|
The Baptism of the Lord (C): Read Is.
40, 1-5.9-11; Tit. 2, 11-14; 3, 4-7; Lk. 3,15-16.21-22
Christmas comes and goes. For those who like it, they are glad when it comes, even long before it comes. For those
who don’t, they are glad when it goes, even long before it goes. Very few, if any, of us, I would say, notwithstanding
our Catholic culture, would anticipate or dislike Easter in the same way. To indulge in purposeful hyperbole, even “fewer
than none of us” long for the Baptism of the Lord to come or go! True, there are clearly some feasts of the Lord that
are more important than others and thus merit particular celebration. Still, let us be honest. How much is Christmas exciting
for us because it is an especially important feast of the Lord? And if we dislike
Christmas, I am hoping that it is not because it is a feast of the Lord!
I would like to be wrong in saying that, were it not for the social jollities attached to Christmas, and, to a lesser
extent, to Easter, any significant change in our spiritual moods might indeed be non-existent. What we call the liturgical
year, that is, the chronological distribution of the commemoration of the events of the life of Christ, of Our Lady and of
the saints, is likely to suffer from the woes of routine, not to say apathy or indifference. The truth is, however, the liturgical
year does not come and go: it just keeps coming. What I mean is that all our celebrations of Mass, Sunday or otherwise, are
centered on one event alone: the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is what we celebrate at any and every Mass,
and if we denominate one day “Christmas”, and another “Christ the King”, and another “the Assumption”,
and another “All Saints”, it is not intended to distract our attention from that central celebration. Rather,
each of these special days is intended to stir our hearts, minds memories and -why not?- imaginations to understand more fully
that central mystery and to awaken us to the link between all the other mysteries we celebrate.
An example is today’s celebration of the Baptism of the Lord. The first reading and the Gospel are texts which
seem more appropriate to Advent: they speak of John the Baptist, preparing the way of the Lord and filling the people with
expectation. The second reading speaks of our baptism and so is related to Easter. This same reading speaks also of the “appearing”
of Jesus Christ, referring to His nativity, His epiphany, His baptism, His Resurrection and, indeed, to His second coming.
Likewise the Gospel, while referring to Christ’s baptism, refers also to our baptism and to the coming of the Holy Spirit,
hence to Pentecost. What confusion! Or is it?
All the events, or what we call the Mysteries, of Jesus Christ are either a preparation for, or the effect of, His
saving death and Resurrection or Paschal Mystery. Since the Mass is the memorial of that Mystery, then the Mass is celebrated
on every day of the liturgical year (with the exception of Good Friday and Holy Saturday). That is why the Mass is the center
of our religious worship: all our prayers, private or public, all our reading of Scripture, private or public, all our sufferings
and works of charity, find their ultimate meaning in the Mass and draw their power from it. The liturgical year is our teacher,
explaining constantly to us the riches and depths of Christ Jesus and, therefore, of His saving love and its implications
for our lives.
We would therefore be wrong and heedless, like undisciplined students, not to listen to that teacher and treat its
life-giving, wisdom-giving and grace-giving lessons as something that “comes and goes”. For the Christian, time
is not just the tick-tock of the clock, but the opportunity to embrace ever more deeply the ever-ancient and ever-new reality
of the love of Christ poured out for us in His death and Resurrection, in the Mass. We need, therefore, to cultivate a sensitivity to the rhythm of the liturgical year, to reflect and
pray on the meaning of each of its days, and of the order and hierarchy of its structure. This will enable us to insert our
own lives into the rhythm of Christ’s life. That life can be understood in itself and also in its beautiful fertility
in the lives of Our Lady, the martyrs, the virgins, pastors, confessors and all the holy men and women whose lives were lived,
and whose deaths were died, for Christ. Allowing liturgical time to set the tone of our own day-to-day time can be called
the baptism of our time, our life and its joys and sorrows, into the life, joys and sorrows of Christ and of the company of
heaven.
Many people seem to treat time as a consumer commodity. “Time is money”, or an open-ended chance for pleasure
and nothing else. Others find it an intolerable burden because of their sufferings, physical, moral or psychological. Some
curse the day they were born; others curse the day their enemy was born. Yet time is one of the greatest gifts God has given
us. St. Peter tells us that God is not slow to achieve His plan, but gives us time to work out our salvation: in other words,
to grow in the knowledge and love of His Son and to learn to live as He taught us. But in order to do that, we need to be
taught how to structure our time around Christ and how to interpret the events of our day-to-day lives in the rhythm of Christ’s
own life. This is the unsurpassable value of the liturgical year. It teaches us with Christ’s own wisdom how to relate
our lives to His; how to rescue ourselves from the apathy, boredom, chaos and despair that an attitude of “tick-tock
clock” time can allow to creep in.
Take, then, today’s feast as an example. It is called, “the Baptism of Jesus”. It signifies the beginning
of the public ministry of Jesus, which will end in the Paschal Mystery. It reveals to Jesus Himself His special relationship
of love with the Father and how the Holy Spirit is with Him in His mission. It also manifests the meaning of Jesus’
mission, which is the same as the meaning of His Name, to save from sin and unite all mankind in His love. Here is the link
with Christmas: “His name shall be called Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Here is also the
link with the Epiphany: Jesus is made manifest by the Father to the Baptist, just as the Star made Him manifest to the Magi.
Here is also the link with the Paschal Mystery: the true baptism of Jesus is not in water and is not for the cleansing of
any sin of His; no the true baptism is His death to destroy our sin and His Resurrection to restore our life. There is no
confusion here, but an inner, dynamic and unfolding structure of the Mystery of Christ.
Once understood the main message of the feast, I can begin to reflect on what it means for myself. Naturally, I begin
thinking about my own baptism. I recall what the catechism taught me about baptism. I remember that in my baptism, Jesus cleansed
me from sin, the Father said to me that He loved me and delighted in me, the Holy Spirit came to dwell in me with His manifold
gifts of grace. In my baptism, God makes manifest to me who I am in His sight: a child of His, a disciple of His. I remember
my mission as a baptized person, to witness to the Gospel of God’s mercy, the joy of salvation from sin, and to express
my faith, hope and love of God in the midst of the Church where I am united with all who have been baptized. I remember that,
just as Jesus suffered and died for me, so I must respond by offering my sufferings in union with Him, trusting in His consolation
and power. I must be prepared to die for Him, not just at the end of my life, but day-to-day, dying to sin, renouncing Satan
and the seduction of evil. I then turn and look at my life today: where have I let the waters of my baptism run dry? How can
I let the Lord make them well up in me again so that I sense His life to be in me? Have I forgotten or neglected the paternal
love of God for me, the presence of the Spirit within me? How can I rekindle my baptismal mission, my sense of belonging to
and loving the Church? Have I grown cold and angry at my sufferings or reached out to the Crucified One to be with me and
help me? Am I dying each day to sin so as to be ready to die for Him?
Now, I know that you may find such reflections difficult to undertake alone, although you could try by keeping the
Catechism at hand and keeping a liturgical calendar at hand as well. There are excellent publications, and not expensive,
that you can obtain as tools to help you in this project of baptizing your time (e.g. “Magnificat”). You just
have to look for them. But it would be even better if you could do this as a married couple, as a family or, if you live alone,
in meeting together in someone’s home to talk of such things. Think how much time we spend talking nonsense or listening
to, or watching, others talk nonsense! I am not saying all we talk is nonsense, but surely we can spend some time talking
about the most important thing in our life: our relationship, individual and collective, with Christ? Think of the joy you
would thus bring to Christ; think of the sense of purpose, support and renewal you could bring to yourselves. Time can be
well-spent in the world’s eyes but yet be wasted in the eyes of Christ. Don’t let time come and go, don’t
let Sunday come and go, don’t let the feasts and solemnities of the liturgical year come and go. Embrace them with open
arms and search out what riches of grace they offer you, and you will discover that you have embraced Christ Jesus Himself
and, indeed, that He has embraced you. It’s time to baptize time, and the clock starts ticking now!
Msgr. Peter Magee
Sunday, January 11th,
2003: St. Matthew’s, DC – 10.00 am
|
