WESTERN PROGRESSIVE SOCIETY & ISLAM: The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend

by Lawrence Fox 

#JeSuisCharlie French support free speech after the murder of French
cartoonist Charlie Hebdo Jan 7, 2015 by Muslim fundamentalists.
His cartoons mocked the Prophet Mohammed

The manner in which Western Progressive Society responds to violence perpetuated in the name of the Prophet Mohammed, including the Jan.7, 2015 murder of a group of French cartoonists and the Nov. 13, 2015 murder of 129 in Paris, is tragically logical.

I say logical since educational, journalistic, judicial, political and corporate entities within Western Progressive Society fundamentally adhere to the vile principal, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

This is not hard to grasp once a person steps back and views the ethical devolution of Western Society following the Reformation. After the Reformation came the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason, which built the foundation of the French Revolution -- the purest expression of a progressive society undertaking “jihad” against Catholicism and everything Christian.

Then there came the gifts of Empiricism and German Idealism both contributing to the madness known as dialectical materialism. She is the Lady who seduced modern man into embracing with gusto the progressive movements of Nazism, Leninism, Stalinism, Maoism, Liberation Theology, and the modern pro-abortion movement.

All of these movements contributed to the slaughter of 80 to 100 million people of faith around world; a good percentage of them being Christians, as well as millions of unborn children.

Hate creates  strange bedfellows. I can remember my years at University of California, Berkeley, listening to various “progressives” speaking about their hopes for the death of religion, the death of capitalism, the murder of unborn children, the death of the family, and the death of America and Israel.

It was amazing to see Muslims parading with lesbians, feminists, communists, and anarchists! I remember one time asking the Muslims, “What do Muslims have in common with the LGBT movement and the abortionist?” Their reply was, “We hate Western Society (Christianity and Capitalism) and especially America.” The enemy of my enemy is my friend. 

The progressive hatred for all expressions of Judeo-Christian thought (especially Catholicism) has embedded itself so deeply within the fabric of Western Society that any verbal or written resistance to the “progressive” stance is now “offensive hate speech.”

Object to the murder of an unborn child, sodomy, prostitution, contraception, assisted suicide, the destruction of human embryos for science, children undergoing sex change, or the adoption of children by same sex parents, and you have now fallen into the cesspool of intolerance.

Your offensive hate speech merits lost business opportunities, prison, elimination of your passport, and subjects you to being shouted out on campuses, ridiculed by the press, and marginalized by the courts.

And yet the butchering of Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and moderate Muslims in numerous countries (Mali, Libya, Egypt, Nigeria, Sudan, Malaysia, Palestine, Israel, Indonesia, Pakistan, China, Syria, Lebanon, Armenia, Iraq, East Timor, Chechnya, North Korea, India, Thailand, and Sri Lanka) is not offensive in the Western mind.

In the Progressive West, persons who adhere literally to the numerous chapters in the Quran, which promote violence as the will of Allah, are conveniently considered not to be Muslims, but “extremists,” who have co-opted the religion of peace. This peaceful religion – by the way -- has been embroiled in a 1300-year civil war between Sunnis and Shiite Muslims -- with no end in sight.

The attitude within Islam towards Christianity and Judaism has never been favorable and today it is most lamentable. Regarding non-Muslims, the Quran says, “The most implacable of men in the enmity to the faithful (Muslim) are the Jews and the pagans and the nearest affection to them are those who say, ‘We are Christians.’” (Surah 5:82) Countries dominated by Islamic culture tolerate the execution, persecution, imprisonment, and destruction of Jewish and Christian structures based upon a literal reading of the Quran. “O Believers! Take not the Jews or Christians as friends. They are but one another’s friends.” (Surah 5: 56)

“There are many non-violent Muslims,” constitutes the pitiful polemics from the mouths of Western leaders as if that contributes to honest dialogue with another re-emerging culture of death, Islam itself. This only demonstrates to me that an ideological exchange exists between Western Progressive Society, Nazism, Communism, and Jihadist Islam.

The jihadists are only doing what the spiritual descendants of the French Revolution, Nazism and Communism wish they could continue if they were not too busy self-abusing themselves with drugs, abortion, contraception, suicide, trans-gendering, pornography and masturbation, and forms of asphyxiated sex.

Western Society deems it hate speech when anyone seeks to hold the foundations of Islam accountable for the butchery which began in the Seventh Century – where its adherents wiped out whole communities of Coptic, Syrian, Armenian, Malabar, Greek and Latin Rite Christians.

In 2006, Pope Benedict XVI -- speaking at Regensburg, Germany -- simply called Islam and Western Society to embrace both “faith and reason” as a means overcoming fideism (faith apart from reason), fanaticism, and ethical suicide.

The best that Western Society could do was mock him and blame him for offending Islam and therefore make him guilty of the subsequent assassination of Christians in Somalia, Sudan, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Egypt.

As long as Islamic jihadists continue to butcher Christians and Western Society is willing to consider this as tolerable “collateral damage,” it will cling to President George W. Bush’s Doctrine, “That Islam is a religion of peace which was been hijacked by bad non-Muslims” and Barack Obama’s self-absorbed mantra, “The future must not belong to those who offend the Prophet.”

Obama then drops drone missiles on Muslims who he identifies as not being Muslim because they view Obama’s marriage to a “so-called Christian woman” to be an offense against Mohammed. And so the White House and the U.S State Department became little more than brothels visited by members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Yes, these "honest" Muslims were the ones behind the assassination of Anwar Sadat, who dared to make peace with Israel.

The tragedy of the logic continues. The American government makes deals with Al-Qaeda jihadist Muslims in Syria, who are fighting against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a group that the White House conveniently defines as non-Muslim. The White House crawls into bed with Iraqi Shiite Muslims, who hate Iraqi Sunni Muslims. The Iraqi Shiite Muslims turn around and make deals with Shiite Muslims in Iran that seek to nuke Israel off the map.

Western leaders protest “ho hum” when Hamas Muslims sends rockets into Israel. But when Israel retaliates by bombing rocket launcher sites where Hamas has conveniently stuffed Christian women and children, the West protests “those dirty Jews.”  When Boko Haram burns alive and enslaves Christians in Nigeria, Western Society does nothing except to send out meaningless hashtags, “Bring back our girls.” 

It is all very discouraging to say the least, since there is not even an attempt to honestly dialogue with Islam and those elements supporting the Quran from which such vile behavior flows. But how can the West respond to such barbarism, while it defends the legal practice of tearing apart the limbs of fully developed babies in their mother’s wombs and identifies such terror as “Western Progressive Choice.” 

There is not a thread of hope that things will get better as long as the ideologies, which presently govern Western Society, remain in the majority. 

As such,

Dear Christians, Jews, Animists, and moderate Muslims in Libya, Egypt, Nigeria, Sudan, Malaysia, Palestine, Israel, Indonesia, Pakistan, China, Syria, Lebanon, Armenia, Iraq, East Timor, Chechnya, North Korea, Thailand, and Sri Lanka, 

Please know that apart from a few brave men in the United States and the Australian Military, you need to fend for yourself. By the way, Bill and Melinda Gates want to send you contraception and the morning after pills to comfort you in your loss because pregnancy is the root of your problems.  

Signed,

Western Society, United Nations, and NATO

P.S. Most of us are running extremely high deficits and were hoping that you would please send us money. It would be much appreciated. 

More on the Religion of Peace from Lawrence Fox:

GLORY OF ISLAM: Putting the Beheadings, Crucifixions and Rape into the Context of the Quran

LAMENT FOR WESTERN MAN

GOD PITCHED HIS TENT AMONG MEN: The Manner of Christian versus Muslim Prayer

THE MIND OF ISLAM: On Family Life, the Messiah and How to Treat Non-Muslims

Questions from a Godson: Who Crucified Jesus Anyway? Is the Pope Really As Pure as He said?

by Susan Fox

My 16-year-old Catholic godson sent me some questions recently. He is reading the whole Bible cover to cover. Here is our dialogue.

Who crucified Jesus?
The Art of Nellie Edwards

Godson Ben: All right, well bear with me on this, I’m going to touch on a bit of history. I tend to ask very long and complicated questions, so apologies in advance.

The Romans originated from Italy, they took Britain from the Briton Celtic people around 60-78 AD. While the Romans took over and the Britons ended up accepting their new overlords, the other Celtic tribes kept struggling, refusing to give up so easily. The Romans/Brits were the ones to kill Jesus. In the end the Briton and Roman people mingled, so the modern day British people are mutts of the two, perhaps thrown in with a splash of other ethnic groups (Been a long time, after all.) (Ben understands breeding. He raises dogs)

The Roman/Brit people continued to then fight the Insular Celts, enslaving them and selling them in the era of slaves for the U.S. to build their railroad. To this day, the majority of the Brits aren't very religious, and even most Italians live their lives without caring about religion and morals. It's only an old stereotype that Italians care about such things. And the Vatican City is located in Italy, what was Rome. How is it not hypocritical, when the people at the Vatican who claim to be so spiritually strong, devout believers are the same people who killed God in the flesh all those years ago?

Susan Fox: Dear Ben, My apologies. I also tend to give long and rambling answers, but I do reach a conclusion.

It was the Roman/Jews (Roman authority and the Jewish leaders) who killed Jesus, not the Roman/Brits. You could travel in any known country of the world that existed at that time and still be in the Roman Empire. So when Jesus, Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt in the Bible, it was like running from Colorado to Washington State. They were still in the Roman Empire. So was the British Isles.

Many, including Catholic bishops, are ignorant of this fact as they associate Mary, Joseph and Jesus with  “illegal aliens” and “refugees” when they crossed into Egypt. But they were not illegal. They fled from one state to another: they were still in the same old Roman Empire. This is important to know if someone should tell you that Mary, Joseph and Jesus were illegal aliens and we should let illegal aliens into this country for that reason.  Mary, Joseph and Jesus scrupulously obeyed the law. They did not break it. Remember that when you go into law enforcement.

Who killed Jesus? Jesus was a Jew. There was a Jewish authority there called the Sanhedrin. They were the Jewish cops, but in a religious sense. They were unhappy with Jesus because He claimed to be God. He didn’t say, “I am God.” He was subtler than that, but within the context of Jewish history the old Sanhedrin got the message:

"Very truly I tell you," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" (John 8:58)

God introduced Himself to Moses in the Old Testament, as “I AM WHO AM.” God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'” So the Jews immediately recognized that Christ was saying he was God when He said, “I am!” Plus how could a mere human have existed before his ancestor?

Jesus also forgave sins. Only God can forgive sins, so this outraged the Jews, who didn’t realize it was the proper action for Jesus to take since He was True God and True Man. See Twilight’s Confession for the story of how this divine power was handed down to our Catholic priests by Jesus Himself!

Jesus was killed for blasphemy by the Jewish authority because he made Himself to be God. The Romans got involved because the Jews didn’t have the authority to inflict capital punishment. So they tricked the Roman authority into doing it for them.

The first Christians, however, were also Jews, and we Catholics are grateful for their faith, which they handed down to us.

Got that? Jews are our older brothers in faith, and we need to respect them. Jesus was a Jew. Mary was a Jew, and the first Christians were Jews. We do not blame the Jewish people for Christ’s death. That’s Hitler’s thinking, although he had no love for Christ at all. If Hitler loved Christ, he would not have persecuted Christ’s own relatives – the Jews.

Some Roman Centurions were also
among the first Christian converts

Whew, the British are completely blameless for the murder of Christ even if they have some Roman blood in their veins. Frankly, who doesn’t have Roman blood at this point? Those Romans spread their blood all over the civilized world.

That is the historical context of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. But spiritually, we have to remember that Jesus Christ volunteered for the job of dying for all men’s sins. He allowed the crucifixion to take place.  Remember what he told Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor:

So Pilate said to Him, "You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?" Jesus answered, "You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin." (John 19:10-11) He referred to the Sanhedrin.

Perhaps this understanding is for later in your life. But I had a good friend who was in the Sacrament of Confession, and she understood that her sins, her own trespasses had crucified Jesus Christ. Father asked her this question, “Whose sins did you think crucified Jesus?”

“Why, Father, I thought it was somebody else’s sins that crucified Jesus Christ!” she exclaimed. So who crucified Jesus? Anyone who commits a sin.

Maybe you have encountered this Exodus story in the Old Testament. The People of Israel were complaining against God about the food He was giving them (manna). So God sent fiery serpents among the people. Many died. But Moses interceded for his people and God told him to make an image of the snake that bit them and when they looked at the image, they would be cured. 

"Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived." (Num.21:6-9) 

It sounds almost idolatrous, doesn’t it? But everything in the Old Testament has to be understood in the context of the the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is one Author of Scripture over thousands of years, and that is the Holy Spirit. He shaped events and inspired men to write about them. That bronze image that God gave them took the poisonous bite from their bodies.

 But then God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, and when He was raised up on the cross He took the poison of sin from their hearts! When Jesus Christ was lifted up on the cross, they also looked at Him Whom they had pierced (with real nails), and the poison of their sin was taken from them.  They – in short -- experienced regret and sorrow for their actions.  The Epistles near the end of the Bible will explain this better than I, but think of it as potty training a cat. The cat piddles somewhere in the house, and you take the cat and rub its nose in it. The cat deeply regrets that experience and starts going outside or using the cat box.

When mankind looks at the broken Body of Christ on the Cross, and they see what the Innocent and Merciful God suffered to save them from their sins, they kinda lose the taste for sin. Hey, it isn’t so fun any more.

Godson Ben: I understand it may not be entirely fair to think ill of people based on the sins of their fathers, but I don't like people who are all heathens, seem to act cocky among other things, and even the Pope himself is fine with gays. What do you think of all of this? For clarification, I essentially want to know if, in your opinion, I am wrong? If they haven't changed as a people, when you look at the Brits they still want to conquer Ireland, and if it was socially acceptable in the eyes of the U.S. they would likely re-enslave them.

“Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove that splinter from your eye,' while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother's eye." (Matthew 7:1-5) This invites me to pass judgment, be skeptical and speak freely, so long as I am not hypocritical.

And honestly I question whether or not the Pope is truly as pure as it is said, if he isn't willing to quite simply say what is unnatural and wrong to be gay (when the Bible clearly states such, Leviticus 20:13) 

Susan Fox: Dear Ben, I think Brits today are interested in beer ... and maybe Islam. I have a good friend in the United Kingdom and he tweets me pictures of his beer. He drinks fascinating kinds of beer. I tweet him pictures of my grocery cart and its price. So it would seem I am interested in the cost of my groceries, which keeps going up!

My shopping cart: $365

 Islam is interesting to them because they have many Muslims in their country, and some have killed innocent British civilians. Recently, a few Muslims killed some French magazine cartoonists, and the Brits followed this event on the telly in the British pub. They are justifiably worried about their families. And we should pray for them.

So in reality Brits are more concerned now about Muslims than they are about the Irish. But I promise I will ask my British friend about the Irish next time we speak on Twitter.

Pope Francis

I’m glad you are asking questions about Pope Francis. I have read almost every recent article about Pope Francis. I have a friend who sends them to me regularly, so I am the right person to ask about Pope Francis! LOL.

The articles fall into three categories: 

1. Factual accounts of the pope’s true feelings and opinions,
2. Liberal fantasies of the pope’s feelings and 
3. Angry/doubtful conservative Catholic opinions of the pope’s falsely reported opinions.

Don’t fall into the third category. You see the liberal press has a totally false image of Pope Francis. They think he is going to change the Catholic Church’s doctrine on homosexuality. That is fantasy.

On same-sex “marriage,” the pope said that it is an “anti-value and an anthropological regression.” It is a weakening of the institution of marriage, an institution that has existed for thousands of years and is “forged according to nature and anthropology.” He means that marriage between one man and one woman is the way that God designed the human race. To enter into a same sex relationship is to go backwards, to regress, to devolve.

Pope St. John Paul II

Pope Saint John Paul II wrote a fascinating book called “Theology of the Body.” And it says that “man” is not just male. No, according to Genesis, which you probably have already read, God made “man” male and female. That means that “man” is not present in his completeness unless there is both man and woman. Your godfather, Larry Fox, explains it this way: “Homosexuality is an attack on the Holy Trinity, on the very nature of God Himself.” God is a Community of Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God generates Himself within Himself as He is eternal.

Men and women are finite. So “man” has within his body the power to generate man because we are made in the image and likeness of God. But only male and female “man” together can generate “man.” Two males or two females are structurally incompatible and cannot generate another man. Therefore homosexuality is anti-trinitarian, against the very nature of God, who is fruitful.

Larry added that when men and women can’t have children, they experience a sense of loss because they want to live in the image of God, Who is fruitful within Himself. But they cannot generate man physically within their bodies. This makes them sad.

Also remember that intimacy is not something to be taken casually since it so closely mimics the life of God Himself. The only place for sex is in marriage, and in that context, it is a very holy act.

That some people regard the pope as favoring homosexuality is total fantasy. They are not living in reality. I have read the LGBT press, and they actually cried out to the pope to go to Uganda, where they passed an anti-homosexuality act, and chastise those Catholic bishops who did not support homosexual activity.

However, the reason this false image of Pope Francis has arisen is because in 2013 when he was returning from World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, he told reporters: “"If a person is gay and seeks the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge that person? These persons must never be marginalized and they must be integrated into society."

This is practical implementation of that Bible quote you gave me. “Stop judging, that you may not be judged.”

The pope is very concerned about all the children of Adam and Eve. He is not just the spiritual father of the Catholics. No, he is spiritual father to everyone. He realizes that for real change to take place in a man’s heart, he must receive love and respect for himself as a person, not as an activity. Hence, I personally don’t use the word “gay” to describe anyone because it denotes an activity not a person.

We don’t love homosexual actions, nor do we love the identity they have chosen, but we love them. Do you understand? Love the sinner. Hate the sin. Remember I told you the way to change your mother’s behavior is to see the good things she does and be grateful.

People who self identify as homosexuals need love. They need us to look for and find the good that God has done in them. The secular world doesn’t understand that one can love a person struggling to overcome a bad habit, and still condemn his actions. So they report the Pope’s acceptance of a person, and twist that information into acceptance of his sin.

Now if you visited Pope Francis, wouldn’t you expect him to love you? Would you expect him to tell you how much he appreciates your faults? Not at all. He’d tell you to change those!

Godson Ben: When I say I dislike certain ethnic groups, what I mean is I will not, for example, hang around them. That does not mean I would turn a blind eye if one of them were to be, for example, mugged in an alley, for then I would be doing equal wrong. Stereotypes exist with some merit, and while they can't all be bad, how could I honestly like them as a people when they still demonstrate their ill-will, when people openly say my beliefs are invalid, when a majority of people encourage abominable acts, and so forth?

Susan Fox: Dear Ben, Hmm, are these Brits and Italians you don’t like? It is necessary to avoid some neighborhoods dominated by one ethnic group. The neighborhood my husband grew up in in Baltimore is now strictly off limits because of crime. My sister-in-law drove me to the edge of the street where his family home was located and refused to go any farther because she was afraid. That is prudent fear.

My husband’s father used to leave him in certain dangerous neighborhoods while he went to do work, and yup Larry got beat up.  That was imprudence.

But when you speak of the immorality of modern Brits and Italians, it is not true they were never religious. Before King Henry VIII, the British were devoutly Catholic people. The Norwegians and Swedes were too. But it was kings and money. The kings ripped the faith from the people to get the Church’s money. And God allowed it because He Himself actually prefers to clothe His Bride, the Church, in joy, not riches. There were many great Catholic martyrs in those countries.

I visited a formerly Catholic Cathedral in England, and on the walls they had written (during the Protestant Reformation), “The Eucharist is NOT the Body of Christ. It is a symbol.” They ripped the Catholic faith from the people and now England watches the television and worries about their Muslim neighbors. Don’t doubt it’s happening here too. Detroit has a large Muslim population. And Muslim men are taught not to respect Christian and secular women. They form rape gangs even in Seattle. 

Thanks to large immigrant population,
Sweden has the second highest rape rate
 in the world.

Sweden has the highest annual asylum and immigration rate in all of Europe. It used to be a very family friendly country. As a young woman, I traveled safely by myself through Sweden in 1973-74, but now apparently one in four Swedish women face at least one rape from a Muslim immigrant.  Sweden has the second highest number of rapes in the world after South Africa at 53 per 100,000 women. It was a pretty country, but I never want to return.

Many Italians have lost the faith. They are not having children. If they don’t convert their hearts, their race may die out.  But Italians did once have a devout Catholic faith and they had nothing to do with the crucifixion of Christ. The Catholic Church is headquartered in Rome because Jesus decided it.

Jesus said, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hell will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven."

Interior St. Peter's Basilica Vatican City

Jesus meant He would place His own authority on Peter’s shoulders and those of his successors, the popes. But I find it amusing that Jesus literally built His Church’s headquarters on St. Peter’s physical body. St. Peter was martyred in Rome and buried there. "Holy men ... took down his body secretly and put it under the terebinth tree near the Naumachia, in the place which is called the Vatican," according to a 5^th century source.

St. Peter's Basilica

In 1939, the first pope’s bones were discovered under St. Peter’s Basilica inside the Vatican City where the pope says Mass. Fragments found in the necropolis under St. Peter’s Basilica (in the Vatican) were “identified in a way that we can consider convincing,” said Pope Paul VI in 1968. They were found in a funeral monument with an engraving that said, “Peter is here.”

Where St. Peter's bones are located is a heavenly “X” marks the spot where the True Church is headquartered!  What a blessing!

          

                        

              

Baptism is Only the Beginning

Sermon by Rev. John Paul Shea

The Baptism of the Lord, Jan. 11, 2015

Saints Peter & Paul Parish, Tucson, AZ

Today, the Church celebrates the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This marks the end of the Christmas season, which began Dec. 25 with the birth of Our Lord, followed by the Feast of the Holy Family and then Epiphany -- Our Lord’s

manifestation through the light of a mysterious star. Today we celebrate our Lord’s immersion into the waters of the River Jordon.

The focus of today’s celebration is not simply on Our Lord, but also on us. We celebrate Our Lord’s Baptism, but we are reminded that Our Lord was baptized so that we can be baptized through Him and enjoy new life in Him. 

In today’s short Gospel passage from Mark 1:7-11, Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordon River.

We should ask ourselves, why was Jesus baptized? After all, John’s baptism was a baptism for repentance, but Jesus was sinless and had no need of repentance.

There are many reasons. Jesus was about to embark on His public ministry and it was fitting that He be revealed as the One who would fulfill the baptism of John. 

John was the voice crying out in the wilderness preparing the people for the Messiah who was to come. By baptizing Jesus, John declared Jesus to be The messiah. The entire event would reveal to all generations that Jesus is the perfect embodiment of the triune God! And through His baptism, our Lord would give us a new beginning! We were invited to join God's own triune family, to receive a new identity in God. Those who receive Our Lord’s baptism will receive new life!

Fr. J.P. Shea

My brothers and sisters, Christ was baptized in the Jordon not to be made holy by the water. He was baptized to make the water holy. And by his cleansing, Our Lord would purify the waters, which he touched. 

In His baptism, Christ sanctified our human nature. When Our Lord was washed, all water for baptism was made clean and purified for the dispensing of baptismal grace for Christians of all ages!

Christ was the first to be baptized, so that all Christians will enter the saving waters after him -- with confidence. Jesus

receives the Spirit at His baptism in order to renew our nature in its entirety and to make it whole again. For becoming man, Jesus took our entire nature to Himself so that we can become holy as He is holy.

Therefore, our baptism is not the end of our Christian life, it is only the beginning. We are all called to a mission through our baptism, and today’s feast helps us to reflect on how we are living this mission in our Christian life.

The baptism of Jesus signifies that we are becoming a new creation. In our baptism we Christians are born again as members of our Lord’s Church. We become our Lord’s chosen people. We are to be a people set apart from the world. In baptism we identify with Christ’s death and resurrection. We die to our sinful nature so that we can live with our Lord in His resurrected nature. Therefore, we must strive to live out our baptismal call! We must strive to live holy lives!

In today’s second reading (1John 5:1-9), John says, “If [we] love God and want to live as His children than [we] must keep His commandments.” So to live as a child of God, we must strive to keep our Lord’s commandments. All of them!

Just because we have been baptized does not mean that we have automatic entrance into heaven. No! Each one of us can forfeit heaven by dying in a state of mortal sin -- by irrevocably rejecting God.

When we commit mortal sin, we separate ourselves from God, and we become blind to the truth! Sin brings hurt upon others and upon ourselves. This is why we see so much sadness, guilt and shame in our world today!  But, Our Lord intervenes. He comes to give us new life in the Spirit, if only we allow His Spirit to purify our hearts and our actions! Our  new birth begins at baptism. Now we must continually be strengthened and purified in our baptismal life through the sacrament of confession and the gift of the Eucharist.

As we come together to celebrate the Baptism of our Lord, let us reflect on the gift of our own baptism. Let us be freed from  sinful ways that hold us captive. Strive to live in holiness and purity so that one day we too will hear the words, “You are my beloved Son  (daughter). With you I am well pleased.” God bless you.

Did you enjoy this homily. There's more! Read Fr. John Paul Shea on St. John the Baptist: He testified to the Light!