This week’s Clergy Corner
taken from January 12 Bulletin

Today the Universal Church celebrates the baptism of the Lord when Jesus was baptized by John in the river Jordan. In being baptized Jesus enters fully into our human condition. Jesus did not have to be baptized. He was always God’s beloved Son on whom his favor rested. Yet he freely chose to be baptized to identify himself with our need for forgiveness and with our longing for redemption. To lead us into the kingdom, he himself would enter by the only door open to us, the door of baptism. Jesus showed solidarity with all of us who need of redemption.      

Today as we recall the baptism of Jesus, let us be mindful of our own baptism. The baptism of the Lord naturally makes us think of our own baptism. The deepest truth about our life is our baptismal call. Through our baptism we are called to share and continue the mission of Jesus. The truth is baptism is not over and done with when the priest pours water over our head and the sacred ceremony is completed. The sacrament is the planting of the seed of Christian life which grows and bears fruit as we develop our relationship with God.    

Even though we were baptized when we were a few days old, our baptism is not merely an event of the past, it is an ever-present reality, a constant sharing in the divine life of the Lord. It is a daily invitation to come closer to God and to be helpers in his work of saving the world. We are called to be servants of God in our own sphere of living and to make the world a better place. We are called to be servants of the Lord’s justice, to be a living light to a world more at home with darkness, to bring liberation to those imprisoned by sin and dehumanizing social structures. Each day we are presented with many opportunities to be of service and bring God’s healing to a broken world.     

Is our baptism real to us, alive, and dynamic—or is it something we take for granted? What has happened to our baptismal call from years ago? That call is still there, indelible, irrevocable, unerasable, and irreversible. In the sight of God, it remains the deepest truth of our life. If that mission of our baptism has been dormant, this year is a good time to bring it back to life. It is always there, ready to spring back to life. Whatever else comes and goes in our life, the commission to do the work of Christ lasts as long as we do. 

Let’s renew ourselves in our baptismal commitments. As a baptized Christian, do I live my life as though I were God’s adopted child?

– Father Cosme