Sunday Meditation: To Fulfill All Righteousness

Today we close the Christmas liturgical season with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.  In Year A we are presented with Matthew’s version of Christ’s baptism, and only in Matthew’s account does Jesus, who was without sin, explain why He needs to be baptized: “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”  It is also fitting that John who baptizes Jesus, has prepared the way, and I think the baptism concludes the preparation.  With the baptism, Jesus inaugurates His ministry. 

Here is something to think about: how are you preparing the way for Jesus?

 

 

 

Here is today’s Gospel reading.

 

Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan

to be baptized by him.

John tried to prevent him, saying,

“I need to be baptized by you,

and yet you are coming to me?”

Jesus said to him in reply,

“Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us

to fulfill all righteousness.”

Then he allowed him.

After Jesus was baptized,

he came up from the water and behold,

the heavens were opened for him,

and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove

and coming upon him.

And a voice came from the heavens, saying,

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

~Mt 3:13-17

 

I go back to Bishop Edward Weisenberger for today explanatory homily.  He makes a number of observations I had not realized before.

 

To summarize Bishop’s Wiesenberger's observations: 1) It is Jesus who initiates the baptism, 2) He chooses to be baptized to stand in solidarity with mankind, 3) The heavens opening upon the baptism so that a new possibility of communicating with God appears, 4) The dove descending is an allusion to the waters in the first chapter of Genesis; this implies a new creation, 5) God identifying Jesus as “my Son” is a reference to King David, 6) “My Beloved” alludes to Isaac in the 22^nd chapter of Genesis, and 7) “well pleased” alludes to the suffering servant in Isaiah chapter 42 and 44.  Wow, so much in just five verse lines of Gospel.  All four of the Gospels are wonderfully written in their own individual way.

The pastoral homily returns us to Fr. Samuel Hakeem O.P.

Remember your baptism.  It initiates your relationship with God.  The water poured on His head sanctifies the water, pours into the Jordan, flows into the seas, sanctifying the entire world so that it returns sanctified to sanctify you.  Isn’t that beautiful!

 

Sunday Meditation: “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

 

The choir at my Mass today sang this lovely Catholic hymn, “When Jesus Comes to Be Baptized” performed by Stanbrook Abbey.

At least I think it’s Catholic.

Sunday Meditation: Not Worthy to Loosen the Thongs

John the Baptist returns today to give more exhortations.

 

“The crowds asked John the Baptist,

“What should we do?”

He said to them in reply,

“Whoever has two cloaks

should share with the person who has none.

And whoever has food should do likewise.”

Even tax collectors came to be baptized and they said to him,

“Teacher, what should we do?”

He answered them,

“Stop collecting more than what is prescribed.”

Soldiers also asked him,

“And what is it that we should do?”

He told them,

“Do not practice extortion,

do not falsely accuse anyone,

and be satisfied with your wages.”

 

Now the people were filled with expectation,

and all were asking in their hearts

whether John might be the Christ.

John answered them all, saying,

“I am baptizing you with water,

but one mightier than I is coming.

I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor

and to gather the wheat into his barn,

but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Exhorting them in many other ways,

he preached good news to the people.”

       -Lk 3:10-18

 

Be prepared.  Jesus is coming and will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire!  Make sure you are part of the wheat and not the chaff.

I found the reflection after the reading of the Gospel passage to be excellent.  Watch to the end.

Notable Quote: Blood and Fire by St. Catherine of Siena

Today, April 29^th is the feast day of St. Catherine of Siena, the patron saint of this blog.  I take this quote from today’s “Meditation of the Day” in Magnificat.  It is put along side the passage John 3:18, where Christ tell Nicodemus that he must be born again by water and spirit.

 

I remember what Jesus once said to one of his servants.  She asked, “Once you were dead, why did you want your side to be opened and to pour out such a torrent of blood?”  And he said, “There are many reasons, but I will tell you two important ones.  First of all, I wanted this because by having my side opened I showed you the secret of my heart.  For my heart held more love for humankind than any external physical act could show.  The other reason was the baptism that was given to the human race because of the merits of my blood.”  You know that he poured out blood and water.  The water was Christian baptism, which gives us the life and form of grace, and which divine eternal Goodness provided through the merits of the blood of the Lamb as a remedy for our poverty and ignorance.

 

And for those who might not be able to have baptism by water, he instituted the baptism of blood and fire.  Their blood would be their baptism, as it was for the holy innocents.  It would have for them because of the blood of God’s Son; I mean the martyr’s blood had and still has worth because of his blood.

 

There is more, but I’ll only quote the first two paragraphs. She is such a brilliant woman, self-educated, self-motivated. I have no idea who she is referring to that's Jesus' servant who asks him the question, or where she gets Christ's response. Magnificat cites from The Letters of Catherine of Siena, Vol 1, Suzanne Noftke, O.P. translator.

Matthew Monday: Baby Antonio's Baptism

I mentioned I was to be Godparent to my recently born nephew, Antonio. I'll follow up with that personal note within this Matthew Monday post.

 

The baptism went well, and we had a nice little party at a restaurant afterward. The only thing of note that I can mention is that Father Veras's (our pastor performing the baptism) little homily at the baptism quoted the recently published encyclical, Lumen Fidei. Not only did he quote it, but he quoted the very passage I highlighted in one of my posts on the encyclical. 

“Baptism makes us see, then, that faith is not the achievement of isolated individuals; it is not an act which someone can perform on his own, but rather something which must be received by entering into the ecclesial communion which transmits God’s gift. No one baptizes himself, just as no one comes into the world by himself. Baptism is something we receive.”

I thought that was prophetic in a tiny way.  As you can see from the party afterward, the baptism was part of a gathering of friends and family.  We are not isolated individuals.

Well, here are some pictures.  I did say Antonio was one of the prettiest babies I've ever seen, so here you go, judge for yourselves.

Here he is in his mother's lap.

And here he is being carried by the proud Nonna, my mother.

 

Of course Matthew had to give him a kiss.

 

And finally, this is Matthew's space on my blog, so here is Matthew drinking a chocolate milk at the party.  He does look handsome here I must admit, quite the grown little man.

 

By the way, Sunday was Matthew's fourth birthday, and Monday is our Gotcha Day.  More on that next week.

Personal Note: I Will Be A Godparent

This Sunday I will be a Godparent for the first time.  We will be part of my nephew's Christening.  He's five months old and must be the most beautiful baby I have ever seen.  I don't have a picture but I will after the Baptism.  And all the older relatives, such as my mother, claim he looks just like me when I was an infant.  No, I'm not looking for compliments, just stating the facts.  ;)  Anyway, please pray for the two of us. 

Oh and my gift to the little guy is this beautiful cross with a St. Anthony medal in the center.  The child's name is Antonio, so I thought it would be very appropriate.  I hope he treasures it for the rest of his life.

If you can't tell, that's St. Anthony holding the child Jesus in the center with the words "Saint Anthony Pray For Us" around the perimeter, and of course I have a matching gold chain to go with it.

May he grow in the faith, and now as his Godparent I have a responsibility in guiding him to it.  St. Anthony, pray for both of us.