Why Was Jesus Baptized?

Sermon by Rev. John Paul Shea

The Baptism of the Lord, Jan. 10, 2016

Saints Peter and Paul Parish, Tucson, AZ

Today’s celebration of the Baptism of the Lord marks the end of the Christmas season for our Church. As you know, we celebrated the birth of our Lord on December 25. The following week the Church celebrated the Feast of theHoly Family. Then, the Church celebrated the Epiphany which was the celebration of Our Lord’s manifestation through the light of a mysterious star. Today we celebrate Jesus' immersion into the waters of the river Jordon. 

In today’s Gospel passage (Luke 3:15-16, 21-22), John the Baptist is fulfilling his mission baptizing people in the Jordon River, when Jesus comes and submits Himself for baptism.  

Why was Jesus baptized? John’s baptism was a baptism for repentance, but Jesus had no need of repentance. He was sinless. 

First, we see Jesus was about to embark on His ministry and it was fitting that He be publically recognized by John as the One who would fulfill the baptism of John. The people were filled with expectation and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Christ. By baptizing Jesus, John world put an end to this question. 

In addition, when Jesus was baptized “the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit

descended upon him in bodily form like a dove.

And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” 

My dear brothers and sisters, the Baptism of Our Lord reveals who is the Person of Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God. Yet, Our Lord’s Divine nature was revealed in His Baptism -- not only to show us who is Jesus -- but also who we are to become. Christ was baptized in the Jordon not to be made holy by the water, but to make the water holy.

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!

The baptism of Jesus signifies that we are becoming a new creation in Christ. In our baptism, we Christians are born again as members of Our Lord’s Church. We become Our Lord’s chosen people.

As God said to Our Lord in His baptism, “You are my Son in which I am well pleased,” so God wants to say the same words to each one of us. Through our baptism God calls each one of us to be His sons and daughters. 

Yet, let us be reminded that, unlike the beliefs of some of our Protestant brothers and sisters, baptism doesn’t mean automatic entrance into heaven. No! baptism is only the beginning! In baptism, we are to be a people set apart from the world.

In today’s second reading (Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7), Saint Paul says, “The grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of our great God and savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people as his own, eager to do what is good.” 

My brothers and sisters, the worst thing we can do to ourselves is to deny the gift of our baptism by choosing to not live our baptismal call. How many Catholics today turn away from Christ in their baptism and instead unite themselves to the world? How many souls today are lost because people live for the flesh? 

When each one of us was baptized, we (or our parents and godparents for us) made a profession of faith.  In our baptism we make a promise to reject satan, all his works, and all his empty promises. This is a promise we must make each day of our lives! 

We are to die to our sinful nature so that we can live with Our Lord in His resurrected nature. When we commit grave sin, or what the Church refers as “mortal” sin, we separate ourselves from God, and without repentance we risk going to hell for all eternity. This is why God has given us the sacrament of confession. Use this sacrament and strive to sin no more!

My brothers and sisters, as we come together this day to celebrate the Baptism of Jesus,  let us reflect on the gift of our own baptism. Let us renew our efforts to be freed from the sin that holds the world captive. Let us strive to live lives of 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.

The Power of One "YES" -- Mother Teresa of Calcutta

by Enuncio Benedict Rodrigues, age 12, Chandigarh, India 

Reprinted from Sharing Magazine published July-August 2010.
Today, Jan. 6, 2016 is the anniversary of Mother Teresa of Calcutta's arrival in India 86 years ago. She was just 18 years old, her desire to teach children in the most severe poverty in the world. It was 1929. By 1946, she received a call within a call -- to satisfy the thirst of Christ on the cross by serving the poor dying in the streets of Kolkata, India. For her life of holiness while working with the poor of Kolkata, she was beatified Oct 19, 2003 by Pope Saint John Paul II. The Italian Press has speculated that Blessed Mother Teresa will be canonized this year 2016. 

Today the author of this article, Enuncio Benedict, is 17 years old, on the cusp of the same adventure-- the rest of his life. His thoughts here are those of his 12-year-old self as recorded by his father, Edwin Rodrigues. He visited regularly at the Missionaries of Charity, Sector 23, Chandigarh, from the age of 10 to 14.

Author Enuncio Benedict with his father & mother on Christmas Day 2015.
His parents celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary on Jan. 6, 2016.

“Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” These precious words said by Mother Teresa have been experienced by millions of people who are poor, sick, old, abandoned and even those who are materially well-off.

I, too, have had the experience of being lonely. In fact, everybody has a feeling of loneliness at some time or the other. I don't believe that being rich means having money. As a matter of fact, being rich is not at all related to money; but it is to be rich in faith, accompanied by good works. 

One of Mother Teresa’s greatest works was when she started the Missionaries of Charity. To me, the Missionaries of Charity is like a second home. Since my first visit to Mother's home, I have never felt lonely the way I used to be. 

Although I don’t have any siblings, I experience the love of children who don’t have parents. This, to me, is one of the greatest paradoxes of life. But I know it is true; as I experience it each time that I pay a visit to the Missionaries of Charity home here in Chandigarh, India.

Truly, it is in giving that we receive! There are several abandoned children who are longing for love. At Missionaries of Charity, Sector 23, Chandigarh, there was a girl of about 4 years. She would never smile or talk, but just stand in a corner expressionlessly. Whenever I would try to play with her, she would give me a blank look. 

Enuncio Rodrigues, 12 years old, going to work with the Missionaries of Charity 

One day I went to her and embraced her and patted her cheek. I tried to play with her and this time she looked at me happily and I enjoyed playing with her. Through that one gentle touch and encounter, perhaps God  used me as an instrument of His Love. In all modesty, I can safely say, the answer is,“Yes.”

In that instant, perhaps some deep-seated childhood scar was healed by God. Since it was school vacation, I was able to make frequent visits. From a distance, the caretakers and other inmates would announce our arrival to her in Hindi, “Simran, dekh! Tera bhaiya aaya hai!” (Which, in English translates into: “Look?  Simran, your brother has arrived!” 

And four-year-old Simran would come rushing gleefully and receive my mother and me. Simran continued to use very few words. But she would clutch my fingers and take me around her ward and to the swings with much enthusiasm.  Everybody noticed how this child underwent a transformation over the next few weeks. From being a loner, she became more sociable. 

She began to respond to the love of the M.C. Nuns, the caretakers of her ward (which, by the way, had never been lacking…only Simran’s response had been). Simran began to play with the other children from her ward. It was as if she had finally been set free from a deep-seated childhood trauma. 

A few months later, I got to know that she was going to be shifted to another Missionaries of Charity Home. When I heard this, I felt extremely sad and now I miss her very much. 

The pain of this separation made me realize how the poor, the sick, the old and the abandoned yearn for love and company. Even a small child is a source of great happiness. Simran also made me realize that there are millions of people who are lonelier than me. I was also consoled by the thought that someday, in God’s time, this child would hopefully get a home through the process of adoption. 

It would have been selfish on my part to desire that Simran remains here only for an occasional visit from me and other visitors. Who knows what trauma such children go through each time a visitor leaves? When I visit the Missionaries of Charity, I also look forward to playing cricket with the young lads from among the inmates. I have noticed that all of them are endowed with great talent. 

I love to watch one boy in particular, who plays really well in spite of being confined to the wheel chair. This boy dreams of playing for India and whenever he says so, I feel extremely sorry for him because it seems the wheel chair would hold him back from this striving. But who knows? Someday he might do so in a special category??!! It helps me realize that the handicapped are sustained by hope and have the potential of doing the things that even a “normal layperson” dares not to dream.

Saint John Paul II said, “In Mother Teresa’s smile, words and deeds, Jesus again walked the streets of the world as the Good

Mother Teresa

Samaritan.”  This meant that wherever Mother Teresa went, she spread kindness and she tried to make the poor and abandoned realize that they are never alone because God was and is always with them and in them.

Her middle name Gonxha is enough to describe her. It means a bud. A bud is diminutive and is hardly noticed among the other flowers until it blossoms. So Mother Teresa was unknown to the world until her  missionary work with the poor was begun in 1948. 

Her undertakings have not only blossomed, but have been flourishing ever since and today Mother Teresa is looked upon as the embodiment of charity.

Although Mother Teresa called the Missionaries of Charity, the home of the abandoned, the abandoned -- the people who live there -- make the visitors feel so welcome it seems also like a home to them. 

“We can do no great things; only small things with great love,” Mother Teresa said, adding, "We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop." 

Her middle name is Gonxha or Bud

“I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world,” she said.  This great soul -- through her co-operation with grace, her humility, and her words and most importantly through her works -- has been instrumental in writing a message of love in the lives of the hopeless and deprived, on the one hand, and in the lives of  all those who are awake and listening to their brother's cry, on the other hand. 

Countless people all over the world have been touched by Mother’s legacy, and the world is a better place because of the power of that one “Yes” to the “Call within a Call.” Mother deserves to be called a saint…nay, one of the greatest saints!!

Blessed Mother Teresa's Work Continues in the Missionaries of Charity

Enuncio's father Edwin Rodrigues has other pieces on this blog. My favorite is The Word was Made Flesh ... He Lived Among Us

Theotokos: Mary's "Yes!" Brings Us Jesus

Sermon by Rev. John Paul Shea

Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, Jan. 1, 2016

Saints Peter and Paul Parish, Tucson, AZ

As we celebrate today’s Mass on this New

Theotokos, Greek for Mother of God 

Year for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, let us call upon the intercession of Mary, Our Mother, to protect us and Her Church.

 
Today’s celebration goes back to the year 431 at the Council of Ephesus where it was declared as official doctrine that Mary is the Mother of God. Yet, this teaching of Mary as Mother of God, has been in the heart of our Church even before it was declared officially. 

The doctrine is in the writings of the early Church Fathers who recognized the sacred truth and great gift of Divine maternity that was bestowed upon Mary, the humble handmaid of the Lord. In fact, even the

catacombs, which are dug under the city of Rome, where the first Christians gathered to celebrate Mass in times of persecution, there are paintings by this name: "Mary, Mother of God."

In today’s second reading to the Galatians 4:4-7, Saint Paul says that “[in] the fullness of time God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” 

Therefore, Saint Paul tells us that by being born of a woman, under the law, the Son of God participates in the human condition. He is one of us because of Mary. 

Mary, in a way, can be seen as a bridge between God and humanity. It is through her that the divinity of Jesus enters into our world so that we can share in the life of God. 

God has come in the flesh, in our humanity so that we can share in His divinity! It is through her -- Mary -- that we have been given the Body and Blood of our Lord in the Eucharist.

If there was no Mary, we would have no Eucharist. If there was no Mary, there would be no Christmas. With no Mary, we would not have salvation.

Fr. John Paul Shea 

My brothers and sisters, what a blessing it is for us to be Catholic! Today’s celebration is a call for us to rejoice! 

As we begin this New Year of 2016, many in our world do not rejoice. Many live in sorrow and confusion. Many live with no hope. But not us! Today’s celebration gives us hope because it reveals to us God’s plan! 

Through the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God, we are no longer slaves of the world, a world that is passing away. No! We are sons and daughters of God! 

Let us be reminded too that as God used Mary to come into our world, so He continues to use Her to protect us from harm and all evil as we prepare for Her Son’s return in glory. 

As we enter into this New Year, let us be prepared for whatever may come. The world will face difficulties. At some point in time, when the struggles reach a climax, the world will come to the realization that it cannot control all its problems on its own. We pray that when this time comes that the powers of today’s world will turn to the only solution to all problems: Our Lord Jesus Christ.

But, as Catholics, we are a step ahead of the world. In fact, we are not of the world. We are sons and daughters of God because God has sent His spirit into our hearts. Let us hold onto this great gift! 

Let us not allow anything to deter our hearts from acknowledging and accepting this gift! And may we call upon our Blessed Mother Mary, Mother of God, to keep us close to her Son and protect us from all harm. Holy Mother of God, pray for us!