ON BEING BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST (1)

ON BEING BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST (1)

Romans 6:3-4

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.

Be in your prayer space, follow the usual steps and settle into silence.

Take a couple of gentle, slow and deep breaths…becoming aware of your breath going in and out… stay focused on this breath of life……

Breathe in all that is of God and from God…all that is true, honest, pure, admirable, noble, decent, virtuous, worthy of praise, good, loving, kind – all that deserves respect..

Breathe out all that is not of God and from God……..

Settle into silence, into peacefulness, into profound silence, into pure joy. Keep listening in quietness, stillness and serenity.

Come to that place, that space within, that place of deep silence – Solitude…to just being here and now, without having to accomplish something.

Now I invite you to consecrate your time and all that come with this moment….in your own way, in humble, simple, may be even inadequate words………..

Now from the depth of your heart begin to wish your mind well……….

As deformed by sin, violence and war, the shape of this world will pass away. We are offered the hope that God is preparing a new dwelling place and a new earth where God’s justice and peace meet, embrace and abide……… and the blessedness that comes from this transformed world will surpass all the longings for peace which spring up in the human heart.

Abide in these thoughts for some time

A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan. When Jesus stepped forward to be baptized, he thereby affirmed his solidarity with us sinners in a public way. He became for us God-with-us-sinners, in the flesh. His conception, his birth, his life and work with Mary and Joseph, his struggle with human weakness, his friendship with people including his enemies, all of which proclaimed his solidarity with us sinful men and women.

Jesus wished to be completely in solidarity with us and so stepped into the Jordan river with self-admitted sinners to be baptized by John, to be immersed into all that is human and all that is divine, of God and from God.

Our baptism brings us into solidarity with Christ and with him into solidarity with all people of God as brothers and sisters.

As Jesus was being baptized, he was Identified and affirmed as the beloved son of God and empowered with the Holy Spirit. This is what happens at our own baptism. We are identified and affirmed as “sons of God” and empowered with the Holy Spirit to live as sons of God and to fulfill the mission entrusted to us.

To be identified as “Sons of God” means to be immersed into the very likeness of God, to be immersed into the mystery of God’s life and love……… that the sons inherit the characteristics and qualities of the father. This is what it means to be sons of God….to be immersed into the character of God, to be identified with the image of God, to be called and named to image God.

The servant songs of the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 42, 49, 50, 52) celebrate the character of the servant of God who suffered and died for the sake of truth and justice. They also give us a vision of the character of every baptized person, the disciples of Jesus today.

When the servant songs were first composed, it was Israel who was to see its identity and purpose described therein. Israel was called, named, identified, chosen and sent so that other nations will come to know God’s salvation, justice and peace.

In Baptism we are immersed into the mystery of love, God’s love. We are washed clean, given a clean garment, a lighted candle and anointed priest, prophet and king….all symbolizing our character….an indelible character!!!

We are identified, named, chosen and sent to be symbols of God’s “salvation, justice and peace” for the world. Just as other nations came to know God’s salvation, justice and peace through Israel, today the world must experience the salvation, justice and peace of God through us and our church and our church institutions……..

Abide in these thoughts for some time

Israel was to be the sacrament of solidarity that God intended for all people. This unity, solidarity was to be accomplished by the establishment of justice on earth…..not merely “distributive justice”, one that metes out same measure to everyone, but a “substantive justice”, one that is attentive to “the full enhancement of human life”….one that would touch all aspects of human interactions and social institutions.

Today, we, God’s people, the church, the body of Christ must be and become the symbol, the sacrament of God’s salvation, justice and peace.

Justice has to do with right relationships…right ordering of all relationships. Justice is a whole network of relationships and not just “same measure to everyone”. The basis of justice for Israel was the nations covenant with God. The basis of justice for us is our covenant with God….our baptism, our immersion into God’s life and love.

Israelites were to father the fatherless, mother the motherless, welcome the strangers, feed the travelers and show hospitality to resident aliens…not only because the outsider and the orphan deserved it, but because this was the manner in which God cared for Israel. They were to reflect the character of God….they were to give to others what God gave them….they were to act toward one another as God had acted toward them.

Their justice was supposed to be justice NOT of humankind, but the justice of God…the practice of justice was an expression of covenantal love, God’s love as well as their own. This is the kind of justice we are called to practice….giving others what God gave us, acting toward others the way God has acted toward us, loving others the way God has loved us, “love one another as I have loved you” was the command Jesus gave his disciples…….

Jesus came to save and liberate us from sin, but he also came to liberate us from all other forms of enslavement as well: sickness, poverty, injustice, corruption, inequality, etc. Jesus, in his words and works, taught us that salvation and liberation are not simply otherworldly realities; rather, they are to shape our human experience now. Jesus did not merely promise heaven when you die; on the contrary, he demanded that through the sharing of the rich with the poor, there be daily bread on the table, here and now.

He was not merely a reformer but a liberator. He came to liberate us from all binding and oppressive forces and restore us to our dignity as sons of God. This agenda of Jesus is the mission of the church, his body. The motivation for all our efforts at justice and liberation is that we are one body; we share one baptism; we are all given to drink of the same Sprit; we, though many, are one; we, though with different social status, different ethnicity, different gifts, different functions, are all one body in Christ. It is this very oneness that must move us to action, for, when one of the members of the body of Christ suffers, all are affected. Therefore, each of us is responsible for the freedom and dignity of all of us.

Abide in these thoughts for some time

This is my prayer for you today:

May you continue to be remarkable signs of hope!

May you fearlessly dream, speak, stand and work for justice and peace!

May you make no peace with oppression, injustice, violence or war!

May you strive to be shining witnesses of reconciliation, harmony and peace!

May you reach across boundaries and barriers to form community with all people!

And may God who has loved you without measure fill you with blessings and grace and the experience of the joyful communion of the saints of God……..

Abide in this prayer for some time

Fr. Gus Tharappel,msfs