Feast of the Baptism of the Lord
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
The glorious and joyful season of Christmas is now drawing to its close. Last Sunday we celebrated the Epiphany of the Lord, when the Magi come with their rich gifts for the great King of the Universe. Their witness to Jesus’s birth, which the prophets of Israel foretold for so long, proves that even among the pagans there are those who are ready to hear the Word and respond with generous love to God’s own beloved Son Incarnate. All the more, then, must we who have received the life of Christ in baptism give the gift of ourselves, our whole lives, to Him who gave life to us.
This week begins again the “ordinary” time of our liturgical calendar. We call these periods between Christmas and Lent, and between Pentecost and Advent, “ordinary,” not because they are not special weeks for the Church, but because we are ordering time itself to Christ. We are literally “counting the days and weeks” until Easter. Each Sunday of Ordinary Time is numbered off, marked as a “little Easter” with the full solemnity of the Mass to recapitulate the mystery of salvation: the election of Israel, the promise of the Messiah, His Passion and Resurrection, and our life in Him here and now. That’s why every Sunday is a Sabbath, a holy day of obligation, a day of joy and rest from unnecessary work and triviality.
On the First Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Church always celebrates the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. This whole week is also “Vocations Week,” offering us the opportunity to reflect on our fundamental baptism vocation, which is the universal call to holiness, and on our individual vocations, whatever that may be.
Baptism is the beginning of our life in Christ. Baptism means a clean break with the past. In our descent into the waters of this sacrament, we die on the Cross with Christ, so that as we rise again from the font, we can rise with Him from the tomb. As St. Paul said so well, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” The Church has always taught and believed that this is not merely a metaphor, a nice way of saying “I’m a follower of Christ,” but the literal and precise truth. In Baptism, the old self dies, the one enslaved to sin because of Adam’s first sin. Baptism resurrects a new person, conformed to Christ. This is incredible! This is the Good News!
This is why Baptism frees us. Freedom from sin in this life does not mean that we can no longer sin; that requires complete, eternal union with Christ. “Whoever says he is without sin, is a liar.” Freedom from sin in this life means, first, that no particular sin is inevitable. We can always refuse the temptation to each occasion of sin, especially the greater, mortal sins. Second, our freedom now consists in not having to suffer the full consequences of sin, from which we are protected by the Church’s sacraments of healing, especially Reconciliation.
Jesus was without sin when John baptized Him in the Jordan. Jesus was not baptized for His own sake, but for ours. He made Baptism, which John offered only as a devotional act, into a sacrament. His baptism sanctified the water, so that our use of Holy Water in the Sacrament of Baptism imitates Him. And just as the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove then, so now in the Sacrament of Baptism the Holy Spirit, “The Lord, the Giver of Life,” comes to us to give us the new life of Christ the Risen Lord.
Because of this utterly new life in us, we are able to offer our gift to Christ: our whole life, every thought, word, and act, should now belong to Him. As St. Paul says, “You have been freed from sin; how can you return to be its slave?” The Magi gave Christ their gifts and returned home. We who have died to the world in Baptism with Christ have no worldly home. Christ is our home. We give ourselves to Him forever.
This is precisely why Baptism is the source of our vocation, and why “Vocations Week” is tied in with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. In Baptism, because we are freed from sin, we are free to accept God’s will for us. Like Mary at the Annunciation, we are free to say “Yes!” to God absolutely.
But how do we know God’s will, to accept it? First and foremost, we know God’s will in Scripture. “God wills all men to be saved.” Each person is created by and for the love of God, and God desires each person “to know Him, love Him, and serve Him” for all eternity. Our eternal happiness requires our wholehearted effort toward it in this life: “Be perfect, as my heavenly Father is perfect.” This is the universal call to holiness. We are all called to be saints, holy men and women who shine the light of Christ in everything we think and do.
We each also have at least one other particular vocation. Many of us are called to the sacrament of Holy Matrimony, to love and serve God and the Church through marriage and family. Some are called to life holy lives without marrying. Some are called to consecrated life in a religious order, such as the Carmelites we are blessed with here in Sioux City. Some are called to Holy Orders, as a priest or permanent deacon. Our careers are also sometimes a vocation; we are all certainly called to be holy and dedicated men and women in the workplace, whatever we do.
The vocation to Holy Orders is especially important to the life of the Church, because it is necessary to the sacramental life of all of us. To accept the call to be a priest is a great gift to the Church, not because priests are better Catholics or more holy than the other faithful, but because Christ sanctifies His followers especially through the seven sacraments, which the Church offers primarily through the ministry of priests. In the divine economy of grace, all of us depend on the particular gifts of each other to live Christ’s holy life well. Those of you who are parents know how true this is in your home, the domestic Church.
The particular gift Christ gives to His priests is to act through them to sanctify everyone. “The Eucharist makes the Church,” but only a priest, by the grace of God, confects the Eucharist. Many holy, dedicated priests are essential to the life of the Church. And young men who are well formed in matters of the Spirit, who can hear and accept the challenging call to “leave your nets and follow me, for I will make you fishers of men,” come only from the hearts of faithful, loving, Catholic, spiritually mature families. We pray often for an increase in vocations to the priesthood; such a prayer is pointless and selfish if we are not willing to offer God our own sons. Parents can’t choose the priesthood for their sons, but they can form all their children in faith. Parents can teach their children to love God enough to accept even the most challenging vocations from His generous hands. Indeed, parents have exactly that obligation, which the Church explicitly asked them to accept and agree to when she baptized each of their children.
The hardest part about accepting any vocation is giving up our own will, our hopes and dreams and aspirations, however worthy they may be, in order to do God’s will. We are all attached to our will: this is the nature of “concupiscence,” the first consequence of the first sin. But because we have been freed from the tyranny of sin in Baptism, we are not trapped in concupiscent desire. By grace and the discipline of faith, we can learn to accept God’s will, to conform our will to it, and to love what God so generously offers us in His infinite love.
As we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, let us all renew our baptismal commitment to holiness. Let us live the true life of Christ in us, dying to self and to the world, living only in Him. Let us seek to love His will more than our own, so that we may do His will joyfully, not counting the cost in worldly terms. May God, ever merciful, all holy, the source of all good, bless us with stronger faith and deeper love for Him, for His Church, and for His provident will. May He pour out upon us His graces, and lead us to all good things, according to His plan of salvation. May He bless each of you with clear discernment of the path to holy living, and of the particular call He has for you. May He give you the courage to respond, as Mary our Mother in faith did.
Your brother in Christ,
Most Reverend R. Walker Nickless
Bishop of Sioux City