Sunday, January 12, 2014

The End and the Beginning

Today we celebrate The Baptism of The Lord.  For Catholics  this is the end of the Christmas season and thus begins Ordinary Time, that few weeks between the season of Advent/ Christmas and Lent/ Easter.

I use the following quote from Divine Office:

“And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, ‘Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased” (Mk 1:9-11).[1]

Today we celebrate the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. In Baptism, we are brought to Christ and united to the mystery of His death and Resurrection. In this effective sign of our purified life and heart, we acknowledge the Messianic identity of Jesus Christ and celebrate His reign. May our baptized lives, nurtured by the Sacraments, testify to those in darkness and confirm the truth of Jesus’ identity, just as the Holy Spirit did in the Jordan.[2][3]

“Jesus did not need to be baptized, but the first theologians say that, with His body, with His divinity, in the Baptism He blessed all the waters, so that water would have the power to give baptism. And then, before ascending to Heaven, Jesus told us to go into all the world to baptize. And from that day until the present day, this has been an unbroken chain: they baptized their children, and their children [baptized] their children, and their children… And so goes the chain of faith! What does this mean? I would just tell you this: you are the ones that transmit the faith, the transmitters, you have a duty to pass on the faith to these children. It’s the most beautiful legacy that you leave to them: the faith! Only this. Today, take this thought home with you. We must be transmitters of the faith. Think about 

this, always think of how to transmit the faith to the children.”[4]

Yes!  How do we transmit the faith to our children?  Through example? Teaching? Practice?  All these things are good and worthy but they cannot compare with prayer.  As our children grow we watch them make choices that we know are not worthy.  The examples and teaching and practice are thrown to the wayside.  Prayer, my friends.  That is where we stand.  Only prayer is worthy.

1 comment:

  1. I agree, because it is prayer that connects us with God, who in His love and generosity, gave us our children.

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