Throughout the Christmas season we’ve celebrated
liturgically several events from the early life of Christ: we’ve celebrated his
saving birth, of course, on Christmas Day; the adoration of the Christ child by
magi from the east, we celebrated on the feast of the epiphany; on January 1st,
8 days after the birth of Christ, the Christ was brought to the temple for his
circumcision; after his circumcision, we know that St. Joseph took the Holy
Family to Egypt, where he kept them safe from the murderous plot of King Herod.
On Holy Family Sunday we heard how during the early years of Jesus’ life, his
family would make the pious pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and how the boy Jesus was
found teaching in the Jerusalem temple, his Father’s house. Today’s feast celebrates an event roughly 20
years later.
For 20 years, Jesus lived a life of simple faith, obedience
to Mary and Joseph in the house of Nazareth.
He learned the carpenter’s trade, he worked with his hands, he
worshipped at synagogue, he continued to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem and
celebrate the Jewish Feasts, he lived a life of virtue. As we do not read about St. Joseph in the
later parts of any of the Gospels, likely, Jesus witnessed Joseph’s
passing. During these Hidden Years, Jesus
prepared for his great mission of preaching the Gospel and dying for the
atonement of our sins.
Around the age of 30, Jesus had heard that his cousin, John,
the son of Elizabeth and Zechariah was preaching a baptism of repentance down
at the Jordan River, at the very spot where Israel had come into the promised
land after 40 years in the desert, the very spot where Elijah was taken up into
heaven on a flaming chariot. In fact,
John was dressed quite a bit like Elijah of old, and proclaiming the prophet’s
warning: “repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”
Jesus knew, “it was time”—the season of hiddenness was
coming to an end, and the season of his public ministry was about to begin—a
time of miracles, and healings, where the power of God’s kingdom would be
manifest. “It was time” to do battle with the forces of evil and the prince of
darkness. “It was time” to fulfill his
Father’s will, no matter how much suffering he would have to endure.
Every season ends that it might give way to something new.
And this was true, even in the life of Jesus Christ. His baptism in the Jordan
marked an end of hiddenness, and a beginning of public ministry.
Baptism marks the beginning of a new way of life for
Christians. And, today at St. Clare, we
have two people, Sarah and Joseph, publically declaring their desire for
Baptism. That have completed the period
of the precatechumenate, a period of investigation into the truths and way of
life of the Christian faith. They are
publically declaring their desire to put to an end an old way of life, and to
begin the new life of Christianity.
For this reason, Sarah and Joseph are embraced by the Church
as our own; they are now part of the household of Christ, as they seek full
initiation in the Church through Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. I will ask them to remain after Mass today,
so that you may embrace them, welcome them; for they are soon to be called your
brothers and sisters in Christ. They are
coming to the end of one season of their life, and beginning a new one that
will last for eternity; so, encourage them, pray for them, set good example for
them.
For they declare today along with all of us, their faith in
Him, their willingness to live with Christ as the Lord of their lives, their
willingness to suffer for Him and even to die for Him, for they believe that is
through Him, through Christ the Lord and Him alone, that man is free from sin
and restored to eternal life. They declare today their promise to follow
Christ’s commandments, including the injunction to keep the Lord’s Day every
week for the rest of their lives.
Every season ends that it may give way to something new.
Today, the Christmas season ends, and the season of Ordinary
Time begins, a season where each of us are to focus on putting the teachings of
Christ into practice in our ordinary day-to-day lives. Each of us do well to
consider, what vices are we being called to put an end to, that we may more
faithfully live out our baptismal discipleship. Laziness and sloth are to be
put to an end, that new spiritual practices may begin: daily scripture reading,
visits to the adoration chapel, a daily rosary perhaps, in order to obtain
graces of conversion for ourselves and others. Put lust to an end, in order to
begin a new life of purity. Put resentment and bitterness to an end, that it
might give way to a new season of peace and gentleness.
In a few moments we will each personally recite the
Profession of Faith. It is the creed of
the baptized. As we profess our faith,
let us recommit ourselves as children of God that we may be Christ’s disciples
in name and in fact. Let us reject Satan
and cling ever more to Christ, that we may reflect the glory of his kingdom and
come to share in his eternal inheritance, for the glory of God and salvation of
souls.
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