A sermon on the Baptism of Jesus
By Fr. Mike Paraniuk
St. Mary Catholic Church
St. Benignus Catholic Church
St. Mary Queen of Heaven
and Holy Trinity Catholic Church
I knew this could happen. I went into sheer panic mode when it did. Did I receive unexpected bad news about my health? No. Did someone break into my bank account and take all my money? No. (There's not much to steal anyways.) Did a tragedy occur in my family? No.
So, what made me panic? I lost my key fob! Without that little transmitter, I could not unlock the car, start the engine or drive it. I had a spare fob, but it was sitting in a drawer 40 miles away. How can I get to my Saturday Mass in West Union? I did not want to impose on a parishioner to drive an 80-mile round trip from Hillsboro to Batavia. I was stuck.
Armed with a flashlight I braved the cold Friday night, diligently looking for the fob. I figured it must have fallen out of my pocket. I retraced my steps from the house to the car, searching the ground. No fob found.
I knew it wasn't in the car because it remained locked. I searched the ground around the car. No fob found. After searching for an hour in the 20-degree night, I didn't find it. I sat on my porch steps, dejected, trying to figure out where I haven't looked.
Then, the thought hit me, "look under the car." I knelt on the wet, soggy lawn to get far enough away to peer under the car with my flashlight. My artificial knees hurt so bad as I knelt in the mud. But the pain was worth it. I found the fob. It was located right in the middle of the car just like Murphy's law said it would be. "Anything that goes underneath a car will go to the furthest point away from where you can reach it."
The fob must have fallen out of my pocket onto the cement driveway. Unknowingly, I kicked it underneath the car. Peace returned after I caught it with my grabber stick.
My experience with the key fob made me realize how Jesus is the key to everything good in my life. As I needed that key fob to unlock my car, I need Jesus to unlock for me all God's Blessings from Heaven.
St Paul wrote, "All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ." (Eph. 1:3.)
When John baptized Jesus, Luke says, "Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, then heaven was opened." St. Mark wrote, heaven "split apart."
Jesus came for baptism not because He was a sinner but because He needed every grace from His Father to journey to the cross. Jesus prayed for Divine help to obey His Father. The Father "opened Heaven," pouring forth such powerful graces upon Jesus that the Holy Spirit took the bodily form of a dove.
On our journey back to God we, like Jesus, need all of God's graces to pour into our souls. Your faith in Jesus is the key that will open Heaven to all the graces the Father wants for you.
"Grace is God's hand reaching down to us, loaded with blessings from Heaven. Faith is your hand reaching up and taking those blessings from God's hand." This is so beautiful.
Now we must ask, "What are the spiritual blessings that God wants you to have?"
1) You become a friend of God. Your well-being is as important to Him as it is to you.
2) God adopts you into His family. "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus." (Gal. 3:26.) Like the song from the movie "Oliver" says, "Consider yourself at home. Consider yourself one of the family." You belong to God.
3) As God's family member, you become an heir. You are in His Will. God wills you to live forever. As my body grows older and doesn't work like it used to, this becomes more important to me every day.
4) You have direct access to God. There was one request that always brought my father and I closer together, "Dad, I need your help." He was there for me. So is the Heavenly Father. "For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, 'Fear not, I am the one who helps you.'” (Isaiah 41:13.) One of my earliest memories is my father holding my hand when I was afraid.
5) Peace of mind in all situations. I love the Jewish word for peace, "Shalom." Shalom describes the "realm where chaos is not allowed to enter" (Hanson, 347). Jesus is that place.
There is a funny story about a preacher's wife who asked her husband how his wedding ceremony went. The preacher said, "Well, it was going great until I got to the part where I ask the bride if she was willing to obey her husband. She said, 'Do you think I'm nuts?' and the groom lost his place in the ceremony and said, 'I do,' and it went downhill fast from there."
God simply asks that you trust Him enough to obey what he wants for you. Believe and receive. Happy New year.