Vocation to Holiness

This weekend marks the end of the Christmas season as we celebrate the Baptism of The Lord.  We began the Christmas season with the birth of our Lord, and we end it by fast-forwarding 30 years in his life to his baptism in the Jordan River. Church Fathers teach that Christ allowed John the Baptist to baptize him so that the Messiah could wash away the sins of the world.  According to St. Peter Chrysologus (Sermo 160: PL 52, 620-622), John laid his hands on Jesus not to forgive but to receive forgiveness. Others such as St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Augustine emphasized Jesus’ humility, setting an example and the baptism’s role in establishing the sacrament that truly cleanses sins. 
 
Matthew describes the moment in today’s Gospel when Jesus comes up from the waters of the Jordan after being baptized “and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him.” The Son of God received the Spirit, but not for his own advantage but for us.   Jesus received the Spirit to renew us and to make us whole again.  That moment reveals the heart of God.  Jesus lines up with sinners, not because he is one, but because he wants no distance between himself and us.  He steps into the muddy waters of life with all of us who are searching for forgiveness, healing and new life.  
 
With our sins washed away because of our baptisms, Satan should no longer have control over our lives unless we let him.  With the Holy Spirit at our side guiding our journey through life, we should say no to sin and say no to the Evil One.  With baptism, we received a vocation to holiness.  Pope Francis once said, “Do not be content to live a mediocre Christian life; walk with determination along the path of holiness.” Are we ready to accept Christ’s plan of salvation for us?  We are all called to imitate Jesus in our thoughts, words and deeds. If we are honest with ourselves, we know this can be difficult to accomplish.  We’re human, we have free will and we will make mistakes.   I think all of us have had those moments.  With baptism, we are called to renounce Satan, reject sin, resist temptation, repent and sin no more, but instead love, accept, serve and trust in the Lord.  
 
Baptism also tells us the following:  that our lives are not all about us but instead it should be all about God.  We are reminded that God should be number one in our lives when as we enter the church, we dip our hand into the holy water and make the sign of the cross. The sign of the cross is a profession of faith in God as we declare our belief in the Trinity.   The sign of the cross is a renewal of our baptismal promises when we died sacramentally with Christ on the cross and rose to a new life with him. At baptism, the Lord claimed us as His own by marking us with the sign of the cross.  Now, when we sign ourselves, we are affirming our loyalty to Him as disciples of Christ. 
 
We should not think about our own baptisms as something that happened in the past.  It was not just a one-time event.  Our baptisms are a living reality.  Through baptism, we are immersed NOW into Christ’s life, filled with the Spirit, and sent into the world as His disciples.  We are God’s beloved children.  We long to hear him say, “With you, I am well pleased.”