Your mission Jim, if you choose to accept it is…here we can
mention almost any impossible mission.
Then came the warning: should you be captured or killed we will disavow
any knowledge of your existence. This
tape will self-destruct in five seconds.
Sure enough, the tape would blow up in a ball of fire and smoke. This was the original mission
impossible. Yes, for our younger crowd,
this was a TV show long before Tom Cruise would star in the movies with the
same title: Mission Impossible!
I guess there are many missions in our life that may seem
impossible but in truth, are very possible.
Sure they may require a plan and plenty of hard work but our mission
could be to change jobs or start a new career, to apply for college or succeed
in school or perhaps to one day find “mr.”or “mrs.”right.
Businesses and non-profits today employ mission statements
to set direction for their goals. We
here at Most Holy Trinity Parish, have a mission statement too. It’s on every bulletin we pick up week after
week. Our mission statement is: “We are
committed to be a prayerful and welcoming Christ-centered faith community
united in the belief that God is the source of all. As disciples of Jesus Christ we seek a deeper
and more personal relationship with God in sharing the gifts that He has
entrusted to us by offering them in service to others.” That is our mission
statement. What is yours?
As people of faith we are called to fulfill our mission
through our Baptism; and it is not a “mission impossible”. It is very possible.
Today’s great Feast gives us plenty to consider. Today is indeed the last day of our Christmas
season. Today we hear that Jesus was
baptized and we may pause to ask a difficult theological question: why? Today we may reflect on our own Baptism or
that of our children, grandchildren and God-children. Let’s consider the Gospel of the Baptism of
Jesus. This event in the life of Christ
is detailed in all three of the Synoptic Gospels and comes after we celebrate
the Epiphany. It is as if we fast
forward some 30 years in the life of Christ.
Yet this celebration of His Baptism, along with the Epiphany and next
week’s reading of the Wedding Feast in Cana, make up what the Church calls the
manifestation of Jesus Christ. In these
3 weeks we embrace that Jesus came forward for all peoples, He had, and has, a
real mission as the God-man and He comes to obediently do the will of the
Father.
Let’s answer the question posed earlier; did Jesus need to
be baptized? The answer of course is no
because we all know that Christ is always and forever sinless. Yet he allowed Himself to be baptized so we
may follow him and do what He did. And
He did this so that God the Father could reveal Jesus as His beloved Son in
whom the Father is well pleased. And
this occurs as the Holy Spirit is present so here, at the Baptism of the Lord,
we have the manifestation of the Most Holy Trinity.
Today is indeed an excellent day to recall our own
Baptism. Now for most of us this may
prove to be most difficult as we were very young and it may have been quite a
long time ago. Some of you may have been
fortunate enough to have captured a family baptism on video. In any event, today is a great day to speak
of Baptism. Jesus was baptized with
water; we too are baptized with water.
John the Baptist reminds us that Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit; we
too are baptized with the Holy Spirit.
Jesus was anointed as Priest, Prophet and King; we too are anointed with
the holy oil of chrism as priest, prophet and king.
When we are baptized the adults present, parents and
God-parents, are asked to declare the name given the child, as Jesus’ name was
declared at the presentation in the Temple, and they declare that, on behalf of
that child, they desire Baptism. In
addition to the pouring of water and the anointing with oil, the child is presented
a white garment, to remember to remain pure, and a lighted candle, to be a
light; reflecting the light of Christ to all they encounter. Baptism is an indelible mark. If we are baptized into the faith of the
Catholic Church, we also have been given a mission. This mission, if we choose to fulfill it in
our life, makes all things possible. We,
for our part, grow in a deeper more personal relationship with Him (remember our
mission statement) and we offer our service to others by sharing that which He
shared with us (again, that mission statement).
As we recall Baptism today, saying farewell to this
Christmas season, may I offer some suggestions to live out our own
Baptism? For this Year of Faith and
Family, what additional devotional have I committed to follow? As a member of our parish family, do I attend
Adoration and Benediction when offered on 1st Friday’s? As a Catholic, do I make myself available for
faith programs like the study of the Creed, here at MHT every Tuesday
evening? What am I doing to give greater
witness in my community; food bank volunteer, Habitat, service to a neighbor or
relative in need? Am I a more loving
husband, wife, mother, father, son, daughter, brother, sister and friend?
Am I living my Baptismal promises? Do I recall them? Please stand with me and answer these
promises made for us at our Baptism by others and now declared by us for
ourselves and our Church:
Do you reject sin so as to live in the freedom of God’s
children?
Do you refuse the glamor of evil, and refuse to be mastered
by sin?
Do you reject Satan, father of sin and prince of darkness?
Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of
heaven and earth?
Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord, who
was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died and was buried, rose from the
dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father?
Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church,
the communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body
and life everlasting?
This is our faith.
This is the faith of the Church.
We are proud to profess it, in Christ Jesus our Lord!
This too is our mission; far from a mission impossible, a
mission in which you will never be disavowed or forgotten, a mission that never
will self-destruct. It is a mission, we
fulfill because of our Baptism, to share those gifts entrusted to us by God, in
service to others!
Mission Possible!
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