Called to Be Holy

“To you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.”

1 Corinthians 1:2

As we enter into Ordinary Time we recall the Baptism of the Lord in whom we are baptized. The Lord was baptized so that He might sanctify the waters, preparing it for our baptism, our exodus from slavery to freedom, leaving behind our identity as unredeemed sinners and rising up as sons and daughters of the Father. The moment we emerge from those living waters, the Father affirms us as His beloved, tells us He is pleased with us, and sets us apart from the others, sanctifying us, making us holy so that we might be one with Him and sanctify the world by our witness.

To be made holy means to be set apart, and we who are baptized are set apart by and for God. Before our baptism we belonged to the world, to death, to the grip of the enemy. After our baptism, God the Father claims us as His own, placing us behind His standard, transforming our natural end to a supernatural one — eternal life and sharing in the very life of God. Because Jesus went down into the water we dare to ask for such a gift. To this John the Baptist bore witness. John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus, the one who went before the Him to “prepare His way,” the one whose entire life pointed to the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” for he said that he baptized people with water so “that he might be made known to Israel,” He who is the Son of God.

As baptized Christians, we are called to put on Christ, but also to bear witness as John the Baptist had done so. We are called to proclaim Jesus as the Son of God and to make known to all peoples the Good News that He has come to take away the sins of the world, not by commanding an army, but by taking on our sins and placing them on the Cross, the cross that was meant for us, for “He who knew no sin was made sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor 5:21). Jesus undoes the disobedience of Adam with His obedience, fulfilling all righteousness, drawing all people to Himself so that we too might be in relationship with the Father.

So, brothers and sisters, we are called to be holy, to be set apart, to know whose we are, because we are no longer creatures whose end is death, but rather sons and daughters made for heaven, for relationship with God. So, by our baptism, the Father has already restored to us the identity lost in Adam — His beloved, but we must choose to reclaim this identity and live it out. The Lord calls us today. How will we respond?

Fulfilling All Righteousness

“And a voice came from the heavens, saying,
‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’”

Matthew 3:17

The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord marks the end of the Christmas season and ushers us into Ordinary Time. Do you remember your baptism? Chances are, if you are a cradle Catholic, you probably do not as you were most likely baptized as an infant. However, if you were baptized as an adult, I am sure it was quite a moving experience for you. Today we celebrate the baptism of Our Lord, which may seem odd since the point of baptism is the forgiveness of sins and birth into the life of God. Jesus is God and had no sin so baptism really was not necessary, but He insisted so that sinners might live and all righteousness might be fulfilled.

The Church Fathers and Doctors of the Church tell us that for us going into the waters of baptism cleanses us and gives us the gift of sanctifying grace, but when Jesus went into the water He sanctified the waters so that we might be made clean by it. In getting baptized Jesus humbled and emptied Himself so that He might take on our sins and fill us with His own life. All that God does is for us. He created the heavens and the earth for us. He sent His Son for us. He suffered for us. He died for us. He rose from the dead for us. He sent the Spirit for us. In His baptism, Jesus made it possible for us to once again walk with God for all eternity. God revealed to us who He was once again at Jesus’s baptism, that Our God is three Divine Persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — in One God, a relational God, a God of communion, in whose life we now share by our baptism.

When John tried to stop Jesus from getting baptized by him, He told him that he must so that all righteousness be fulfilled. What exactly is this “righteousness?” St. John Chrysostom says that righteousness is “the fulfilling of the commandments.” And the Lord taught that the greatest command is to love, and since He is love itself, then to fulfill all righteousness is to fulfill the Law, which then is to put on Christ, to be in right relationship with God, to be in communion with God. And Jesus fulfilled this righteousness by doing the will of His Father perfectly.

We who are baptized are baptized in Christ and in His life and death. As a result, we become adopted sons and daughters of the Father, true coheirs to eternal life. What a gift! So, then, brothers and sisters, let us give thanks to God for having so loved us. May we thank God for the gift of the Lord’s baptism in which we are baptized, opening up for us life eternal.

A King for All

“See, darkness covers the earth,
and thick clouds cover the peoples;
but upon you the LORD shines,
and over you appears his glory.”

Isaiah 60:2

On the feast of the Epiphany the Church celebrates the revelation of God to all the peoples. The three Magi or the “Wise Men” or the “Kings” followed a star they saw in the sky and traveled from the East to Bethlehem to see and meet the king to whom that star pointed. The Magi saw a sign, they discerned, and they followed. What a great act of humility on their part. Learned men with great respect and probably royalty too, saw a star, studied, and understood that something greater was happening, something that moved them to leave the comforts of their own countries, homes, and palaces to traverse through dangerous and uncertain terrain to meet not a king known already, a king whose reputation preceded himself, but rather a newborn king. A baby! They came all this way to see a helpless, vulnerable baby whose throne was a manger, the place where animals fed, and whose palace was a cave, a dirty, cold stable, and when they arrived, they neither complained nor judged, but rather they laid prostrate on the cold, dirty ground before this baby because they knew that He was the newborn king, of not only the Jews, but also for them, Gentiles. They knew that who was before them was the newborn King for all.

The pilgrimage of the Magi helped fulfill the prophecy that the Messiah will be worshipped by kings and also represented all Gentiles. The Magi approached Herod and asked where the “newborn king of the Jews” is to be found, they were told Bethlehem. When the Magi arrived, they realized that this newborn King was not just for Jews, but for Gentiles too, so they knelt, prostrated, and worshipped. At the beginning of their journey, they went to the local king, Herod and heeded his call to “go and search diligently for the child.” But after meeting the newborn King, it was not Herod’s word that they heeded (to bring him word on where Jesus was), but rather the call of the messenger of the newborn King, the true King, who in a dream told them to not return to Herod but rather leave another way. And so they did. It is Jesus’ authority now that bears weight. When we have come to encounter Jesus and His humble majesty and profound love and boundless mercy, our lives will never be the same again. We ought to drown out the voices of “other kings” and live our lives differently, and do so like the Magi, to journey by a different way, one led by the star of the newborn King and His Cross.

So, brothers and sisters, this journey of faith led the Magi to the One true God, and in response they worshipped and they left as pilgrims who have seen the Lord, and now His light shines upon them, and they have no need for the star to guide their way for the light of the Lord in their hearts now leads them. The clouds of hatred and despair has darkened our world, but His light still shines. No matter how much the Enemy may try to darken this world with the clouds of violence, selfishness, and death, if we have encountered the Lord, there is a light within us that can never be extinguished. When we come together as one, our light becomes one and can shine through the dark clouds, lighting the path for those who have yet come to know the Lord, so that they may come to encounter this newborn King and know and experience His love, He who was born for us all.