Lent. 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 may not always do them so well, but we like the concept!
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 - 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: if
you’ve ever read the inscriptions for the two archbishops buried over
there in the Cathedral crypt, you may have noticed that before their
priestly ordination dates are noted, there is the date of their baptism.
Why? Well, because that date is even more important!
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 had 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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