The title of my homily is a question: “What Does the Word
‘Baptism’ Trigger in You?”
This Sunday we celebrate the feast of The Baptism of the
Lord.
It recalls the day Jesus headed to the Jordan River to be
baptized by John the Baptist.
I know that people like to go back to the church where
they were married.
The following has happened at least 100 times. I go down
to the office at St. Mary’s - to look something up or drop some outgoing mail.
Surprise! I bump into someone who is visiting St. Mary’s. They say, “We were
married here 35 for 16 years ago - or what have you.”
I’ve never had anyone say, “I remember when I was
baptized here - 55 years ago.”
Obviously, because we’re baptized as babies - most of the
time.
Yet, since today is the feast of the Baptism of Jesus,
let’s revisit our baptism.
Let me look at 3 aspects of baptism. There are many more.
NAME
First of all, our baptism is the day we got our name. This
was much more significant way back when - because way back when, people got
baptized right close to their birth, mainly because baby deaths were much more
frequent.
I ask you to revisit your name - even if it was weeks or
months after you were crawling around with your name in place.
I just found out last year, I was to be a John - and my father - changed
me to Andrew almost at the last minute.
I’m glad. There are too many people named John.Sorry to all those here who got the name
“John”.I hope you prefer your name,
like I like my name.
I got Andrew Jackson at my baptism - which I also like. It got me to read at least 3 biographies
of Andrew Jackson - the 7th president of the United States - and his
being featured on the 20 dollar bill.
I see Andrew Jackson’s painting on the wall in the Oval
Office of President Trump - so my fear of being replaced by a woman on the 20
dollar bill has gone away.
I was born on the feast of St. Andrew Avellino - who has
since been dumped from the church calendar in favor of St. Leo the Great.
I prefer the Andrew.
My father took that Andrew from the Saint’s name of my
birthday and added the Jackson. The reason: because growing up in Ireland
priests would say from the pulpit trying to get priest recruits, “Andrew
Jackson was a president in the United States and he would have been Catholic -
if there were more priests over there in the South. Lots of Irish Catholics
lost their Catholic faith because of the shortage of priests.”
Now this was not historically true - but there is some
truth in the statement. In fact, I once received a newspaper clipping on this practice.
So revisit your name. Is there any history behind it? If
there is,advertise it. If your parents
are still alive and you don’t know why you got your name, ask.
If you have any power - if you’re still hoping to have
kids - think twice of the selection of kids’ names.
I love the saying, “If you’re about to pick a name for a
kid, go outside - back porch or front yard and yell out, “Jeremiah get in here,
you bull frog.”
Give your kid a name with history - and a neat sound - and realize a name has great impact on a
person.
And don’t forget grandparents and family stories.
FAITH
Secondly, revisit your faith.
Having your kid baptized is an act of faith.
Is it any wonder, we priests keep on hearing from
grandparents, our kids have stopped going to church and our grandkids have yet
to be baptized.
I have heard 2 times so far about parents having a party
on their street for their new born kid-
during which they name the kid and hold the kid up in the air in celebration like
the bread and wine being held up at Mass.
Ritual is part of being a human being - like grandparents
wanting to show us pictures of new born babies in Wyoming or what and where
have you.
And I still hear of some grandparents baptizing their
grandkids secretly in the kitchen sink or bathtub - because their parents
didn’t get them baptized.
In today’s gospel we hear the great message that God
breathes on us and in us, “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.”
May all parents and all brothers and sisters treat each
new baby and each little kid as beloved.
May each human being sense, believe, know that they are
cherished, beloved, pleasing to some people on the planet.
May all Christians - all christened people - all baptized
people - know they are the body of Christ.
Father Blas who was here for a few years - and was back
this week - triggers for me a powerful story.When he was here, he was in the back of church at St. Mary’s and the
cantor said right before the Mass began, “Today is the 20 Sunday in Ordinary
time. Please check your cellphones or electronic devices and make sure they are
turned off andour main celebrant for this mass is, ‘Father Blas’” and he heard
one person say out loud, “Oh no!”
Oooooooooh!That
hurts.
Every human being - baby to Nursing Home person - needs
to know he or she is a child of God - and nobody should be dissed in any way.And every day - hopefully the Holy Spirit
hovers over us and we experience the love of others for us as well as God’s
love for us: Father, Son and Holy Spirit - as well as our love for every
person.
Others know when they are respected and loved.
We know.
FAMILY
The third trigger and thought and theme for baptism is
family.
I have done thousands of baptisms and I see the presence
of family - big time at baptisms.
A baptism is a family event.
We Catholics know the baby doesn’t know what’s happening
at her or his baptism. The baby doesn’t know about the lighted candle handed to
the parents and Godparents and the deacon or priest says to them, “Receive the
light of Christ.”
Baptism is a family and a community event - we’re all in
on passing great values and example onto this kid.
If people stop going to Mass - and church - because of
the non example or bad example of others, the opposite happens.
I was part of an enormous wonderful funeral this morning
at 10:30 at St. Mary’s and I could feel the connection of so many with the
family that lost their dad and husband, coworker and friend.
CONCLUSION
So today’s feast celebrates the people of Israel
returning to the Jordan River - where they started by crossing the river into
the Promised Land - and being re-dipped - re-baptized - re-washed - renewed - rebooted
- recalled again.
January 13, 2019
Thought for today:
"God often visits us, but most of the time we are not at home.”
“A gossip is one who talks to you about others; a bore is one who talks to you about himself;
and a brilliant conversationalist is one who talks to you about yourself.”
