DEACON TOM ANTHONY

Monday, January 14, 2013


THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD

From the Baptism of the Lord we are encouraged to recall our own baptism and the implications it brings to us today. Through baptism we become members of the Church and a child of God. Original Sin is washed away and we are orientated towards God. We are recognized, singled out, and claimed for Christ. What a beautiful though this becomes. Our God recognizes us and folds us into his arms. We are important to him and he loves us. We are then presented with a challenge: are we going to ignore this love or return it in full. This can cause some great reflection because there are many times in our lives when we all do in fact ignore that love and take it for granted. That is our human nature and it is hard to overcome. Not only is God ignored but the love given to us by our families, friends, and ever ourselves have been taken for granted over the course of our lives.
It can be argued that a great amount of time and energy is dedicated to burning bridges and repairing them in a cycle of sin, betrayal, and disappointment. We are encouraged by society to pursue selfish goals while ignoring what is most important in our lives: God, community, family, and friends. Jesus called his disciples friends and we are encouraged to call everyone within our community the same. We are further encouraged to treat all those whom we encounter and relate with as friends; even our enemies. We are told to rise above the accepted norms in society and refuse to participate in adversity. In the end, we need to surrender ourselves to love as Christ did for us. We cannot accept what is practiced by those who do not embrace the ideals set forth in scripture. This leads to divisive behavior and conduct that leads to a blurring of morality and what is truly important. What is truly important is Jesus Christ and the message he brings into this world. It is a message of change and a message of love.
Christ delivered his message without violence and adversity. We must live our lives the same way with this message in mind. Imagine ourselves being one of Christ’s disciples. That is what we became when we were baptized. As we live our lives, this is slowly revealed to us. Of course, we did not react to it immediately. Some of us were too young while others among us did not realize what we truly had until later in life. We have this opportunity now to participate in our birthright.
Envision that it is us being baptized in the Jordan and the implications that event has for us. How are we going to react to this? We can embrace it or we can ignore it. Ignoring it means that we continue our lives without the realizing our faith journey while embracing it opens the doors to salvation.
Deacon Tom

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