This week’s thought from Fr. Bob Warren, SA: We are all candidates for holiness, no matter who or what we are. Who else but Jesus would have called upon St. Peter, the one who denied him, to make him the head of the apostles? Who else but Jesus would have called St. Paul, the persecutor of the church, to spread the gospel or St. Augustine, the libertine, to teach the masses or Thomas Merton, the playboy, to popularize the contemplative life or Dorothy Day, the communist, to care for Christ’s poor? All these people were flawed, and so are we, but our imperfections and sins cannot be used to duck God’s call to grace, to holiness and to conversion--the call we received at our Baptism. On this Feast of the Baptism of Jesus, it might be well to remember that Baptism, like a membership in any organization or group, carries with it privileges, obligations and expectations. Let me tell you a true story. A Franciscan priest, Fr. Brennan Manning, who grew up during the Depression, tells the story of some salesmen who had a few drinks while waiting for a train. They realized they were late for the train and rushed across the street to the station. As they barged into the terminal, one man inadvertently bumped into a ten-year old blind boy selling apples. The men just kept going except one who stopped. He gathered up the apples and noticed that several of them were bruised. He reached into his wallet, took out five dollars and put it into the blind boy’s hand. He said, “I’m sorry we did some damage. This is five dollars, and I have put the good apples back in the basket. I hope you are ok.” As he started to walk away, the bewildered boy called after him, “Sir, sir - Are you Jesus?” We could all ask ourselves the question, “When was the last time I did something Christ-like? What would Jesus do?” At our Baptism, through symbol and ritual, we are welcomed into a community of contradictions. We are not perfect. It is a sinful community, always in need of God’s grace and favor. But, it is made up of people striving to make it a community of love. In an age that can be inhuman, there is compassion, and in the midst of death, there is a stress on life. For the apparent absence of God in the world, we, as Christians, can joy in the presence of Christ. In spite of our weaknesses, Christ is our hope and strength. Perhaps, St. Paul puts it best when he sums it all up by saying, “For in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God for as many of you as were baptized, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free and there is neither male nor female. You are all one in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” Baptism is not just something we do when a child is born. Baptism reveals your identity and tells the world who you are. You are baptized into Christ, and you are to strive to be Christ-like. Try to act Christ-like. When you do that, then the heavens will open again, and the Father will declare with pride – “You are my son, my daughter, whom I love and with you I am well pleased.”
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 05:00:00 +0000
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