We have arrived at the “nugget day” or In Brief section for the paragraphs examining the nature of the Father in the Trinity. Fr. Mike reiterates some of the “nuggets” of wisdom from these past few days. He emphasizes the importance of how Baptism allows us to share in the life of the Holy Trinity. We conclude this section with a reflection on this profound call to share in the glory of the Trinity even though it exists “in the obscurity of faith.” Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 261-267.
St. Genesius of Rome (d. 303 AD) was a renowned actor and playwright, the leader of a popular acting troupe during the reign of Emperor Diocletian. When the Emperor was killing Christians, Genesius wrote plays to mock them and expose their secret rites to ridicule. To research for a play mocking baptism, he went to a priest pretending to desire the sacraments and was fully instructed as a catechumen. Genesius prepared his play and instructed the other actors in their parts. On performance day the Emperor was present. Genesius played the lead character seeking baptism, and the rite was performed in such a ludicrous manner that all present laughed. As the water was poured over Genesius’ head by an actor playing the priest’s part, Genesius saw a vision of the heavens opened and the hand of God touching him. He also saw an angel who showed him that his many sins had been washed away through the valid baptism he had just received. At that moment Genesius’ heart was changed by the Holy Spirit and he believed in the truth of Christianity. At the conclusion of the play Genesius boldly declared his new faith, recounting how he had been a scoffer until that moment. He implored the audience, including the Emperor, to follow Christ. The crowd thought this was part of the performance, but once they understood it was real, Genesius was seized. The Emperor, furious, subjected him to cruel tortures daily to make him renounce his faith in Christ. Genesius staunchly refused and was beheaded. The Christians collected his body and buried him with the other martyrs. St. Genesius is the patron saint of comedians, dancers, actors, musicians, printers, and torture victims. His feast day is August 25th.
Today, Holy Mother Church celebrates the Solemnity of Pentecost which is when the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles. It’s also the birthday of the Church. Now, let me ask you a question. When did you first receive the Holy Spirit? At Baptism. Remember, when I baptize you, it is done in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When is the next time you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit? At Confession. After that? Holy Communion. Now, you may be thinking, “You also receive the Holy Spirit at Confirmation.” Yeah, you do. You receive Jesus, and you receive God the Father. That 3 in 1 and 1 in 3 thing. You receive the fullness of the Spirit. In each Sacrament, you receive the whole God.
The Sacraments are given for different purposes depending on your particular mission in the Body of Christ. At Baptism, you were given the gift of God Himself. In each Sacrament, you get the gift of the whole God…not just a slice of Him. You get the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Baptism, Christ asked for, and you, through your parents, gave Him your human nature. The human nature He took from Mary in the body He was born with, taught with, healed with, suffered with, and redeemed us with is now in Heaven. So, how does He continue His mission to teach, heal, and sanctify the world? It goes on through us by living a good Catholic life. In whatever part of the Body of Christ He has assigned us, we work for His glory and the salvation of souls. So, if you are in hell, you are a self- made man.
Christ takes our human nature at Baptism, so, we are part of His new body which is the Church. Each of us has a place in the body of Christ to do the work of bringing Him to the world. Through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, He helps us accomplish that mission. There are seven gifts (wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord) and 12 fruits (charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, long-suffering, humility, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, and chastity). The whole purpose of giving us the Holy Spirit through the Sacraments is to bring God’s love to the world and to make that love manifest in whatever part of the Body we are in. The graces of the Holy Spirit strengthen us so that we can carry out that mission.
Part of my job as a priest is working at the veterans’ hospital in Hospice. Hospice is a part of the hospital where people who are very sick and in the last six months of their lives are cared for by specially trained doctors and nurses. They have all sorts of terrible diseases. We had one patient who had Progressive Supranuclear Palsy which is a rare disease that the patient contracted while working as a doctor in Vietnam. His brain turned into jelly, and there is no treatment. It’s so sad. The hospice staff try to make their patients as comfortable and pain-free as possible. A few years ago, there was a nice area with a kitchen and dining room where hospice patients could come out of their rooms and eat together. Other veterans from across the hospital would come down and have lunch with them. It was so much fun to laugh and talk with them. I would pick up trays and do whatever I could for them. You know what a sign of God’s love looks like? There was a hospice patient at the luncheon who couldn’t feed himself…he was that sick. Another man who, after this incident died about two weeks later, was also at the luncheon. But, instead of eating his own lunch, he spent that time feeding the patient who couldn’t feed himself. One would think that if you’re dying, it would be all about you. But, this is what God’s love looks like. This was an act of the Holy Spirit. The staff would have fed that patient, but he did it. He didn’t have to do it, but he wanted to. He made sure that man ate before he did. That is a sign of the Holy Spirit in action and God’s love is in the world.
Another thing they have done in Hospice, and hopefully will do again once COVID is over, is that when veterans are actively dying and don’t have family members there, volunteers come and sit with them all night and all day so that they don’t have to die alone. Usually, the veterans are very old and don’t have anybody. But, a veteran should never die alone. In the military, you never leave a fallen comrade. I’ve always thought that this is a sign of Christ, along with their guardian angel, being with them as they leave this life. You see the love of Christ in those volunteers. They don’t need to teach us…their actions teach us everything. It’s all through the promptings of the Holy Spirit who moves and works within us – not always the way want; otherwise, I’d be a monsignor!
I’ll tell you a story about the nursing staff. Don’t let this get back to them. World War II veterans are very old, and when they are nearing the time of their passing, all of the memories of what they had to do during the war come back. Mine will come back too when it’s my time. It’s just part of what we went through. It comes back for a lot of the men who saw combat. Many times, it was their wives who helped them keep it all together, and if their wives are no longer with them, it’s a real hardship for them. I remember this one man who was in his nineties and about to leave us asked the nurse if she would hold his hand until he fell asleep. The memories had come back, and his wife had done that for him. That’s not in any nurse’s job description. But, she sacrificed her own time to sit with that man while he faced his nightmares. I’ve sat with veterans as they were passing from this life…that’s what we do. We offer spontaneous acts of love. I’ve seen you do it. Your acts of generosity are acts of the Holy Spirit. You are showing Christ’s love. If you ask anyone why they do it, they would probably say that they don’t know, but it felt like the right thing to do. Do they get paid for it? No. It was just the right thing to do. These are the actions of the Holy Spirit using our human natures to show Christ’s love to the world. But, so that we can repeat these acts of love, we must be refreshed in the Holy Spirit by frequently participating in the Sacrament of Penance and Holy Communion.
What is so beautiful about these acts of love is that you do it without thinking. It’s just a normal response. You don’t stop and think about what you should or shouldn’t do…you just do it. That’s the action of the Holy Spirit letting the Spirit work in you to bring the love of Christ to the world. And, believe it or not, someone will see and be taught God’s word simply through your acts of love
How will you apply this message to your life? Refresh yourself in the Holy Spirit by frequently participating in the Sacrament of Penance and Holy Communion
You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to https://annunciationcatholicalbemarle.com/ and clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” and then “Sermon Notes.” From a cell phone, click on “Blog” then “Menu” and then “Categories” (located at the end of page). There is also a search box if you are looking for a specific topic.
Ever wonder why holy water is so widely used in parishes around the world? Find out here.
Holy water is so customary for Catholics that we sometimes don’t question why the Church uses it or the significance behind it. We most commonly use holy water when we walk into church and dip our fingers into a font to bless ourselves.
So what does holy water actually do, and why is it important?
Holy water is one of the Church’s most essential sacramentals. It’s blessed by God through a priest, with a rite of blessing that includes prayers of exorcism. This blessing elevates the water to a sacramental that helps us receive God’s grace when used faithfully. Not only is holy water used to give grace to God’s children, it is also used to help defend us in spiritual warfare.
Because of its power, holy water is used in almost every sacrament. For instance, in the Sacrament of Baptism, the priest pours holy water over an infant’s or new convert’s head. Holy water is also used for Anointing of the Sick. In weddings, the priest uses holy water to bless the couple’s rings. At funerals, the priest sprinkles holy water over the deceased person’s coffin.
So how can we truly appreciate holy water and enjoy the benefits of it? By incorporating it into our daily lives.
In addition to using holy water to bless ourselves when we enter a parish, we should also use it to bless our homes, our families, our work spaces, and anything that you use with the goal of glorifying God in your daily life.
It seems to me that the more someone tries to grow spiritually, the more he or she struggles to embrace in a healthy way the unworthiness we all share. Teresa of Ávila counsels us: “Humility is truth.” Jesus counsels us not to bury our talents or hide our light. Are we unworthy of God’s love and infinite blessings? Yes. But that is only half the picture; the other half is that
human beings are amazing and God loves us beyond comprehension.
I’ve had a number of people ask me when the Christmas season ends. Well, when I was young, it was when my mother could no longer stand the pine needles on the carpet…and everything went away…including the tinsel, one piece at a time. Technically, this weekend is the end of the Christmas season. However, we will use all of the poinsettias, gifts of love by people in the Church, for as long as we can. Then we will put them into an adoption program. Some are ready to be adopted now…they are right outside the door.
Today’s gospel takes me back to my seminary days. In seminary, they have transitional deacons, one I thought I knew well. This particular deacon chose to proclaim the gospel in front of the Archbishop and televised to people in Boston. These are called Snow White and the seven dwarfs. So, the deacon gets up and says, “Jesus was baptized in the John by the Jordan.” Okay! Deacons did not proclaim the gospel anymore after that. That deacon actually became a priest and a good one. I bet he got it when he went back to the seminary.
In today’s scripture, like any parent, our good Lord shows us what to do to gain salvation. He came to identify with the sinful man and to associate Himself with us by being baptized. When people came to John before they were baptized, they had not confessed their sins. Jesus did not confess any sins…He had none, because He is God. This is why John said, “I need to be baptized by You, not You by me. But, Christ insisted and said, “No, you must do this.” Everything that happens in our lives, our Lord has experienced before, and He identifies with us. Our sicknesses and our illnesses He identifies with and experienced. He took all the pain and sufferings to the cross. When He cured people; what did He do? He sighed and He groaned, as He took upon Himself all of the sickness from all time. Everything we have experienced, Jesus experienced it before. Does Jesus know our sufferings? Yes…a bad back from carrying His cross; anxiety and mental illness from the crown of thorns gripping into His skull; bad eyesight from the blood and sweat streaming down and stinging His eyes; and death on the cross. He experienced everything.
Jesus came to save sinners. We accept baptism to begin our walk with Him. After His baptism, Christ began His public ministry. We, too, must begin our public ministry by virtue of our baptism in Jesus. We come to Him to begin our walk with Him in faith and baptism. Did He need baptism? No. But, like a good parent He showed us how to do it. When I was a young child, I was sick and had to take some yucky medicine. Of course, I didn’t want to take it. My father said, “Nothing to it. Come on, this is great!” He took the medicine first and said, “See, it’s not bad.” So I said, “Well if it’s not that bad, I’ll do it.” Did my father need the medicine? No. He wasn’t sick, I was, but he took the medicine to show me it wasn’t that bad. It’s the same with teaching kids to eat vegetables like cucumbers. Before we can be baptized, we have to admit that we have sin. For children, that is original sin and afterward the sins committed in their lives. After baptism, we may think, “Hey, I got an ‘A’ , I’m baptized, I’m good! Well, it’s a good start. We have to express a need for God. But, if you have no sins, there is no need for baptism, and you don’t need communion, because, Who do you receive in Holy Communion? You receive the Savior…the Redeemer. What does He save and redeem us from? Our sins. But, really, if you don’t have any sins, you don’t need to be here; please leave but after the collection.
A couple of points…the first and only time that God and the Holy Spirit, a manifestation of the Trinity, was ever in the form of a dove was at the baptism of Christ. Remember, when He came down the road from Pentecost, it was in the form of wind. In our Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, I invoke the Holy Spirit over the elements and put my hands out flat over them. In the Eastern Rite of the Church, they take the chalice veil and wave it back and forth. The dove was used also in the New Testament in Leviticus during the presentation of our Lord at the Temple when Mary offered a pair of turtle doves, an offering by the poor, for His redemption. Doves are a symbol of the Holy Spirit.
At our Lord’s baptism, He proclaimed that He had another baptism to undergo and how He wished it was already over, because He couldn’t wait to bestow the gifts of love upon His children. He wanted to achieve the goal for which He came; the goal of love which was to open the gates of Heaven; and giving us the means of salvation. It wasn’t that He was looking forward to His Passion and death in the human sense; instead, He wanted to share the fruits of His gifts with us. We are baptized in one baptism and on earth in our conversion. We, too, are looking forward to our 2nd baptism when we are with our Lord and baptized by His blood. One day, when we face our final cross, our baptism will be complete. Most of us will share His passion; the pure anguish He suffered…maybe not the exact physical ailments ….thank God for medicine – but the pure anguish that He endured. Remember, He said, “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?” Did He really think God had abandoned Him? For Jesus, it was a metaphor. Yet, it expresses how we feel when we are very sick and feel neglected. When we are passing from this world, it feels like God has abandoned us. But, we will be strengthened by receiving the fruits of Jesus’ 2nd baptism in the Sacraments. As much as we share in Christ’s suffering, we also share in His glory.
How will you apply this message to your life? Are you ready to share in His Passion?
The Bible in a Year with Fr. Mike Schmitz – Day 154: The Baptism of Jesus. As we begin reading the Gospel of Mark, Fr. Mike points out several amazing details about the baptism of Jesus, as well as the significance of the healing of the paralytic. The readings are Mark 1-2 and Psalm 11. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children – parental discretion is advised.
Fr. Mike elaborates on the significance of the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River. He points out that the location of the Jordan River is particularly noteworthy because it’s the same river that Joshua crossed over to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land, signifying that Jesus will bring about a new exodus. Additionally, it’s the lowest spot on the planet, symbolizing Jesus’ humility. Finally, Fr. Mike emphasizes that when we are baptized, we are adopted as beloved sons and daughters of God because what belongs to Jesus by his nature is given to us by God’s grace. Today we read Luke 3-5 and Proverbs 25:27-28.
