.”

We too quickly forget or do not know, what it means to be baptized. We are not convinced of what we heard in today’s Gospel: “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Jesus came to insert us into a quite new dimension of what it means to be human, to be born again. Hear it in our second reading today in St. Paul’s letter to Titus:
He saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he richly poured out on us through Jesus Christ our Savior so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life.

Jesus brings us a new way of thinking, of judging, and of acting. He gives us a share in his Spirit, “a new birth.”

The anointed or christened way of being human is not simply a moral effort. It is the help of the Holy Spirit. It is Jesus present through his Holy Spirit, offering to ally himself with our freedom. He seeks to turn our moral effort into a new way. Initiative moves away from the human ego and its subtle, proud exploits – ‘I have to do it!’ Rather, it is his mercy poured into us. This mission of divine love is Spirit-driven, not self-master-minded. This baptismal gift calls for the evangelical virtue of poverty of spirit because pride, independence from God, more than any other obstacle, blocks our path to realizing our baptismal grace.

This is the divine love we celebrate in the Holy Eucharist. It is abundant. It is subtle. It is given freely. Our lives must simply be a willing and grateful response to this divine generosity. We but have to enter the rich, interior stream of life that flows from Christ into us. Our effort is to calmly ask for and attend to the inspirations of our minds and hearts and then let them flower in acts of divine love.

This abundant life begins in the home where we remember the anniversary of our baptism.
After the christening of his baby brother in church, little Johnny sobbed all the way home in the back seat of the car. His father asked him three times what was wrong. Finally, the boy replied, “That priest said he wanted us brought up in a Christian home, and I want to stay with you guys!”

Reflection by Fr. Xavier Nacke, OSB