Sunday, January 13, 2013

Gospel For Today

FEAST OF THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD

Here's a quick question...  why do we get baptized?  According to our Catholic faith, as taught in the Catechism, our baptism confers the forgiveness of sins (original sin, and actual sin).  It also causes us to be reborn in the Holy Spirit, united with Christ and His Church as children of God.

So here's the follow up question prompted by today's feast.  Why was Christ baptized?  Believing what we do about the effects of baptism, Jesus would not need the graces offered by God through the baptismal waters.  He was without sin; and he already was perfectly united with God as His only begotten Son.  So why was Jesus baptized?

In praying the Morning Office today, I found answers to that question in the intercessory prayers, which I would like to share with you this morning.

Christ, you made your light shine on us by revealing yourself; grant us the spirit of humble service to all people.

Christ's baptism is a revelation, a manifestation of his divinity.  In today's Gospel reading, John the Baptist said, "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."  Elsewhere John also said of Jesus, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world."  Through his baptism, Jesus was revealing himself as the one of whom John spoke.  This manifestation is linked to the feast of Epiphany, which we celebrated last week, when Christ was manifested as king of all nations by the visitation of the magi from the east.

Christ, you humbled yourself and received baptism from your servant to show us the way of humility; grant us the spirit of humble service to our fellow man.

Christ was baptized for our benefit, not for his own.  It was an act of humility for him, just as his incarnation, being born of human flesh, was an act of humility.  Jesus allowing John to baptize him is similar to when Our Lord washed the feet of the Apostles at the Last Supper.  He is showing us that a true leader is one who serves other.  One cannot be holy without being humble.

Christ, through your baptism you cleansed us of every blemish and made us children of your Father; bestow your spirit of adoption on all who seek you.

Christ was already without sin.  Christ was already the begotten Son of the Father.  Through his baptism, he has made this sacrament the vehicle by which we become the Father's adopted children and are cleansed from the dirt and grime of sin upon our souls, so that we may be more like him.

Christ, through baptism you have consecrated creation and opened the door of repentance to all who prepare for baptism; make us servants of your Gospel in the world.

In a manner of speaking, when John poured the waters of baptism upon the head of Jesus Christ, it was not Christ who was baptized by the water, but the other way around.  The waters of the world were baptized by Christ.  God blesses his creation and transforms it in to a vehicle of his grace and mercy.  Those of us who repent and come to the waters of baptism drink from the fountain of grace that erupts from Jesus Christ.

Christ, through your baptism you revealed to us the Holy Trinity when the Father called you his beloved Son and the Holy Spirit came down upon you; renew the spirit of adoption among the royal priesthood of the baptized.

Again, Christ's baptism is a manifestation; not only of Jesus's divinity, but of the Blessed Trinity itself.  In this scene in the gospel today we have all three actors, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit on the stage.  The Trinity was not a concept known to the Jesus; it is a facet of God's inner life that is revealed to us only through Jesus Christ.  At his baptism, we receive a glimpse of the Holy Trinity, an intimate look at God never before revealed to us.  

And so let us celebrate this last feast of the Christmas season, this feast wherein all the waters of the world are made holy, the doors of forgiveness thrown open to all who repent, and God the Trinity is made manifest to us.  

Almighty, eternal God, when the Spirit descended upon Jesus at his baptism in the Jordan, you revealed him as your own beloved Son.  Keep us, your children born of water and the Spirit, faithful to our calling.
We ask this through our Lord, Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

For more information on the Baptism of the Lord, click the link below:
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2013-01-13

--
WCU Catholic Campus Ministry
Matthew Newsome, MTh, campus minister
  
(828)293-9374  |   POB 2766, Cullowhee NC 28723

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Gospel For Today

SOLEMNITY OF THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD

Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance.  Raise your eyes and look about; they all gather and come to you...

That is taken from today's first reading (Is 60:1-6), and aptly sums up the significance of today's feast.  They all gather and come to you...

Christmas is a time of great joy, for it marks the arrival in human history of the Messiah, the great savior that the Jewish people had been waiting for.  Not all of the people of Israel would recognize him, but some few would.  Those who understood the meaning of the scriptures, chiefly Isaiah (which is why we read so much from Isaiah around this time of year).  God had been preparing his Chosen People to receive His Son for generations, through prophets and angels.

But we should not limit ourselves to looking upon Christ as the Jewish savior.  Seeing him as the Messiah only of a certain ethnic tribe, not all of whom even recognized him when he came, makes Jesus seem rather provincial.  For that is not the whole story.  Christ came to the Jews, as foretold, but he did not come only for the Jews.  There were others in the world who were looking for the arrival of a great king.

...behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, "Where is the newborn king of the Jews?  We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage."

This is from today's Gospel reading (Mt 2:1-12).  The magi were a priestly caste from Persia.  You can see in their name the root for our word "magician," but these were not men who pulled rabbits out of hats at children's birthday parties.  What they did do was to watch the stars for signs of importance.  And around the time of Christ's birth, they saw something of great importance; something that astounded them enough that they traveled a great distance from their homes to come to a small, backwater Roman province and pay homage to a humble child born to a carpenter and his young wife, in place of no political or military significance.  

They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage.

The magi were great sages and religious leaders among their people.  They did not receive prophecy from God, or a message from an angel.  There is no evidence to suggest they knew anything of the Jewish scriptures.  But they sought knowledge and truth; which is the same as seeking God.  They looked to the heavens for signs, the stars and planets, as best they knew them.  They looked to nature itself, made by the hand of God.

What did they see in the sky?  There is a wonderful DVD called The Star of Bethlehem which I encourage you to watch if you can.  It details in astronomical terms just what was going in in the sky over that part of the world in the time leading up to Christ's birth.  The motions of the stars and the physical forces which govern them all were set in place at the very moment of creation.  From the beginning of time God ordained the day of the arrival of His Son on earth, and decreed that the stars themselves would proclaim his arrival.

The magi, gentiles not counted among the Chosen People, saw these signs.  They recognized something special about this king being born.  He was King of the Jews, but more than that.  He was their king, as well.  His kingdom would have no boundaries, and his reign would have no end.

Epiphany means "manifestation."  It is in this visit by the magi, paying homage to the Christ child, that the universality of his lordship is first manifested to us.  As St. Paul proclaims in today's second reading (Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6), "the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus..."

It doesn't matter if you are Jewish or a Gentile.  It doesn't matter if you are black or white, European or Asian, or any other ethnic group.  If you are an Anglo-Saxon, Jesus is your Lord.  If you are German, Jesus is your Lord.  If you are Cherokee, Jesus is your Lord.  African-American?  Jesus is your Lord.  Chinese?  Jesus is your Lord?  Polynesian, Aborigine, Inuit, Egyptian...  Jesus is your Lord.  Even if you are a white-bread American teenager from a middle class suburban family, you have a king, Emmanuel, God with us, Jesus Christ.

There is nowhere and no one that Christ's reign does not encompass.  His reign extends across the globe and into the heavens.  He is your king, too.  Come, let us adore him.

--

Have a blessed Epiphany!  For more information on this celebration, including some traditional Epiphany activities and blessings, check out this link on CatholicCulture.org.


--
WCU Catholic Campus Ministry
Matthew Newsome, MTh, campus minister
  
(828)293-9374  |   POB 2766, Cullowhee NC 28723

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Gospel For Today

FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH
click here for readings

This is a season of feasts and celebrations!  Beginning this past Tuesday, on Dec. 25, we entered the season of Christmas with the great Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord.  The Christmas season traditionally runs to Epiphany (January 6 - hence the "Twelve Days of Christmas"), but the Church has in more modern times extended the celebration of Christmas to the feast of the Baptism of the Lord (January 13).  So don't be too quick to take down your holiday decorations!

The eight days which consist of Christmas Day and the week following are considered the Octave of Christmas, which is celebrated as one great continuous feast day in the liturgical year.  Within the Octave of Christmas we have many individual observances, which I think are telling.

Starting Dec. 25 we celebrate the birth of our Savior, the entrance of God the Creator into human history; not arriving on a chariot with a great army to be seated on a golden throne, but born as a helpless, dependent baby into a human family with a mother and a father. a manger filled with straw, where animals slept.  The world was made new and things would never be the same.

Immediately following this joyful celebration, we have on Dec. 26 the Feast of St. Stephen.  Stephen was the very first Christian martyr, the first person to die for his faith in Christ.  You can read about him in Acts chapter 7.  As he was being stoned to death, his final words were to ask God to forgive those who were killing him.  Some people may not feel that celebrating the death of the first Christian martyr fits the "tone" of the Christmas season.  It's supposed to be a time of joy and peace, right?

But I believe it is a perfect fit for this season.  Stephen's martyrdom tells us exactly what is demanded of us who rejoice at the Lord's birth in Bethlehem.  Now that the Christ has arrived in this human scene, we must be prepared to follow him -- even unto death.  Do you or I have that kind of commitment and devotion to Jesus today?  Are we willing to face those who would stone us because of our beliefs?  Even if it is just the metaphorical stoning of social pressure and derision?

On Dec. 28 we celebrated the Feast of the Holy Innocents.  This is the day the Church honors all of those young people who were killed by the order of King Herod in his attempt to destroy the Christ child whom he saw as a threat to his reign.  He ordered all boys in Bethlehem and the surrounding area under the age of two to be massacred.  The magi would not divulge to him where Jesus was, so Herod had to cast a wide net to catch him.  He failed.  But he slaughtered countless innocents in the process.  The Church recognizes that these innocent babies, too, gave their life for Christ in a way, even though they did not consciously know it.
Sadly, Herod's spirit is still alive and with us today, as an even greater number of innocents is slaughtered through the holocaust of abortion.  1.5 million lives are snuffed out each year in our country alone.  Who knows how many worldwide?  Do we have the courage of St. Stephen to continue to stand up and speak out for those without a voice; the most vulnerable and innocent among us?  Can we take the stoning that today's culture may throw our way for being pro-life?

And today, Dec. 30, we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family.  This is especially important in our time, as the family itself is under attack.  The foundation of the human family is marriage.  Many today mistakenly believe marriage as the union in which a husband and wife form a couple.  But that is not true.  It is a union in which a husband and wife form a family.  The purpose of every marriage is to engender children.  This is true even for those married couples that are unable to conceive a child.  There are other ways to share the spirit of selfless love that is parenting with the world -- adoption, foster parenting, community involvement, devotion to nieces and nephews, etc.  None of us are allowed to live selfish, self-centered lives because of a lack of children.  Every marriage is a vehicle for God to potentially bless with new life, and must be lived out in that spirit.

For the great majority of marriages, that means children; conceiving and bearing them, and raising them in a loving household.  This requires stability, which is why marriage is a life-long commitment.  Marriage creates a new family, and the family is the basic building block of human society.  Families make the culture, not the other way around.  Governments are established to protect and serve families, not vice versa.  But marriage and the family are under attack in a very real way in our society.

It began back in the 1930s when the Anglican church decided to allow, with limitations, the use of contraception.  Their decision -- the first time any Christian body had allowed contraception for any reason -- said that it was permissible, only within marriage, and only for grave reasons.  But contraception is an evil, and once it had its foot in the door, it was not long before it came all the way in.  Now, contraception is considered "smart and safe" in our culture, the "responsible thing to do," and the Catholic Church alone stands as the only Christian body who continues to oppose it.

What does this have to do with marriage?  Marriage, sex, and children have always been considered part of the same one good.  They could not be separated, for they belonged to one another.  The acceptance of contraception started to divide them.  People started to see sex as something one could enjoy without children.  And if one could enjoy sex without worrying about children, there was no real need for the lifelong commitment of marriage.  These three aspects of the same reality started to be treated as interdependent and unrelated pursuits.

No fault divorce soon became common in our culture.  Abortion was demanded as a back-up for when contraception failed.  Sex is no longer seen as something one must wait until marriage to enjoy, but something which should be tried out before marriage (like taking a car for a test drive).  Children?  Only if you want them, and only when you are ready.

Today one can have sex with no children (and indeed children without sex), sex without marriage, marriage without children, and children without marriage, and we are taught to view each option as an equally valid choice.

The end result is that today in America 51% of all new births are out of wedlock.  For the first time in our history more children are born to unmarried parents than to married parents.  How many of those children will never know their father, or see him only every other weekend?  More than half of all marriages end in divorce, with multiple marriages being far too common - even expected.  The birthrate in many western nations is falling below replacement level, which means the population in most European countries is actually shrinking.  The only factor keeping American births above replacement level are minority birthrates, which are higher than for whites.

And now, more and more people -- Catholics included -- no longer believe that gender has any bearing on marriage, and people of the same gender should be free to enter into marriage just as a man and a woman.  This is advocated for under the banner of fairness and equality, but it is only conceivable today because our culture has lost sight of what marriage truly is.

Today, we celebrate the Holy Family.  Mary and Joseph were married for the explicit purpose of raising a child.  Their marriage was devoted to their son, the Son of God, our Savior.  They were devoted to each other and to Him.  He was obedient to his mother and father.  This is the model family for us.  Please join me today in praying for the intercession of the Holy Family, for the healing of families in our world today.  And pray that Christians would have the courage of St. Stephen, and St. Thomas Becket, whose martyrdom we celebrated on Dec. 29, to stand up for our faith and convictions; to stand up for the family.

Please also say a prayer for my wife and I, who started our own family on this day twelve years ago, as we entered the sacrament of marriage.  She has been like a fruitful vine in my home, and given me children like olive plants around our table (Ps 128).  I am a blessed man, and give thanks to God each day for the family He has given me.

God bless, everyone!  And Merry Christmas!
--

WCU Catholic Campus Ministry
Matthew Newsome, MTh, campus minister
  
(828)293-9374  |   POB 2766, Cullowhee NC 28723
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