Baptismal Pilgrimage with the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:30-35)

There are certain readings in Scripture that encapsulate the Sacramental Life Jesus Christ instituted in His Holy Catholic Church. I believe this reading from Luke is one of those readings. It encapsulates the Sacrament of Baptism in a very particular way that enables us to spiritually enter into the full mystery that we are about to experience.

Let's take a quick review of the characters in this parable. Each of us have been in the role of the victim, prior to our Baptism. We had been robbed of original dignity by the father of lies and left to an existence without the life of grace. But Baptism restores this dignity and births us into the life of grace, it births us into the Sacramental Life of the Church. These children are our victim today.

The Good Samaritan, as you might imagine, is Jesus. He anoints the victim with oil and wine (the wine representing the Sacraments of Initiation which are Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist). He bandages the wounds of the victim (the bandages representing the Christian dignity that comes with Sacramental birth). Today, as we celebrate this Sacrament, Jesus will anoint these children with two different oils. The first is the oil of catechumens, which is used for the anointment of spiritual protection. The other is the Sacred Chrism, which is used for the anointment into the three-fold mission of Christ as priest, prophet, and king. Between the two anointings, of course, is the Baptism itself, where these children will be reborn through water and the Spirit. The bandages in the parable are represented by the white baptismal garments, which these children are already wearing.

In the parable, the Good Samaritan takes the victim to the Inn and asks the Innkeeper to take care of the victim until he returns. Many don't realize this, but the Inn is the Catholic Church and the Innkeeper is the Pope, echoing the three-fold instruction of Jesus to Peter in the Gospel of John to tend to and feed His sheep until He returns at His second coming.

Today, we will mystically retrace the steps of the of the Good Samaritan. Every well-designed Church has the baptismal font at the main entrance. The idea is that through Baptism, we are born into the Sacramental Life of the Church. Once the Baptism at the font is complete, we will do for these children that which the Good Samaritan did for the victim. We will carry them to the altar, just as the Good Samaritan carried the victim to the Inn.

Once at the altar, we will follow the model of Scripture as it relates to the infancy of Jesus. In accord with Jewish tradition, Mary and Joseph presented Jesus to God at the Temple. The Catholic Church has preserved this ancient and Sacred tradition. At the altar, not only will we present these children to God, entrusting them to His care that they may be fortified by the Sacraments of the Holy Catholic Church for the rest of their lives, but we will also give the parents a special blessing, just as Mary received a special blessing from the Temple priests.

Let us begin our spiritual pilgrimage with the Good Samaritan.

True Enmity: Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Gn 3:9-15; Ps 130:1-8; 2Cor 4:13-5:1; Mk 3:20-35)

Every time I read Genesis Chapter 3, or hear it read at Mass, one word always jumps out at me.  I hope this word jumps out at you as well.  That word is enmity!

Enmity has a special significance in the apostolic traditions of our faith, going back 2,000 years, and even back thousands of years earlier when you start to trace it back in to the Jewish roots of Catholicism.  But, outside of the handful of times we encounter the word enmity in Scripture, it isn’t a word that we have a whole lot of exposure to…particularly from the perspective of our daily vocabulary.

The Webster dictionary defines enmity as “active and mutual hatred or ill will.”  But this definition falls well short of the true context of what enmity really means in light of salvation history and our spiritual lives.  

The secular sense of the word enmity is based on the circumstances of the moment.  It is conditional as the moment passes.  That means it is temporary, or to borrow a word Saint Paul used in the epistle, it is transitory.

It is only natural that watered down definitions of key words that we use to describe our theology will lead to confusion and misunderstanding as it relates to the core dogmas of the Christian faith; including the dogmas referenced in our readings today:  the Immaculate Conception of Mary and the indivisible nature of the Kingdom of God, which is truly the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.  The Church, as Saint Paul described in the epistle, is built by God, not by human hands, but eternal in heaven.

With this eternal perspective in mind, what can we truly say about the word enmity?  To keep it simple, we can say the opposition of enmity is absolute, irrevocable, and ultimately complete.  This is what makes the revelation of the Immaculate Conception of Mary so very powerful and so very relevant to our spiritual lives and ultimately our salvation.

At the moment of her conception, Mary received a special and unique charism from God.  It was a return, if you will, to the original innocence humanity enjoyed before the great fall.  It was a return to a state of being where humanity did not know sin, and humanity did not have a fallen nature.  It was a return to a state of being where humanity was everything Satan is not; particularly, in full and perfect communion with God.

Ultimately, Mary’s gift was gift of full conformity to the Love of Christ.  From the very moment of her conception, Mary was completely ordered to Christ in every aspect of her being.

While it is fitting that Mary received this special grace that enabled her to fully live out her unique vocation as the mother of God, we must remember that we too are called to be completely ordered to Christ in every aspect of our being.  Or, as it states in the Catechism, ‘every action done so as to cling to God in communion of holiness, and thus achieve blessedness’.  Those who die in communion of holiness with God and are perfectly purified (perfectly purified meaning completely ordered to Christ), will live with Christ for ever in heaven.  It is this state of absolute holiness that constitutes the true context of what it means to be in enmity with Satan.

We may wonder how we can ever truly experience enmity with Satan if Mary required this one-time charism from God.  Mary’s Immaculate Conception is truly incredible, but God has given us a similar, incredible gift.  Saint Paul references this reality in the epistle.  He says the ‘grace bestowed in abundance on more and more people causing The Thanksgiving to overflow for the glory of God.”  That word Thanksgiving, “The Thanksgiving”, is a direct reference to the Eucharist, or Eucharistia (εὐχαριστία), in the first century Greek that Paul used to write his letters to the Corinthians.

Brothers and Sisters, all of this points to an irrefutable, objective Truth that we are obligated to believe as Christians.  The Eucharist and the other six Sacraments Jesus Christ instituted in the Catholic Church are actions of the Holy Spirit, just as the Immaculate Conception of Mary was an action of the Holy Spirit.  Each Sacrament is a movement of Grace that has as its goal total conformity to the Love of Christ and participation in His divine nature.

Living the Sacramental Life of the Church, as instituted by Jesus Christ, truly is the narrow path of salvation.  The Sacramental Life of the Church is the critical means of God’s plan to enable us to live a life of enmity with Satan and to become completely ordered to Christ in every aspect of our being…to truly live a life that is happy, joyous, and free through the total and absolute conformity to the Love of Christ.  

Please know of my prayers for you to continue to grow in the sacramental life of the Church and to allow yourself to be more deeply conformed to the Love of Christ.  Let us walk this journey of faith together on the narrow path of salvation as we trudge the road of happy destiny.  And together, may we come to more fully realize that what was true in the beginning is true for all eternity:  God promised Mary would have enmity with Satan.  What God promised to Mary, He offers to all of us through the Sacraments of His Holy Catholic Church.  The true holiness that consists of enmity with Satan and conformity to the Love of Christ is the challenge, the privilege, and the reward of being authentically, thoroughly, and unapologetically Catholic.  Thanks be to God!

Act of Entrustment and Consecration of Deacons to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

 Immaculate Mother,

in this place of grace,

called together by the love of your Son Jesus

the Eternal Servant, I,

a son in the Son and His deacon,

consecrate myself to your maternal Heart,

in order to carry out faithfully the Father’s Will.

I am mindful that, without Jesus,

I can do nothing good 

and that only through Him, with Him and in Him,

will I be an instrument of salvation

for the world.

Bride of the Holy Spirit,

obtain for me the inestimable gift

of transformation in Christ.

Through the same power of the Spirit that

overshadowed you,

making you the Mother of the Saviour,

help me to bring Christ your Son

to birth in myself too.

May the Church

be thus renewed by deacons who are holy,

deacons transfigured by the grace of Him

Who makes all things new.

Enable me to be an example of this grace.

Mother of Mercy,

it was your Son Jesus who called me

to become like Him:

light of the world and salt of the earth.

Help me,

through your powerful intercession,

never to fall short of this sublime vocation of the diaconate,

nor to give way to my selfishness,

to the allurements of the world

and to the wiles of the Evil One.

Preserve me with your purity,

guard me with your humility

and enfold me with your maternal love

that is reflected in so many souls

consecrated to you,

who have become for me my

true spiritual mother.

Mother of the Church,

obtain for me the grace to be a true servant

who does not serve myself

but rather give myself to God for His children,

finding my happiness in this.

Not only with my words, but with my very life,

I want to repeat humbly,

day after day,

my “here I am” and my “let it be done to me according to your word”.

Guided by You,

I want to be an Apostle

of the Flame of Love,

glad to assist at the celebration of

the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar as often as possible,

proclaiming the Gospel joyfully, 

marking the hours of each day and 

sanctifying the day with prayer,

and facilitating communion in the Church through

my service to the least of my brothers and sisters.

Advocate and Mediatrix of grace,

you who are fully immersed

in the one universal mediation of Christ,

invoke upon me, from God,

a heart completely renewed

that loves God with all its strength

and serves mankind as you did.

Repeat to the Lord

your efficacious word:

“They have no wine”,

so that the Father and the Son will send upon me

a new outpouring of

the Holy Spirit.

Full of wonder and gratitude

at your continuing presence in our midst,

in the name of all deacons

I too want to cry out:

“Why is this granted me,

that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

Our Mother for all time,

do not tire of accompanying me,

consoling me, sustaining me.

Come to my aid

and deliver me from every danger

that threatens me.

With this act of entrustment and consecration,

I wish to welcome you

more deeply, more radically,

for ever and totally

into my human and clerical life.

Let your presence cause new blooms to burst forth

in the desert of my loneliness,

let it cause the sun to shine on my darkness,

let it restore calm after the tempest,

so that all mankind shall see the salvation

of the Lord,

Who has the name and the face of Jesus,

Who is reflected in my heart,

for ever united to yours!

Amen

(Adapted from Pope Benedict XVI)