We Catholics like Lent. We may not always say so, but we do. We like the
ashes of Ash Wednesday and we even like sacrifice and self-denial. We
don’t always do them so well, but we like the thought of them! We like
Lent. But Lent is more than ashes, sacrifice and self-denial, fast and
abstinence. In the early Church, Lent was about preparing for baptism.
It still is. And for those of us who are already baptized, Lent is the
ideal time for us to get in touch with the meaning of our baptism.
I talk a lot about baptism from this pulpit.
That’s because I am convinced that if we were really to awaken to our
baptism –who we are because of our baptism and what our baptism calls us
to do - everything would be different. Everything!
For many of us, our baptism is a moment not
even remembered, a moment we know only from family stories, or from
photo albums or videos, or from a dog-eared piece of paper with names
and dates and the fading signature of a parish priest. But
remembered or not, there was for each of us a moment in time when water
(probably cold enough to make us cry) flowed over us and at that moment,
we went through a symbolic death: we began to share in Christ’s
saving death, symbolized by those drowning sacramental waters. And, of
course, at that same moment, new life became ours, the life of Christ.
We became new creations, to use the language of the scriptures.
My friends, the Church wants us to think of
this during Lent. The Church gives us six full weeks to think long and
hard about our baptism - and not just to think about it: to wake up to
our baptism, for the church knows that, viewed with the eyes of faith,
nothing more important has ever happened to us than our baptism!
A little aside: a couple of weeks ago when we
were preparing a memorial card for Archbishop Brunett’s funeral, I was
determined that, among the various dates to be listed on the card (his
birth, his ordination as priest and later as bishop, his death) we also
needed to include the date of his baptism. Why? Well, because baptism is
so important! Getting the date took some doing. We had to send a number
of emails and make a number of phone calls back to Detroit where he was
born – and, believe it or not, we even did a Google map search in order
to find his parish church. But our efforts were rewarded: we finally
succeeded in finding his parish church and in coming up with the date of
his baptism which, to my way of thinking, was even more important than
the dates for his ordination as priest and as bishop.
Baptism. Never underestimate its importance,
and be grateful that these days of Lent underline its importance. We may
more typically think of Lent in terms of ashes and abstinence, of
desserts denied or drinks declined, of less Facebook time and more
prayer book time, and that's fine - in fact it's good - as long as those
penitential practices bring us in touch with our baptism. Think of them
as the dying part of baptism - the drowning waters, if you will, the
death to sin and selfishness. Think of them as our sharing in what Jesus
once called his "baptism", referring not to the waters of the Jordan but
to the impending ordeal of his passion and death ("I have a baptism with
which I am to be baptized," he said, "and how impatient I am that it be
accomplished!").
Baptism! It is important to remember what we
heard in today’s gospel: the same Jesus who one minute found himself
basking in the baptismal glory of being God's beloved son, in another
minute found himself in a lonely desert for forty long days and nights,
wrestling with the forces of evil, struggling mightily against Satan's
enticements to sin - insidious temptations that might even have seemed
quite sensible at the time - struggling mightily but never giving in.
That was Jesus' story. Is it our story? I
believe it is the story of each one of us - the story of every follower
of Christ. With this difference: all too often, we part company with
Jesus by forsaking the struggle and taking the easy way out. We would
like our baptism to be some sort of inoculation against sin and life’s
painful struggles. It isn’t, of course. Our baptism is a passport
to glory but it is no shortcut to glory. What baptism gives us is the
church: this community of believers – saints and sinners - to walk with
us and support us on our journey and, of course, it gives us the
assurance of God's grace which is more powerful by far than even the
most discouraging of human weaknesses.
My friends, we have set out on the great
journey of Lent. Today, it has taken us to the desert of temptation;
next week, it will take us with Jesus to the mountain of
Transfiguration; the week after that, to Jacob’s well where we will meet
the Samaritan woman; then to the healing waters of the pool of Siloam
where we will meet the man born blind; and finally to the tomb of
Lazarus. By the time we arrive at Palm Sunday, those encounters should
have made us ready to acclaim Christ as our Savior and Redeemer and to
enter with him into the Sacred Triduum – the holiest, most grace-filled
days of our year. And if we have truly encountered him - followed him
closely along this Lenten journey - we will be more aware than ever
before of what our baptism means and makes possible - ready to stand up
on Easter and renew with energy and enthusiasm, with courage and
conviction, the promises of our baptism!
Father Michael G. Ryan
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