What we celebrate today is not an event frozen in time but rather a mystery that seeks to quench our every thirst. What we celebrate is the baptism of Jesus Christ. The baptism of Jesus has and continues to have a ripple effect upon countless generations of believers and so Christ’s baptism is our baptism. In baptism each of us has entered into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which enables and empowers us to live out our particular call to holiness. It is from our baptism that our vocation in life flows forth quenching the thirst that each of us has with regard to how we should live our lives and for what particular purpose.
We would do well to remember that when we were baptized we were clothed in a robe of righteousness. This robe of righteousness that we wear is drenched in divinity, the very holiness of God. This robe makes of us a priestly people, set apart by God for good works, so that God our Father may be glorified and that our fellow man and woman may come to participate in the knowledge that surpasses all understanding.
Immersed in the waters of baptism both you and I have emerged soaking wet, dripping everywhere the very mystery that we have become. What is that mystery? Simply put: We have become by grace what Jesus Christ is by nature, namely a child of the living God. As adopted children of God through our union with Jesus Christ in our Trinitarian baptism each of us have been given a mission like that of Jesus. This mission is what we speak of as a vocation.
A vocation is a calling, not a choosing. We do not choose a vocation, we respond to it. A vocation is a gift; it is the way in which we are able to respond to the need for personal holiness that God has planted deeply within the soil of our souls. Each vocation is a calling to bear fruit that will provide nourishment for the whole Christian community.
Each of us has been divinely willed into existence and though God does not need any of us he has willed to need us in the plan of salvation. Our vocation is not for us alone, rather we must be good stewards of our calling. Each of us has a calling from God, each of our vocations serve as a piece of the overall puzzle of salvation. As we surrender to our vocation in life, the picture that is present within the puzzle of salvation becomes overwhelmingly clear to such an extent that others are awestruck by the beauty of God’s plan of salvation.
The central vocation of any Christian will always be ‘to love’. From this central vocation comes more specific vocations such as the Priesthood, Marriage, the Consecrated life and the Single state. As Catholics led by the Holy Spirit we will find ourselves answering God’s call to love in one of these ways. Just as in Baptism we entered into the life, death and resurrection of Christ so too we can expect our vocation to love to be branded by this same life, death and resurrection and so sometimes the waters of baptism will turn out to be challenging. So when the waters of baptism rock the boat what is our response as faithful followers of Christ going to look like?
We could be like Jonah who when asked to preach a difficult message to the Ninevites fled in the opposite direction or we could trust in the assurance of Scripture, which teaches us that “God qualifies those whom he calls, rather than calling those who are qualified”, or in the words of Gerard Manley Hopkins: “The will of God will never take us anywhere that the grace of God will not sustain us.”
The Chalice at Mass contains the will of God. When we gather to celebrate the Eucharist it is the ultimate acceptance of God’s will that we celebrate. The Eucharist is the pinnacle of mature Christian prayer uttered to the Father in complete surrender. Each time we pray the Our Father we say in humble submission: “Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” In praying these words we are welcoming the will of God in our lives by acknowledging that God is calling us to a specific task. We are a people who submit our lives to God in the sure and certain hope that he is the lover of souls, the one whose wishes for us are greater than the ones we have for ourselves.
Our response therefore as followers of Christ to the challenges of our baptismal calling must always be our frequent recourse to the Eucharist, which completes, strengthens and renews our baptismal life of grace. Today as we approach the Eucharist in celebration of Christ’s humble act of solidarity with sinful humanity through his baptism let us recommit ourselves to living out in faithfulness and love the vocation that God has for each of us no matter what the cost.
No comments:
Post a Comment