Baptism of our Lord
Who Are You?
Feast of the Baptism of the Lord
Fr. Mark Gatto
Preached: January 9, 2022
Who are you? How we answer that question is crucial to how we live our life.
When you are asked that question you might choose to tell the person about your career, your profession, your studies or about other things you do. You might tell the person about your achievements, ways you have succeeded, or other accomplishments.
More likely you will tell the person about your relationships, your parents, your spouse, your children, your friends.
How would Jesus answer that question? In the account of his being baptized by John the Baptist in Luke’s Gospel, we hear a voice from heaven saying. “This is my Son, the Beloved.” Who was Jesus? He was a Beloved Son. This was perhaps the most important moment in the life of Jesus. In this identity we find the motivation, the inner drive of Jesus. All that he was and did is rooted in this intimate unity with the Father, this deep sense of being a Beloved Son.
Today in front of our altar is the Baptismal Font and Easter Candle. It is here this weekend for a practical reason, we have some children being baptized this afternoon. It is also timely in that today we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. This is a time for us to reflect on who we are in light of our baptism.
As we remember our own baptism, it is simply God saying to us, your are my beloved son or daughter.
Beloved. To be loved. How many are struggling in life because they have never felt that they were beloved.
This is the key to a healthy and life giving Catholic Faith. That you know yourself to be the beloved daughter or son of God. But, many of us struggle to believe this, we may know this theoretically, but find it difficult to know this in our heart. We feel we are not worthy, not good enough to be the beloved of God. It is for this reason that St. Paul says, “he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy,” It is the free unearned grace of God that we are now able to be a beloved daughter or son of God.
When parents bring children for baptism they are taking on the responsibility to raise them in the faith. This includes teaching them to pray, teaching them the basics of the faith. But, the most important way a parent carries out this responsibility is to love them in such a way that they can believe that they are loved by God. A theologian once said,
‘After a mother has smiled at her child for many days and weeks, she finally receives her child’s response. She has awakened love in the heart of her child’. You see, a child learns to love by being loved. You could say that a baby first comes to know the love of God when they first see their parent smiling down with love.
As Catholics today we are called to Evangelization, to share the Faith. We are to be Missionaries. The first step in being a good missionary is to know yourself to be the beloved of God. When we know that deep inside, then we want others to also know that they are loved by God.
Who around you needs to know that they are the beloved son or daughter of God? How can you be the person to help them to know that? A kind word. Offering forgiveness. A smile.
Does the way we speak and act reflect someone who is beloved by God? When Christians are condemning to hell rather than opening people’s hearts to recognize the love of God then there is a problem.
God did not save us and love us because of anything we did. We were not judged worthy for salvation. Jesus came to us not as a reward for good behaviour or right thinking. This is small minded thinking about God. Does God say, you act and think in this way or I will not love you?
So many experience broken relationships. A family member, a friend. They no longer speak with the other because of some misunderstanding or some hurt. Sometimes one does need to distance themselves from an abusive situation. But, sometimes it takes one side to reach out, to take the first step. That can be risky, since there is no guarantee that the other side will not reject the extended hand.
God is the one who took the first step with us. God reached out to us in Jesus. We simply need to accept the invitation to return into this relationship with God.
Baptism is the sacrament in which we were embraced into the love of God as a son or daughter of God. Deep down accept this love of God. Do not put yourself down, do not be afraid to joyfully be in the presence of God. Hear God speaking in your heart today, You are my Beloved.
Beloved
The Baptism Of The Lord
Fr. Mark Gatto
Preached: January 12, 2020
You do not need to earn God’s love. You already are a beloved child of God.
A theologian once said that a baby first knows that they are loved by God when they see their parent looking down smiling at them with love.
I saw some recent studies conducted by psychologists on the effect of early deprivation on children. They studied babies from an orphanage in another country. In this orphanage the babies were neglected. They were left in cribs all day other than when being fed or cleaned. All day they were left alone with no one to rock them or hug them or play with them. Basically they were left on their own, neglected. The study showed a whole list of problems that resulted with these babies as they grew up. The neglect had a life long impact.
After being baptized by John, Jesus rises from the water, the Spirit of God descends upon him, then a voice is heard from heaven, “This is my Son, the Beloved,” This is a crucial moment to everything about Jesus.
What was in the heart of Jesus? The heart of a beloved son. The beloved Son of the Father. His whole life was rooted and motivated in this experience of being the Beloved Son of the Father. Jesus was not motivated by greed, not motivated by power, not motivated by success, not motivated by fame, not motivated by fear. Jesus was motivated by the heart of the beloved.
Any religion or spirituality is healthy if it is rooted in this sense of being beloved. In Baptism we share this with Jesus. You are the beloved child of God. Our prayer life, our life of the Sacraments, it should form in us a new heart. The heart of Jesus. The heart of a beloved child of God. Then we will live differently, others should see us as children of God.
How many people in our world need to hear that voice of God in their heart. How many around us need to be shown through our care that they are beloved.
When babies are neglected it has many negative and harmful effects. When our spirits are neglected as adults, it also leads to many negative and harmful effects. We see the results in our world, with wars, violence, divisions, greed and so on.
We need to allow our hearts to be formed into the heart of Jesus, the heart of a beloved child of God. You do not need to earn God’s love.
You need to listen for that voice spoken within your heart by God.
You are my beloved child.
Have A Heart Like Jesus – Fr. Mark
Baptism of the Lord – Year C
Fr. Mark Gatto
Preached: January 13, 2019
There was a woman in the RCIA who was preparing to become Catholic. She was very excited about all that she was learning about Jesus. She turned to the priest one day all excited and asked him, “What do you still want to learn about Jesus?” The priest was surprised and thought a moment, then he answered, “I want to know what was in the heart of Jesus.”
Well, in the account of the baptism of Jesus we see a glimpse of what was in the heart of Jesus. As he rises out from the water after his baptism in the Jordan, it says a voice is heard, “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.”
The Eternal Father in Love sends the Eternal Son to become one of us. Jesus, truly God and truly a human being. He became fully human like us in all things but sin. Jesus knew weakness, sadness, grief, he cried, had pain and joy, shared friendships, knew the love of a mother, experienced suffering and death. Jesus shared our humanity fully.
In the heart of Jesus was an intimate relationship with God the Father, whom he called Abba. A deep union as a beloved Son. This love and union with the Father inspired everything that Jesus thought and did.
In our baptism we are united to Jesus and through Jesus we actually share in Divinity, we share in the life of God, enter into the Trinity to dwell in God.
One of our most simple prayers is the Sign of the Cross. Yet, it is so profound. When we make that Sign of the Cross devoutly we are expressing our unity with Jesus who shared our humanity and we are expressing our being embraced within the heart of God, as a beloved child.
The key to being a good Catholic is not going to Mass on Sunday or saying certain prayers. The key to being a good Catholic is to know in our heart what was in the heart of Jesus at his baptism. “You are my Son the beloved.”
St. John Paul II once defined Christianity this way, “it is an attitude of amazement at the dignity of the human being.” You all have a great dignity in the eyes of God. You are the beloved of God. After we come to know this in our heart, then we need to see our fellow human beings with the eyes of God. All human beings have this dignity, including those different from us, including those in prison, including refugees, including a child with autism, including the senior with dementia and so on.
As the baptized, we are to form our heart so that it becomes the heart of Jesus. The heart of a beloved Son, the heart of a beloved daughter. Then we need to see and treat all our fellow human beings as the beloved children of God.
Have the heart of a beloved child of God, see your fellow human beings as beloved children of God.
How To Become Humble – Deacon Tom
Baptism Of The Lord – Year C
Deacon Tom Vert
Preached: January 13, 2019
“When the soil is great, the fruits grow better!”
It’s funny sometimes when you are preparing homilies that a certain phrase or line grabs a hold of you and draws you in.
This is especially interesting as you preach for many years as the readings come back every 3 years in the Catholic faith and we are challenged to see them new and fresh once again.
We actually hear of the Baptism of the Lord every year and I was thinking what would God reveal new this year.
And as I was preparing this week, one line of the gospel stuck with me that says: “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized”.
I don’t know why, but I always in my head assumed that Jesus went to John the Baptist alone, either early in the morning, or later in the afternoon, but it was an individual experience.
But the gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus was humble and he started his ministry not with great pomp and ceremony, not with big signs saying “look at me’, but instead with the rest of people, as part of the community.
He was baptized with the rest of the crowds that had come to John for a transformation, repentance from sins and a turning towards God.
This humility, this humbleness, modesty and meekness strike a chord. Jesus did not come as the warrior king of Jewish history, but the humble servant who would give his own life for each of us.
The lesson God is showing us today is humility.
The origin of the word humility is of course humble, which is actually a Latin word “humus” which means earth.
It invokes this image of earthiness, people who are grounded, people who are simple servants and workers and people who I would call “solid”.
And this earthiness reminded me of St. Catherine of Siena!
St. Catherine had a mystical experience of a dialogue with God the Father which was transcribed and which I am currently reading in preparation for the pilgrimage to Italy this May.
In this dialogue with God, St. Catherine tells us of a wonderful image of a tree in the soil, and would like to ask you today to picture it with me.
- Picture in your mind a beautiful large fruit tree and it is a tree of the love of God
- Now the fruit of the tree is “fragrant blossoms of virtues” – like faith, hope, love, justice and peace
- The odor of the tree is glory and praise to God (almost like incense rising)
- The branches of the tree are discretion and patience
- The tree is planted in a circle of knowledge of ourselves and of God
- And in the circle is the earth, which she tells us is the soil of humility
St. Catherine tells us that the “tree of love feeds itself on humility”!
Humility – humus – the earth – the soil – this is key to our faith life and probably why Jesus modeled it by his behavior at his baptism.
Humility is key, because if we truly know ourselves, if we are honest with ourselves over our faults, our weaknesses, our failings – in “what I have done and what I have failed to do” then we can minimize or eliminate the sin of pride in our lives.
We realize that there is no possible way to live the Christian life without the help of God himself and with the help of one another.
God is available to us always through prayer, through the Eucharist, through reading the Bible; and we are to be available to one another as St. Paul tells us to “build each other up”!
How hard it would be to go the journey of faith alone!
So how do we become humble? How do we increase our humility?
It’s funny even to ask this question as society sees humility as a bad thing – when your sports team loses badly they are “humiliated”.
Who better than to teach us than one of the most humble saints of all time: St. Mother Teresa when she said this:
“Humility is the mother of all virtues … It is in being humble that our love becomes real, devoted and passionate. If you are humble, nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are. If you are blamed, you will not be discouraged. If they call you a saint you will not put yourself on a pedestal.”
Before she died she left her fellow sisters (and us) a practical way on how to become humble with15 key tips:
1. Speak as little as possible about yourself.
2. Keep busy with your own affairs and not those of others.
3. Avoid curiosity. (referring to things that don’t concern you)
4. Do not interfere in the affairs of others.
5. Accept small irritations with good humour.
6. Do not dwell on the faults of others.
7. Accept criticisms even if unmerited.
8. Give in to the will of others.
9. Accept insults and injuries.
10. Accept contempt, being forgotten and disregarded.
11. Be courteous and gentle even when provoked by someone.
12. Do not seek to be admired and loved.
13. Do not protect yourself behind your own dignity.
14. Give in, in discussions, even when you are right. (Also great marital advice!)
15. Choose always the more difficult task.
“Learn to be humble by doing all the humble work and doing it for Jesus.”
These 15 tips/lessons are great for us to ponder, review and put into practice – they are available on the internet as Mother Teresa’s humility list, but I will also have them added to the parish web site.
These lessons are the water, the fertilizer, and the aeration for the soil around our spiritual tree.
Let us try this week to put some of these into practice – and if you are struggling with this, remember this phrase which can help energize you:
“When the soil is great, the fruits grow better!”