Homily for Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

In the year 2000 a 12-year old boy named Billy Gilman sang a beautiful song “One Voice”. The lyrics that resonate with me are: “we need some help down here on earth; a thousand prayers, a million words but one voice was heard.”

This week, while praying with this Gospel and preparing this homily, I was drawn to the voice. The Holy Spirit has such a way of guiding us. As I wondered how to make this relevant I, like millions of Americans, witnessed the story of Ted Williams this week. No, not the great baseball star; the Ted Williams I refer to is a homeless man from Cleveland, Ohio. This week, he wrote on his sign that he had a God-given talent; his voice. Luckily for Ted, a local TV news crew saw the sign and challenged him, with film rolling, to prove it. And prove it he did. As he took a microphone from the reporter Ted began to do some voice over material and the reporter was amazed. He ran the story locally and had it placed on the internet on YouTube. The rest is history! Ted has received many outstanding job offers, including a paycheck and a place to live. Even the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers have offered him a job. And he made the rounds this week on every national TV network. Most amazingly, his voice has led to his reunion with his 90 year old mom and has allowed Ted a national forum to express his faith in God, even when he was at his lowest.

One Voice was heard!

As people of faith, are we listening to that One Voice? Do we hear God in our everyday lives?

At this Feast of the Baptism of the Lord we reach the end of the Christmas season. We fast forward quite a bit don’t we, from last weeks amazing Epiphany, as the Magi visit the Holy Family and the Child Jesus, to His Baptism, which Scripture records, occurred at the start of the public ministry of Jesus; about the time He would be 30 years old. And here again, just like we witnessed back in Advent, Jesus and John are together again. John is baptizing in the Jordan; his is a baptism of repentance. John was baptizing sinners. And along comes Jesus. In this Gospel, Matthew emphasizes the dialogue between Jesus and John where John realizes that Jesus is sinless as he tries to prevent him from being baptized. Gently, Jesus says allow it now; we are fulfilling all righteousness.

And then we read that the heavens open, the Spirit descends like a dove and One Voice is heard. It is the Voice of God the Father. “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

This moment in time, these verses from Matthew should be a source of great joy for us here in our home parish. For the Most Holy Trinity, whose name we bear and who we worship, is here, in a particular way, the Father, speaking from heaven, the Spirit descending and Jesus, the Son, fulfilling all righteousness.

This wonderful event, celebrated one week after the Epiphany, stands as a sign for all people of every time and every place that Jesus is the Son of God, Jesus is our Savior.

How can we celebrate this great feast and keep it alive in the week ahead? Perhaps we can live more fully the promises of our own Baptism. These promises, answered by others on our behalf, we repeat every year: we reject Satan and sin and profess our faith in God the Father, Jesus Christ His Son and the Holy Spirit!

For all us, that means that we must be the light of Christ for others each and every day. By our lives and the graces we receive in our own Baptism, we become the voice and the hands and the feet of Jesus. This could mean we respond generously to the needs of the poor and needy among us or we may just need to lift the spirits of those around us. Remember, as Jesus goes into the Jordan, He goes where sinners go; he interacts with sinners. These people would be the least loveable among us. Jesus gives us the example that by our Baptism, we must go where others won’t go. We must serve those who others will not serve. And we are called to be Christ the light to members of our own family. We can use this feast to reconcile with someone, to begin praying more frequently as family, or maybe just spend more time together as family.

You know at each and every one of our own Baptisms, One Voice was heard. In his own divine way, as each of us was reborn anew in Christ and His Church, the voice of the Father could be heard and He indeed He was well pleased. As every child of God is reborn in Christ, He indeed is pleased and the Most Holy Trinity is present.

Ted Williams found his voice this week in ways he could have never imagined.

And Billy Gilman concludes his song: Thanks for the help, down here on Earth; a thousand prayers a million words but One Voice was heard; one voice was heard!