THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD

This weekend marks the last day of the Christmas Season for the Catholic Church, and this week starts the Ordinary Season in the Liturgical Year. This Sunday is the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus Christ.

What is puzzling about today’s Feast of the Baptism of Jesus is “Why?”  

“Why” would Jesus be baptized?

First of all, the baptism of Jesus is not to be confused with the baptism you and I received. Our baptism was the removal of original sin. Jesus had no need for that kind of baptism as he is like us in all things, except for sin.

Jesus was baptized to show how He chose to identify with us sinners by sharing in our human sufferings. His baptism was also the beginning of His public life of preaching, teaching and healing. 

Our baptism is not some trendy ceremony that we do. Baptism is a sacred sacrament of initiation that we receive only once.

• Our baptism removes the effects of original sin.
• Our baptism is a welcoming rite into the Christian community.
• Our baptism is a call to discipleship, which involves responsibility on our part. We are commissioned to go out into the world, baptize others, to bring others to believe in Christ.
• Our baptism makes us a son or daughter of God, in whom God is well pleased.
• Our baptism is a sharing in Christ’s priesthood and sharing in Christ’s death and resurrection, which includes his suffering. Baptism doesn’t shield us from sickness or sadness, illness or injuries, disappointments or discouragements, but it does help us to deal with and tolerate them as Christ did.

I don’t believe it is enough to be baptized and not be a witness to what baptism stands for and requires. The Vatican II document entitled the “Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People” promulgated this:

“Lay persons are qualified by their baptism to spread the faith among those with whom they are connected by social and professional ties, and this obligation is all the more urgent since so many men, women and children can only come to hear the gospel and recognize Christ through lay people who are their neighbors.”

Being baptized is one thing.  Living out that baptism is clearly another. An example of a person who was baptized but didn’t live according to his baptismal vows is found in one of the most memorable scenes from Francis Ford Coppola’s movie, “The Godfather.”

The scene was the baptism of Michael Corleone’s nephew, his sister’s baby. During the baptism, the camera switches back and forth from the baptism in the church to the brutal murders ordered by Michael, who is the Godfather of the newborn and also the “Godfather” of the mafia.

• The priest asked, “Do you renounce Satan?” “I do,” responds Michael Corleone, the Godfather and uncle at the baptism, as the camera cuts away and shows a violent killing.
• The camera shifts back to the church, as the priest asked Corleone, “And all his works?” Michael responds “I do” which is nothing more than a lie, as the camera switches to another violent killing taking place.
• The camera again shifts to the priest who asks, “And all his empty promises?” Corleone responds, “I do.” The camera quickly turns to yet another sickening murder ordered by Corleone.

Corleone’s profession of faith “I do” was a sham and a bold lie. He had no intention of renouncing Satan or Satan’s works or Satan’s empty promises. Answering these questions was one thing. Living out the responses honestly and faithfully was totally different.

This is one of the reasons every diocese requires parents to take pre-baptismal classes: to make sure the parents understand their responsibilities in raising their child in the Catholic faith.

In All Is Grace, the personal notes of Dorothy Day the co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, Ms. Day writes about her life, including baptism. She died in 1980 at the age of 83.  At age 13, she was baptized as an Episcopalian; at age 29, she made her profession of faith and was received into the Catholic Faith.

The book is an account of her journey one step at a time. It moves from illicit love affairs, an abortion, giving birth to her daughter and a failed marriage to stints serving time in jail for what was considered her radical pacifism in which she comforted the afflicted and afflicted the comfortable.

Admitting to each of these sins and failures, she constantly refers back to the numerous times she resisted any dependence upon God despite being baptized. She viewed her dependence on God as a weakness. She writes, “I was like a child that wanted to walk by herself; I kept brushing away the hand that held me up.”

It was when she read and meditated on the passage that we heard today in our Second Reading from St. Paul to Titus that changed her life. Please join me in reflecting on the first line:

Beloved: The grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of our great God and savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself people as his own eager to do what is good.

When she grasped these words, she gave herself to Christ and was baptized. Regardless of her past life, Dorothy Day lived her baptismal commitment to the fullest. She began the Catholic Worker Movement and opened hospitality houses for the poor across the United States.

She once remarked, “If I have achieved anything in my life, it is because I have not been embarrassed to be baptized into God’s love and mercy.” 

On this Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, I suggest you do a little research and find out the place and date you were baptized. Then, on your baptismal anniversary date, light a candle in your home to remind you that you are a beloved son or daughter in whom the Lord is well pleased