{"id":1272,"date":"2014-01-12T18:23:01","date_gmt":"2014-01-12T23:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1272"},"modified":"2014-01-12T18:23:01","modified_gmt":"2014-01-12T23:23:01","slug":"homily-baptism-of-the-lord-year-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/homily-baptism-of-the-lord-year-a\/","title":{"rendered":"Homily – Baptism of the Lord, Year A"},"content":{"rendered":"

Baptism of the Lord, Year A<\/a>
\nIsaiah 42:1-4, 6-7
\nActs 10:34-38
\nMatthew 3:13-17
\nJanuary 12, 2014<\/p>\n

Isaiah speaks of the \u201csuffering servant\u201d chosen by the Lord to receive his spirit and who pleases the Lord.\u00a0 People ask who this \u201csuffering servant\u201d is who has been called by the Lord to bring justice to the nations<\/i> in a peaceful way.<\/p>\n

Some speculate it could be Isaiah himself.\u00a0 As a prophet, Isaiah proclaimed God\u2019s message but because he preached an unpopular message he faced sufferings from the people.<\/p>\n

Some speculate that the \u201csuffering servant\u201d is the Israelite people as a whole who suffer in exile.<\/p>\n

As Christians, we see Jesus as the \u201csuffering servant\u201d.\u00a0 He is the one who suffers on the Cross for us.<\/p>\n

Today we celebrate \u201cThe Baptism of the Lord\u201d.\u00a0 In the story of Jesus\u2019 baptism we see Isaiah\u2019s prophecy of the \u201csuffering servant\u201d fulfilled.\u00a0 The spirit of the Lord comes upon him and the voice from Heaven confirms Jesus as his Son with whom he is well pleased.<\/i><\/p>\n

Two questions \u2013 first, people have asked me this week why the Baptism of the Lord is part of our Christmas season.\u00a0 Christmas is about Jesus\u2019 birth but he wasn\u2019t baptized until he was an adult.<\/p>\n

Yes, Christmas is about Jesus\u2019 birth that we celebrate with joy but to appreciate Jesus\u2019 birth we must understand why he was born.\u00a0 Jesus came to save us and his ministry begins with his baptism.\u00a0 So, we conclude our Christmas season by celebrating the beginning of Jesus\u2019 ministry for which he was born.<\/p>\n

The other question becomes why did Jesus come to John to be baptized.\u00a0 John himself doesn\u2019t understand why Jesus comes to him for baptism.\u00a0 First, John knows Jesus is greater than he, that he (John) should be baptized by Jesus.\u00a0 We also remember that John\u2019s baptism was solely for the forgiveness of sins.\u00a0 Jesus had no sins.<\/p>\n

Jesus says John is to baptize him to fulfill all righteousness.\u00a0 It\u2019s been God\u2019s plan.\u00a0 Why would God\u2019s plan include the baptism of Jesus?<\/p>\n

First, I think Jesus\u2019 baptism sets an example for us.\u00a0 If Jesus was baptized, then we should all be baptized.\u00a0 But with Jesus, baptism is no longer just for the forgiveness of sins.<\/p>\n

Jesus makes baptism so much more by sending down the Holy Spirit on all who are baptized.\u00a0 We need the Holy Spirit<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 baptism also marked a new beginning for him as he began his public ministry.\u00a0 Likewise, baptism marks a new beginning for us as we are joined with Jesus, initiated as adopted sons and daughters of God.<\/p>\n

Jesus becomes our brother.\u00a0 In living our life in faith, I think we can say we become \u201cpartners\u201d with Jesus.\u00a0 I talked about how some saw the people of Israel as a whole as the \u201csuffering servant.\u201d\u00a0 As Catholics, we share in the suffering of Jesus.<\/p>\n

We are all formed by God, chosen and called by God to be his servants. In coming here today, we acknowledge our calling and ask for strength and guidance from God to fulfill the calling.<\/p>\n

Each and every one of us has been giving gifts for the building up of God\u2019s kingdom.\u00a0 Ask yourself how you can be good stewards and use what you have been given to make your family, our parish, our church, and the whole world be what God calls it to be.<\/p>\n

As an engineer working on roads and bridges I took my job seriously for the safety of the people travelling on the roads. \u00a0(For the record, I didn\u2019t work on the roads and bridges around here.) \u00a0As the \u201cadministrator\u201d of our parish, I think about how we care for our buildings to make sure they are safe and well maintained, hence our capital campaign.\u00a0 As a priest, I think about how I can serve the spiritual needs of you as the people of our parish.<\/p>\n

People ask what it takes to be a priest.\u00a0 Years ago I think priests had a common story.\u00a0 Today priests can have a variety of backgrounds.\u00a0 There are still men who enter the seminary in college as their first career.\u00a0 With my classmates in seminary, some were businessmen, one was a barber, one a marine biologist, and two others were engineers like me.<\/p>\n

With religious sisters and brothers I think the variety can be even more.\u00a0 There are religious who have backgrounds in law and do legal work for the people they serve.\u00a0 I know a sister who works in the real estate business serving the poor.<\/p>\n

As a priest, I think the most important thing I do is celebrating the sacraments but for each of us our calling centers on serving others.\u00a0 How can you use the abilities you have been given to serve others around you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Baptism of the Lord, Year A Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7 Acts 10:34-38 Matthew 3:13-17 January 12, 2014 Isaiah speaks of the \u201csuffering servant\u201d chosen by the Lord to receive his spirit and who pleases the Lord.\u00a0 People ask who this \u201csuffering servant\u201d is who has been called by the Lord to bring justice to the nations …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Homily – Baptism of the Lord, Year A’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-kw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1272"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1272"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1273,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1272\/revisions\/1273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}