(The following homily was given by Bishop Paul S. Loverde during the Mass for the Baptism of the Lord celebrated at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington, Virginia on Jan. 11.)
What was the most significant day in your life and mine? Some would say, “the day I was born”; others, “the day I was married”; still others, “the day I held my newborn child.” You might expect me to say “the day I was ordained.” Yes, all these days were significant, in fact, very significant. But, no one of these was the most significant for you and me as followers of Christ. The most significant day in the life of a Christian is the day of baptism.
On that day, something marvelous and awesome happened to each of us. On that day, we were born again, becoming sons and daughters of God and receiving for the first time His very life within us " divine grace. On that day, we were consecrated to God, belonging to Him in a special way and were commissioned to be and to live like Jesus Christ: To be a light to the nations and to do good and to heal all those oppressed by the evil one. Yes, on the day of our Baptism, God the Father said to each of us: “You are my beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
The rest of our lives after baptism is intended to be a living out of what was begun in us at Baptism: A life of following Christ closely and of growing into deeper union with Him day by day. Every vocation is a specific way to fulfill our baptismal consecration and to become in that very vocation truly holy.
On this Sunday when we relive in our liturgy the Baptism of the Lord, we are being invited to recall our own baptism and to recommit ourselves to living more faithfully as God's sons and daughters.
We are aware that we are to be good examples to those around us. We rejoice that in our midst today four persons are seeking to be baptized and four others are seeking full communion with us in the Catholic Church or are completing their preparation for Christian initiation. We pledge to these catechumens and candidates our prayer-filled support and our willingness to become ever more, clear witnesses to them of authentic Christian living, day in and day out.
We continue to raise our voices in prayer for more priests and religious to serve our people here in the diocese and beyond in this new century. As we observe this week, National Vocations Awareness Week, we beg the Lord to send more laborers into His harvest and we promise to encourage vocations to the priesthood and the religious life.
Yes, as we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord, we recommit ourselves to what was begun " and still continues " on that most significant day in our lives: the day of our baptism. Rightly do we echo the words we prayed earlier: “Keep us, your children born of water and the Spirit, faithful to our calling.”
