FEAST OF THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD
Sermon of Welcome to all the babies and their families who were
baptized during the past year
My dear sisters and brothers:
What a joy and
a privilege it is to welcome you today. How beautiful it is to see the
church filled with life and love as our children come to be blessed
today. The Lord is beaming from ear to ear as He sees His church filled
with babies and children, bottles, cheerios and pampers (a little
different from the odor of incense, but nice!)
As this
powerful Gospel of the Lord's Baptism is proclaimed I know that it is
the prayer of each parent that what was said of Jesus by the Father will
be said of each of your children: This is my beloved Son (daughter) in
whom I am well pleased. Listen to him (her)!
We know that
they are the beloved of God. They have been given to you to be formed in
the little "church," the school of love in your home. And, if they
are formed and molded into another Christ, they will have a great
deal to say. They will speak to the world by the integrity of their
lives and proclaim the message of hope and salvation that is Jesus
Christ! St. Francis said to the brothers: "Preach the Gospel always and
sometimes even use words!"
But how do
parents form their children to become other Christs? If we look back to
last Sunday, the Feast of the Epiphany, the Three Kings teach us much by
the deep symbolism and mystery of the three gifts they present to the
Christ Child. They encourage you to give these same gifts to your
children-who are the Christ Child for you.
They
presented the gift of gold.
In other words they gave
the kid some money-an "aboosta" as we Italians would say. How practical!
They understood that a child needs a roof over its head, food on the
table, education, medical coverage, all the things a child needs to grow
up healthy and strong.
I am in such
awe and admiration of you parents and how hard you work to take care of
your children. You work and sacrifice to make sure that they have
everything they need. How holy and sacred your work is. What a sacrament
of love! All that you do is in reality the gift of gold given to the
Christ Child-your child. How precious and how holy your gift is.
Parents need to
be reminded by the Church of how holy they are and what a powerful and
wonderful thing they do as they care for their families. When a parent
opens his/her heart to the Lord and learns to make each moment of their
work a gift of love to the Christ Child, their home and their labor become
their means of sanctity, peace and contentment.
As they give the
gift of gold to their Christ Child, they become much more sensitive
to the Christ Child, as He lives in children all over the world who
suffer from hunger, cold, abuse and war. As parents hold their Christ
Child in their arms and cuddle Him they pray for the others who are not
cuddled and loved and pledge that they will do all they can to aid the
children in their community who are cold and hungry.
The Magi
presented the Christ Child with the gift of frankincense.
They acknowledge that the
child is divine. Their gift was offered in adoration of the Son of God.
Parents have to remember
that their Christ child has the divine within him/her. Their child is made
in the image and likeness of God. As important as all the physical things
they do for their children, more important are the spiritual. How sad it
is when parents find themselves overwhelmed and exhausted and unable or
unwilling to form Christ in their children.
Parents must
give their Christ child the gift of frankincense.
They must give their
children their faith, hope and love. Their little church has to be the
place where their little ones experience the presence and the love of
Christ in the daily life and liturgy of a loving home.
If parents don't
give their children faith in God then what do all the sacrifices and hard
work mean in the long run? No one else can take the place of a parent in
being the role model of what it means to believe, to hope and to love.
Children deserve to be given Someone in whom to believe, to hope and to
trust, Someone who will be there for them always. How they deserve to
possess the treasure of all treasures. Let us not deprive them of Him who
gives meaning to our life and to all we are and all we do.
The Three
Kings presented the gift of myrrh to the Christ Child.
They reminded Him and His
parents that someday He would die and that myrrh would be used to anoint
His body for burial. A stark gift, indeed!
We celebrate,
live and enjoy life in a special kind of way as a Christians. Life and its
gifts are not ends, but the means to God. We find God and praise Him in
all things. We use things to praise and worship Him, not ourselves.
Myrrh has a lot
to do with living with integrity, justice, honesty and charity. It is a
life lived in harmony and peace with our God, ourselves and all people. It
is a life of true purity and transparency where there are no hidden
agendas or dark secrets. It is a life that is lived in the light of
Christ's love.
This kind of
living in the spirit of the myrrh does something marvelous. We begin to
create our destiny here on earth. We create heaven here by our love and
fidelity. When we close our eyes to go home we find it very familiar
there. He for whom we have yearned has been at our side all along the
journey. We have traveled and seen Him as we have loved and been loved.
I recently said
the funeral mass of one of the Lord’s little humble servants, Aunt Fannie.
I said in the sermon that when Aunt Fannie closed her eyes in death she
opened them and saw the smiling face of Jesus, He said, "Welcome home,
Fannie. It's so good to see you." Aunt Fannie said, "Is it you Jesus?"
He said "Yes, Aunt Fannie." "Where am I?" she asked. "Why Aunt Fannie,
you're in heaven!" "O Jesus, I'm so happy." She said, "It looks just
like Deer Park!" Jesus smiled and said to her: "That's right! You created
heaven on earth by being such a loving wife to Nunzio. You were such a
good and loving mom to your five children. Your grandchildren adore you
because your home was filled with gentleness, fun, the aroma of delicious
food cooking and most of all, love. Heaven up here is just like the one
you created ~ the place of love."
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