Jan 10th

Post date: Jan 12, 2021 4:2:42 PM

January 10, 2021 Homily by Fr. Karl Schray

“You are my beloved son; with you I am well pleased.”

This is what God the Father proclaimed when Jesus was baptized by John.

The baptism of Jesus reminds us of our own baptism.

Most of us were too young to remember our baptism

but you have all baptized your own children or seen baptisms.

St. Paul refers to this new life in his Letter to the Colossians:

“When you were baptized you were buried with Christ, and in baptism

you were also raised with Christ…you were at one time

spiritually dead…but God has now brought you to life with Christ.”

A true story may help to illustrate the new life we received in baptism:

Thor Heyerdahl was a great sea adventurer. He wrote the famous book,

Kon Tiki. Few people realize it, but he once had a deathly fear of water.

During WWII, Thor trained in Canada with the Free Norwegian Forces.

One day while canoeing down a dangerous river, the canoe capsized, and

Thor was plunged into the raging river. It occurred to him that he would

soon find out which of his parents was right about life after death.

His father believed there was, and his mother did not.

Then a strange thing happened—the words of the ‘Our Father’

popped into his head and he began to pray. A burst of energy

began to surge through his body, and he began to battle the river.

A mysterious force was helping him reach shore.

The Thor Heyerdahl who climbed out of the river was totally different than

the Thor who almost drowned. First, he no longer had a fear of water.

Secondly, he no longer had questions about God and life after death.

Baptism is not the end of a process. It is the beginning—

merely the first step. What happens after baptism is just as important

as what happens during baptism.

If you don’t follow through, it is wasted grace.

Consider the image of grafting a twig onto a tree branch.

It needs to grow and become part of the tree. If it does not, it will soon die.

The same is true of baptism. Once we are grafted into Christ,

we must grow and become part of him. But how do we do this?

We must live in union with him and keep our roots deep in him.

There are many vocations and roles in the Church.

But the most important vocation we all received at baptism is

the vocation to be disciples of Jesus. Our parents raised us

to know and love God and then make our own acts of faith.

By baptizing us, the Holy Trinity made us

“born again, born from above by water and the Holy Spirit.”

We must learn what it means to be Christian and grow into it—

this is the task of a lifetime.

Towards the end of his life, a saint was asked if he was a Christian,

he said ‘I’m still working on it. God is not finished with me yet.’

Friends, are you still working on it?

Is God finished with you yet? AMEN!