The Epiphany of the Trinity

BAPTISM OF THE LORD C

YEAR OF THE YOUTH

JANUARY 13, 2019

JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU!

So many people went to the Jordan River to listen to John the Baptist and to have themselves baptized and among them was Jesus. This is the implication of what the Gospel said today: “After all the people were baptized and Jesus also had been baptized…” They did not know that among them was the One of whom John referred to as the “One who is mightier than I is coming…” Jesus looked like everybody else. He was not shining with a halo as holy pictures depict him. He was like us in all things except sin, so would St. Paul say. He stood there, all wet as the rest of the people were. He stood there among the multitude of sinners. The sinless One stood among sinners and he did not look differently from them.

John the Baptist himself admitted that he did not know Jesus: “I did not know him, but the One who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’” And so it happened: while Jesus was praying, the Holy Spirit descended upon him in a bodily form. The Holy Spirit singled Jesus out from the rest of the drenched humanity. And the heavens opened and a voice from heaven was heard: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

The objective was simple: the event took place to reveal Jesus to all. This is why the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River is one of the 3 mysteries of the Epiphany. By descending upon Jesus, the Holy Spirit singled Jesus out. And the voice of God revealed to all who this man is: He is God’s Son, his Beloved on whom God’s pleasure rests. But by revealing Jesus, God also revealed something about himself. God revealed that He is a Trinity of Persons. The baptism at the Jordan was not only Jesus’ first public manifestation. It was also the first public revelation of the Blessed Trinity: the Son emerged from the waters, the Holy Spirit descended upon him and the Father publicly acknowledged him as his only begotten Son.

I want to preach about this because just before Christmas, the President said that the Trinity is silly. “How can one God be divided to 3 persons? That is silly! (kagalgalan; hangal)” But allow me to make clear this point: the Catholic Church did not invent the Trinity. The Trinity was revealed by God himself. The Trinity is God’s revelation of himself. The Church did not invent the Trinity. The Church simply listened to God as he revealed himself. If God did not reveal his inner life, if God did not reveal the Trinity, the Catholic Church would not have known it. And when did God reveal himself as a Trinity of persons? It was at the Baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan. For the 1^st time in the history of the world, the Blessed Trinity made himself known. It may be difficult for our human minds to grasp it but still we believe in it because God said it so. I believe in the Blessed Trinity because God said it and he does not lie. When people say that the Trinity is silly, they accuse God of lying because they question the credibility of his revelation. “Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, by not believing the testimony God has given about his Son.” (1 John 5:10) Did the Holy Spirit lie when he descended upon Jesus and single him out? The Holy Spirit does not lie because he is the Spirit of Truth. Did God the Father lie when he publicly claimed Jesus as His Son? The Father does not lie. “He has testified on behalf of his Son.” And if we want to be saved, we must accept in faith this Divine Testimony. “God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever possesses the Son has life; whoever does not possess the Son of God does not have life.”

By publicly revealing Jesus as his only begotten Son, God publicly admitted that he is Father. The Holy Spirit constantly gives us the interior witness about Jesus as God’s Son sent by the Father. Let us hold on firmly on this faith of our baptism. Remember that we were baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. This is the faith that saves us. Let us reject any insinuation that this truth is silly. God is not silly. God is not a liar.

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

The Circumcision of the Lord

SOLEMNITY OF THE MOTHER OF GOD 2018

YEAR OF THE CLERGY AND CONSECRATED PERSONS

JANUARY 1, 2018

Jesus, I trust in you!

When 8 days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus…

Our obsession with the new civil year usually deviates our attention from the liturgical significance of the 8^th day of Christmas. What do we really celebrate on this 8^th day? The Gospel tells us that on the 8^th day, the Son of Mary was circumcised and was given the name Jesus.

What is circumcision? It is the cutting off of the foreskin of a boy’s reproductive organ. In the Jewish religion, this ritual is the sign of the covenant between God and Abraham. An Israelite man bears in his body the permanent mark of his belonging not only to the chosen people but also of his belonging to God. And this mark of the covenant is found in the most intimate part of a man’s anatomy because his relationship with God is the most intimate of all human relations. The cutting off of the foreskin signified the purgation of sin. On account of the fragility of our human nature and our inclination to sin, “the circumcision on the 8^th day prefigures the complete purgation of sin on the age of the resurrection.” (Gregory Dippipo)  

Born of a woman, born under the Law

Even though Jesus was like us in all things except in sin, nevertheless he subjected himself to the circumcision. He was born of a woman and born under the law so that he may redeem those who were enslaved by the law. His name means “God saves.” He is God who saves us by taking up our human nature and by subjecting himself to the law. In his human nature, God the Son received the permanent mark of belonging to the Father. He had no sin. He is the unblemished Paschal Lamb who “ransoms those under the law so that we may receive adoption as sons.” The blood he shed in this circumcision is the “first blood” – the first of the blood that shall be shed as a ransom for us from sin. His Blood buys us from the slavery of sin so that he may adopt us as children for God. “As proof that you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a son and if a son, then also an heir, through God.”

This is the newness that he brings to us by his Incarnation. It is the newness of Divine Filiation. To those who accept him, he gave the power to be sons of God. We gave him a Mother. He gave us a Father. He assumed our humanity so that he may raise us into his Divinity. And this is depth of the new covenant in his Blood. He received the ancient mark of the circumcision so that you and I may receive the Holy Spirit’s indelible mark, the character, at Baptism. Now, we do not need to be bodily circumcised because we have received a spiritual circumcision when we were baptized. It was not only a foreskin that was cut off. The Holy Spirit abolished the misery of our fallen human nature by dwelling in us. We are no longer poor. We are rich heirs of God. This inheritance that we received is the Holy Spirit dwelling in us – the Spirit who enables us to call God: Abba!

We walk in this newness of creation. The New Year reminds us of this newness – our newness as sons and daughters of God. May we not hold on to our former slavery to sin. May we walk in the newness of the freedom of the children of God. He loved the Mother we gave him. May we love the Father he has given us.

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!  

Fount of Living Water

Praised be Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!

“The water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (Ang tubig na ibibigay ko ay magiging bukal sa loob niya, babalong, at magbibigay sa kanya ng buhay na walang hanggan.) The Samaritan woman wondered how the Lord was going to give her this living water when in fact the Lord did not even have a bucket to use to draw water from the well. Little did she realize that the Lord Jesus was not referring to the water from the well. Rather the Lord was referring to the water that would flow with his blood on Good Friday. As Moses struck the rock in Horeb and from it flowed water, so also the soldier would strike the side of our Lord and from his wounded side would flow blood and water. This water would be the life-giving water of Baptism.

We all know water as a life-giving element. All living creatures need water to survive. But seldom do we think of water as an agent of death…and yet the evidences are all around us…Yolanda and Ondoy are some of the names that would remind us that water, being an agent of life, can also be an agent of death. And the waters of Baptism inflict on us both death and life. St. Paul said that all who are baptized are buried together with Christ. Baptism gives us all a share in the death of the Lord. The old Adam dies and is buried in the waters of baptism. But this is so in order that we may receive the Holy Spirit. St. Paul says that we are buried with Christ so that the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead will raise us up together with him. We are buried in Christ in order to rise with him. The Old Adam dies so that we might rise up as a new creation.   

The miracle of death and life in the sacrament of Baptism is made possible by the Holy Spirit whom we receive through the saving waters. The waters of Baptism are called life giving waters because they are Spirit-filled. Being Spirit-filled, the baptismal waters give life because the Holy Spirit is Lord and Giver of Life. The waters of Baptism give to us the Holy Spirit, the Giver of Life. Thus, St. Paul says:  “The love of God has been poured upon us through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” As baptismal water is poured, so the Holy Spirit is given to us. And the Holy Spirit gives life.

Thus, we should not take Baptism for granted. It is not just a social ritual that our children have to pass through in order conform to social norms. Baptism is rebirth by water and the Spirit. He who does not receive the Holy Spirit is spiritually dead because he has not received the Breath of Life from the Giver of Life. And the life that he gives is eternal life. The baptismal water is the “spring of water welling up unto eternal life.” Baptism is the door of eternal life. No one can enter into the Kingdom of God unless he be born of water and the Holy Spirit. Thus, we should be grateful for being baptized. Also, we should never procrastinate the baptism of our children. Like the Samaritan woman, we should eagerly ask the Lord: “Sir, give me this water…” I want this eternal life for myself. I want my children to have it too. Allow us to draw water constantly from this fount of salvation. We know for ourselves that truly, you are the Savior of the world!

Jesus, I trust in you! O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

And His Clothing Became White

Praised be Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!

On the mountain of the temptations, Satan challenged the Lord Jesus to prove that he is the Son of God. However, by refusing to display his divine power, Jesus did not give in to the seductions of the tempter. On another mountain, what Jesus refused to display to Satan, he revealed to his disciples Peter, James, and John. “He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light.” The glory that Jesus showed these disciples was his glory as God’s only begotten Son…full of grace and truth. The Father was not at all ashamed to declare who Jesus truly is: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him!

As we continue to look at the Baptismal character of Lent, let us reflect on the white baptismal garment. The gospel spoke about the clothes of Jesus becoming white as light. We will appreciate the meaning of the baptismal garment if we keep in mind that when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, the first thing they realized is that they were naked. Nakedness means deprivation of dignity. A person who is dishonored is stripped of his dignity. Nakedness brings shame. Thus, in the parable of the prodigal son, the father commands that his son be given the finest robe at his return. His prodigal son received back the dignity he lost to loosed living.

Jesus, the Son of God, was clothed with a white garment. In Sacred Scriptures, a white garment indicated that the person wearing it came from heaven. Thus, the angels who appeared at the tomb of Jesus and also at his ascension would wear white garments. Jesus’ white garment revealed that he is the Son of Man who came from heaven: No one ascends to heaven except the one who descended from heaven…the Son of Man who is from heaven. Jesus, who is clothed with unsurpassable light in heaven, emptied himself of that glory when he came down to earth to save us. On the Cross, he hung stripped of his garments. He was humiliated…exposed not only to the elements but also to the mockery of the passersby. And this he did so that you and I would be restored to the dignity which the evil one took away from Adam and Eve on the day they ate the forbidden fruit. The Son of God stripped himself of heavenly dignity so that he could share it to those who will be baptized. He made us sons and daughters of his Father by the sacrament of Baptism. “He saved us and called us to a holy life…according to his own design and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began…” Our baptismal dignity is a heavenly dignity. It means that we belong not to this earth but to heaven. Our true home is in heaven, St. Paul would later on say. In the book of Revelations, the souls of the just in heaven would be shown wearing their robes which were washed clean by the Blood of the Lamb.

“Ang damit pambinyag ay tanda ng muling pagsilang kay Kristo at ng dakilang karangalan ng mga anak ng Diyos. Nawa’y panatilihin niya itong walang bahid hanggang sa muling pagbabalik ni Kristong ating Panginoon.” With these words we were clothed in white on the day we were baptized. Let us always keep in mind who we really are: we are sons and daughters of God. Let us live as such. Let us live lives worthy of our Christian vocation. Remember, we are not children of darkness. We are children of light and of the day. Let us shun deeds of darkness and live as children of light.

Jesus, I trust in you! O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Like the Column of Fire, He Goes before us.

Christ is baptized to make the water holy

Praised be Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

John the Baptist hesitated to baptize Jesus when the Lord came to him at the river Jordan. He said: “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me.” However, the Lord insisted because “it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Why would the Holy One desire baptism? Wasn’t John’s Baptism a baptism of repentance? How could the Lord Jesus desire to be baptized when in fact, he had no sin to repent for? St. Maximus of Turin gives this answer: “Christ is baptized, not to be made holy by the water, but to make the water holy, and by his cleansing to purify the waters which he touched. For the consecration of Christ involves a more significant consecration of the water. For when the Savior is washed, all water for our baptism is made clean, purified at its source for the dispensing of baptismal grace to the people of future ages. Christ is the first to be baptized, then, so that Christians will follow after him with confidence.” St. Maximus looked back at the story of the crossing of the Israelites on the Red Sea. The people of Israel followed a column of fire that went before them through the Red Sea. The column first went through the waters to prepare a path for those who followed.

“… in the column of fire [Christ] he went through the sea before the sons of Israel; so now, in the column of his body, he goes through baptism before the Christian people. At the time of the Exodus the column provided light for the people who followed; now it gives light to the hearts of believers. Then it made a firm pathway through the waters; now it strengthens the footsteps of faith in the bath of baptism.” But Christ went before us not only through the ceremonial waters of the River Jordan. The Lord kept referring to a Baptism that he had to receive and this Baptism would be the baptism of his death. The waters of baptism do not simply refer to the cleansing of sin. It primarily refers to death and resurrection. His immersion in the waters of the Jordan was symbolic of what he would later on do: he would cross the waters of death in order to pass from this world to his Father. By doing so, he will obtain for us forgiveness of sins and also our adoption as children of God by sending the Holy Spirit to us through our own baptism. The mystery of the Cross continues to loom over Christ. This time the shadow of the Cross hovers over the waters of the Jordan. The Cross makes sacred the waters. The Cross gives to us the Spirit-filled waters of baptism. Had Jesus not died on the Cross, the Baptismal water would remain to be ordinary, natural water…without power to save. It would be nothing more than a mere symbol of repentance and nothing more. It is the death of Jesus on the Cross that sends the Holy Spirit upon the Baptismal water. Thus, the Spirit-filled waters of Baptism are able to wash away original sin and bring about our adoption as sons and daughters of God. Jesus Christ was anointed by God with the Holy Spirit and power. He is the one who sends the Holy Spirit to us. He heals all of us who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him.

Jesus, I trust in you. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. 

Baptism of Christ

He who was anointed with the Holy Spirit and power, stood unrecognized among the many who went to the Jordan to be baptized. We praise your humility. We praise your meekness. Glory to you, O Lord!

The Sinless among sinners; the Pure One among the defiled. You, the purifying fire which is never quenched. You, the fire that purifies the waters. We praise your power. We praise your purity. Glory to you, O Lord.

Water is defiled when we immerse in it. But it was purified when the Lord Jesus descended into the waters. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Glory to you, O Lord!

He, the meek and humble One, descended into the waters and further descended into the waters of suffering and death. We descend into the waters with him. Like sheep led to the slaughter, we follow the Lamb wherever he goes. Glory to you, O Lord!

Descending into the Waters of Suffering and Death

Praised be Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!

“God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and power” – so declared St. Peter as he explained the significance of the Baptism of the Lord in the river Jordan. To be anointed means to be endowed with every authority in the heavens and on earth. At his baptism, the Lord Jesus was revealed as the one filled with the Holy Spirit and power, the one who, according to St. John the Baptist, is “mightier than I …He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” And His power and authority comes from the fact that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. The Father himself testified on his account: “You are my beloved Son, with you I am very well pleased!” Here is God’s chosen One with whom He is pleased, upon whom God has placed his Spirit.

However, his power is unlike anything that the world has known. He exercises his authority in a way the world has not seen before. For while the rulers of this world lord it over their subordinates, the power of Christ is gentle and mild: “He shall bring forth justice to the nations, not crying out, not making his voice heard in the streets” (Mahinahon at banayad kung siya’y magsalita, ni hindi magtataas ang kanyang tinig). In fact, his gentle rule is one that is filled with mercy: “A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench…” (Ang marupok na tambo’y hindi babaliin, ilaw na aandap-andap di niya papatayin). On account of his gentleness, he stood unrecognized among those who went to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. He stood unrecognized until the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove and the Father in heaven made his solemn declaration. In this way, the Lord Jesus reveals the path he wishes his Church to take: the way of gentleness. “Learn from me for I am meek and gentle of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

The path that the Lord reveals to us makes following him in a very secular society much challenging and difficult.  Christ’s gentleness makes it easy for his enemies to malign him, ignore his laws, and persecute his followers. Sometimes, we even complain to the Lord why he made it so difficult for us to struggle for his kingdom on earth. How difficult is it to proclaim the Gospel with a gentle voice (not crying out, not making his voice heard in the streets) to a world that easily drowns this voice with the noises that it makes. How difficult is it to preach of Christ’s authority to a world that scoffs at it and underestimates it.

And yet, it is this path of gentleness that the Church must take if she is to follow him who descended into the waters of the Jordan and further descended into the baptism of suffering and death. We follow the Lamb like sheep led to the slaughter. We who descend into the waters of baptism descend with Christ into his death and burial. Difficult as it may be, we nevertheless descend with him into the waters of suffering and death for he is the One called “for the victory of justice…set (you) as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations…” We follow him through this difficult path for he is Lord of all and there is no other. He, the meek and humble One, invites us to follow him and learn from him. He assures us that this is the right and only path: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth…Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”

Jesus, I trust in you. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!