Baptism of the Lord.  January 10, 2010.  Our Lady of Grace 7:30, 11:30.   Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11.  Titus 2: 11-14.  Luke 3:15-15, 21-22.

Two older women were enjoying the Christmas Season by having lunch together in a downtown restaurant.  They were sharing a waiter with two much younger women who were giving the waiter a very hard time. The older woman’s friend said, “Do you see how demanding the two are at the other table?  No matter what the waiter does, they always shout at him and complain.  The older of the woman said, “I know that game.  I was a waitress many years ago when I was in college.  They are making a big scene because they want a free lunch – just watch them.”  A few minuets later one of the young women called for the manager.  She made a lot of noise about the bad service the young man was giving. The young waiter was very embarrassed – in fact really humiliated.  Before the manager could cancel the bill, the older woman got up from her table and asked the manager if she could see the bill of the younger women. She took out her credit card and handed it to the manager.  She said, “I will pay the bill for these two women and I will give the young waiter a big tip as well – he gives excellent service.”  When she returned to her friend she said, “It is hard enough to be a kid in college without someone making a fool out of you or maybe even causing you to lose your job.”  It was clear that the old woman had had some very difficult experiences in her own life and that she cared very deeply for other people – even people that she didn’t know.  What empowered her to get up from her comfortable table and defend a young waiter that she didn’t even know?

After Jesus was baptized the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove.  And a voice came from heaven,” You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.” The baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River confirmed his mission as messenger and bearer of good news to the poor, the mistreated and the sinful.  Baptism is much more than a ritual cleansing.  Baptism is an experience of God’s grace that transforms us into the living image of God’s merciful love.

This past week we celebrated the feast of St. Elizabeth Seton, a woman who was brought up in a prominent New York family as a very devout Episcopalian.  Elizabeth married into another prominent family and had five children.  During a monetary crisis Elizabeth tried to assist her husband by doing the account books, but the company went bankrupt and the Setons lost their family home and most of the rest of their possession.  Worse yet, her husband died from tuberculosis leaving Elizabeth with five children.

After her husband died Elizabeth was drawn to the Catholic Church even though that meant alienation from her prominent family and censure by the strong anti-Catholic social network to which she belonged.  Elizabeth decided to follow the voice she heard in her heart.  Elizabeth Seton raised five children as a single parent.  She founded the American Sisters of Charity - the first religious community of women founded in the United States.  She was an educator, a social minister and a spiritual leader.  She was the first native born American citizen to be declared a Saint. .  What empowered this woman who knew the sadness of losing her husband, the physical and financial distress of raising five children as a single parent in very bad times, and the stress of starting a group of sisters and founding some of the first Catholic Schools in our country?   Elizabeth Seton took the grace of her baptism very seriously.  She must have heard a voice from heaven that said, “You are my beloved daughter,” and she listened to that voice and acted on it.  She did what every day life demanded.  She lived as we are all called to live.  She is one of thousands of heroic men and women who have built up this country by living the grace of her baptism with great faith and diligence.  The grace of baptism in each of us has the power to transform our lives and our land.  

This past year Pope Benedict gave us our latest American Saint. St. Damien lived and worked on the island of Molokai in Hawaii. He was Belgium by birth but he chose to live among the lepers who were forced into isolation on the island of Molokai because of the deadly disease they had contracted.  Damien remained on the island caring for the physical, medical and spiritual needs of the people until he also contracted leprosy.  He died of the dread disease and was buried among the poor lepers that he loved so much.  When Hawaii became a State in 1959 the people of Hawaii chose the image of Damien as one of the two statues allowed each Sate in the Statuary Hall of the US. Capital.   Why would a young man chose to travel half way around the world, leaving his family and his culture behind, to spread the good news of Jesus and to care for the needs of some of the most deserted and hurting people in the world?   Baptism is a very powerful force in our lives.  Wonderful things happen when we listen to the voice within us that proclaims: “You are my beloved son – you are my beloved daughter – in you I am well pleased.”

Most of us were baptized as babies.   Some of us were baptized because everyone in our family has been baptized for many generations.  There are times in our lives when we need to produce a baptismal certificate.  Getting married is one of those times.  But baptism is much more than a ritual, or a certificate, or even an indelible mark on the soul. Baptism is a sacred gift that makes us a child of God.  Baptism is a sacred empowerment to live good and holy lives. Baptism is the experience of God living and working in us.

What baptism does is summed up in the prayer of the great Saint, Francis of Assisi:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand;

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

May we hunger and thirst to live out our dignity as sons and daughters of God.