Homily

Were the baptisms of John the same as the baptisms done by the apostles which we read about in the book of Acts?

I know that sometimes people get confused about the baptisms performed by St. John the Baptist in the Jordan River for the remission of sins. Here is how St. John Chrysostom explains it:

"Since the Victim had not yet been offered and the Holy Spirit had not yet descended, of what kind was this remission of sins?. . . . Fittingly therefore, when he had said that he came 'preaching the baptism of repentance,' he adds, 'for the remission of sins;' meaning that he persuaded them to repent of their sins, so that later they might more easily receive pardon through believing in Christ, because unless they were brought to it by repentance, they would not seek for pardon. His baptism served no other purpose than as a preparation for belief in Christ."

John the Baptist's baptisms were not sacramental, they could not pardon sins, nor did they impart the divine life and sanctifying grace to those he baptized. They were for preparation.

I read in the paper a few days ago that we had the driest calendar year here in this area in recorded history. But in a certain sense this area and indeed not just this area but the whole world is extremely dry, not because of lack of rainfall or water, but because of a lack of grace. It is a spiritual dryness that exists not because the Lord refused to rain down His grace upon the world, but because, using Chrysostom's idea, there is not a great deal of repentance so there is not much of an opening for pardon and grace to come down upon the dry places, for grace would simply roll off the lives of those who were not prepared to receive it.

There are several reasons for the dryness that characterizes the spiritual state of so many people in the world. Some people are just ignorant of Christ, they do not know Him and so they cannot believe in Him, much like the people John baptized. Then there are those who know Him but they reject Him, much like the scribes, Pharisees and priests of St. John's time did. Then there are those who do not reject Christ, they simply neglect Him, and they give Him little place in their daily lives. All three of these attitudes or conditions create the spiritual dryness we can see all around us, all the time, but it is a dryness that most people do not understand. People feel the thirst, but they may not understand why they are thirsty, and even for those who do know why, they look for other solutions. It's not surprising then that because of ignorance, or neglect, or rejection of grace that people turn to so many unsatisfying and sometimes even gravely evil means to satisfy their thirst, to water the dryness in their lives. It may be that the situation grows even worse for us because so many people in our society have been taught or raised with the idea that they alone can decide what is good or bad for themselves or for others and there is no higher or more perfect guide to life than their own personal opinion (and maybe stuff they read on Facebook). People would know they do not have the skill or knowledge to fly a plane, or do brain surgery, or create the power of cold fusion, but they feel extraordinarily expert at and capable of deciding for themselves what is good for them and what is bad. And for some people no matter how badly their choices and actions come back to hurt them and/or others, they cannot accept, or will not accept any authority greater than themselves and they add sand to a desert already too dry.

John was a voice crying out in the desert, calling to all those who would listen to repent of their sins and redirect their lives back onto the path that God had called them to walk on. Is there a voice crying out to people in our own modern day desert? Of course. It is the voice of Christ Himself which calls out through His Church, calling out to people of every kind, in every place, to ask forgiveness of sins and experience the freedom of absolution, and calling them to refresh their souls in divine grace. The Baptist's voice only covered a small area, but the voice of Christ, in His church, calls out in every corner of the globe with the invitation to freedom and divine life, calling to parched souls not only to show them the truth, but also to provide them with the means to live in that truth.

This past Christmas I heard the confession of a man who is not a parishioner, but had carried a heavy burden of sin for 13 years. He made his confession along with some strong resolutions to get his life back to where he knows God wants him to be. This past Christmas Eve, I heard the confession of a man who fell away from the Church over 50 years ago. He was absolved and he received Holy Communion for the first time in half a century. He told me it was one of the best days of his life and how happy he was to be back inside the Church. Parched souls, living in the desert come to the source of living waters to find life once again in Christ's Church.

But they did not return to grace all on their own. Other people helped them along, members of Christ's Church, either directly or indirectly by their words, good examples, prayers, faithfulness--by living and acting as people who seek the grace of God in their own lives and aren't afraid to share it with others, or to help others find it, or find it once again. They share refreshing grace with those who are thirsty and dissatisfied because they are happy to help others join them in the fullness of life in Christ. They are you. You are the primary way in which the Lord, through His Church, brings water to the desert. The more you give, the more you receive, for there are no limits on the amount of grace that can be taken in because the source of those waters is the Lord Himself.

On such a foggy morning where water is even dripping off the bare tree branches it might seem strange to be talking about dryness, and yet we know that we also have some dry spots in our own hearts that have not yet been healed or watered because we are sinners and we have our own weaknesses. And yet one of the great ways to overcome our own dryness is to reach out to others as a part of Christ's Church and call them by prayer, words and deeds to join us in the oasis of Life.