{"id":1751,"date":"2016-01-10T13:09:32","date_gmt":"2016-01-10T18:09:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1751"},"modified":"2016-01-10T13:09:32","modified_gmt":"2016-01-10T18:09:32","slug":"baptism-of-the-lord-year-c-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/baptism-of-the-lord-year-c-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"Baptism of the Lord, Year C – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

Baptism of the Lord, Year C<\/a>
\nIsaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
\nTitus 2:11-14; 3:4-7
\nLuke 3:15-16; 21-22
\nJanuary 10, 2016<\/p>\n

Our Christmas season began with our Masses on Christmas Eve.\u00a0 For many people when December 25th<\/sup> ended, Christmas was over but not for us.<\/p>\n

Since then we have celebrated the Feast of the Holy Family, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, and the Epiphany.\u00a0 There is much to celebrate with Christmas.<\/p>\n

Our Christmas season draws to a close today with our celebration of the Baptism of our Lord.\u00a0 It has been the practice of our faith since the early centuries that we baptize babies.\u00a0 Since they are still babies, it makes perfect sense for birth and baptism to be celebrated together.<\/p>\n

However, Jesus was not baptized until he was around thirty years old.\u00a0 So why do we celebrate his baptism with his birth?\u00a0 To understand this we need to talk about what baptism is.<\/p>\n

Jesus was baptized by John.\u00a0 John\u2019s baptism was for one purpose, the forgiveness of sins<\/em>.\u00a0 Of course, Jesus had no sins and thus did not need to be baptized by John.<\/p>\n

Even John realized that Jesus would make baptism something more when he said \u201cI am baptizing you with water\u2026. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 We see this when the Holy Spirit comes down on Jesus like a dove.<\/p>\n

We also see how Jesus is identified by God as His Son at baptism.\u00a0 We become children of God through baptism.<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 baptism marks a new beginning as he begins to teach and heal.\u00a0 It marks a new beginning for Him and for us.\u00a0 Our being baptized begins our entry into new life.<\/p>\n

In baptism, we are to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly and devoutly.<\/em>\u00a0 We are to be clothed in Christ.<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 baptism begins a life of service for him.\u00a0 Likewise, we are called in our own baptism to be priest, prophet, and king, to serve.<\/p>\n

What does it mean to serve?\u00a0 Isaiah calls us to give comfort, speak tenderly, to proclaim, <\/em>and to be a people of forgiveness.\u00a0 This is what Pope Francis has declared a Jubilee Year of Mercy for, for us to serve others with acts of mercy.<\/p>\n

What Isaiah speaks of can be found in the Spiritual Works of Mercy; to comfort the sorrowful, forgiving injuries, and bearing wrongs patiently.\u00a0 We are to instruct the ignorant (proclaim).\u00a0 Is this not what we ask God to do for us?\u00a0 We are called to do the same for others.<\/p>\n

Our call to service goes further.\u00a0 We are called to help all in need, whether they live next door or come from a foreign land. We are called to stand up for the rights of others.<\/p>\n

Some people think that the Social Teaching of our Catholic faith is new.\u00a0 They don\u2019t understand why the Pope speaks about how we treat immigrants, capitalism, or the environment.<\/p>\n

What the Pope says is not new teaching.\u00a0 It takes what Jesus teaches us and applies it to new situations.\u00a0 For instance, the concerns we face in our environment today weren\u2019t apparent 2,000 years ago when Jesus came.\u00a0 As to capitalism, the way we do business changed greatly with the Industrial Revolution and the dawning of the technology era.<\/p>\n

Jesus may not have talked about the environment and capitalism but what he did talk about is how we treat other people and it\u2019s in the Bible.\u00a0 In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus tells us that we will be judged by what we do for the hungry, thirsty, naked, stranger, and those in prison.<\/p>\n

Now, if Jesus says it, that is good enough for me, but if you want to go back farther, you can find passages in the Old Testament where God directs us to help those in need. (I\u2019ve been looking at some of those preparing for my talk this Thursday.)<\/p>\n

These acts to help the physically poor and the disadvantaged are called the Corporal Works of Mercy.\u00a0 If you read Pope Francis\u2019 document, Misericordiae Vultus<\/em>, you will see him write about the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy.<\/p>\n

The whole idea of this Jubilee Year of Mercy is rooted in the fact<\/em> that the world needs more mercy today.\u00a0 Are you willing to perform acts of mercy?\u00a0 Are you willing to be the visible face of the Father\u2019s mercy to the world?\u00a0 It is our baptismal call to serve God and to serve the needs of others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Baptism of the Lord, Year C Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11 Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7 Luke 3:15-16; 21-22 January 10, 2016 Our Christmas season began with our Masses on Christmas Eve.\u00a0 For many people when December 25th ended, Christmas was over but not for us. Since then we have celebrated the Feast of the Holy Family, the Solemnity …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Baptism of the Lord, Year C – Homily’ »<\/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":[82,11],"tags":[155,156,140],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-sf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1751"}],"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=1751"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1752,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1751\/revisions\/1752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}