Baptism of the Lord - January 13, 2019

Homily for Baptism of the Lord

January 13, 2019

Baptized Into His Death

            Pope John Paul II was once asked by a reporter, “What was the most significant day of your life?” There could be lots to choose from – the day he was ordained a priest, or elected Pope, or the day he was shot but survived, or the day that Communism finally fell. But he responded, “My most important day was the day of my baptism.”

            The day of his baptism – St. John Paul II realized that baptism was the start to his relationship with God, and therefore it was the most important day of his life.

            Do any of you remember your baptism? I don’t remember it, but I would agree about its significance! Baptism takes a regular person – infant or adult – and makes them a child of God.

            As a Sacrament, Baptism has many powerful effects on the soul. It frees us from original sin, fills our soul with Grace (God’s divine life within us), makes us members of the Church and heirs to Heaven. But one of the most significant effects is that it marks us for Christ. There is an indelible stamp, called a “character”, imprinted on our souls through Baptism, so that when the Lord sees us, He recognizes, “He is one of Mine!”

            Have you ever seen a cow being branded? Back in the days of the Wild West, before there were fences everywhere marking property boundaries, ranchers would brand their cattle so that they would know which ones were their own on the open range. Branding involves taking a hot iron with a design – usually some letters – and burning it into the cow’s backside, leaving a mark that would always remain. Ouch! Not pleasant! But a safe way to mark who the cow belongs to.

            In the same way, Baptism is a mark on our soul to show Who we belong to – the Lord Jesus. But unlike branding a cow, baptism is far more difficult. Wait…did I say “more” difficult?

            Yes. Because baptism is a death and resurrection.

            In the early Church, all baptisms took place outside in lakes or rivers. The person to be baptized would be completely immersed in the water three times (none of this little “sprinkle water on the head” business – they went completely under!). Three times they would go down, and three times they would rise again. The early Church Fathers saw this as a type of death and Resurrection. For example, St. Gregory Nazianzen said, “We were buried with Christ in baptism so we might rise again with Him.” St. Cyril of Jerusalem said that the three times a person is dunked is symbolic of Christ’s three days in the tomb. St. Ambrose went further to say, “The baptismal font is a kind of grave.”

Our Church Fathers realized that to be baptized is to die to yourself, to die to the things of this world, so that you can be raised to new life in Christ. When you have been baptized, you no longer belong to yourself, or to the world. You belong to the Lord Jesus. He has a claim on you. And so we better live as men and women who have died to the things of this world and be raised in Him.

Consider, for example, St. Therese of Lisieux, who writes in her autobiography, “My desire for martyrdom is profound and unsettling.” Or consider the example of St. John de Brebuef, a French Jesuit priest who was martyred by the Iriquois Indians in upstate New York, who wrote this beautiful prayer in his journal: “My God, I vow to You that, if in Your mercy You offer me the grace of martyrdom, I will not fail to accept it.” How could these saints actually desire to die for Christ, unless they had first died to the things of this world?

All of us, either by ourselves or through our parents, have taken vows at our baptism. This is a good way to consider whether or not we really have died to ourselves. So I ask you now – “Do you reject Satan? And all his works? And all his empty promises?” – do we refuse to be mastered by sin? Do we refuse to pursue the empty promises of money, power, pleasure, fame? Are we genuinely willing to fight against temptation?

Then we turn to the other three promises – “Do you believe in God the Father, the Creator? And in His only Son Jesus? And in the Holy Spirit, the Church, the forgiveness of sins and resurrection of the body and life everlasting?” Well, do we? Have we ordered our life around God, following Jesus Christ, living with the Holy Spirit and in accords with the teaching of the Church?

My friends, if you have been baptized, your soul is marked forever. You have been set apart, belonging to Christ. You have died to this world of sin, and rose in the power of the Spirit. Are you living as one who belongs to Christ?