When we look at today’s gospel, we can see an interesting phrase that should challenge us. First, let us look at the scene. John is baptizing. His Baptism was not what we do today for he had a baptism of repentance. In other words, Jews, who had already received their circumcision, but had strayed from the right road, were coming to John, hearing his preaching, and returning to their faithfulness to God. So John is giving what we would call a revival meeting, and his baptism is the equivalent of the altar call.
The reason why our baptism is different is because we have a baptism of commitment. Baptism is not a return to our life in Christ, it is the beginning of our life in Christ. John’s baptism is closer to our Sacrament of Reconciliation, where one repents and turns to God’s agent for the healing power of the sacrament.
I said at the beginning there is a turn of the phrase that we must notice. It is this:
When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees
coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers!
Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.
John is castigating the pharisees and the sadducees because they have demonstrated they are not interested in a change of heart. They showed up to be baptized and here he says, just showing up is not enough, there is action that must be taken, action that bears fruit.
Take that as a warning. We too must look at that and see where it applies in our life. What are we doing to further the mission of the parish and the Church? Notice what John asks, what is the fruit of your repentance. Well, what is the fruit of ours? It is a question we need to ask, and maybe the question needs to be, what action are we taking in the first place?
What actions are you taking, because of your faith, outside of Church. I learned for example, that as a priest, I cannot just be a priest and celebrate mass. I must also engage in prayer. I am required by a couple organizations with which I am affiliated, specifically the Fraternity of Priests and Canção Nova, to do a holy hour and pray the rosary. These devotions are an essential part of my ability to be a priest, without them, I cannot serve you well.
The Pope has said it as well in his latest encyclical: Without prolonged moments of adoration, of prayerful encounter with the word, of sincere conversation with the Lord, our work easily becomes meaningless; we lose energy as a result of weariness and difficulties, and our fervor dies out. (Evangelii Gaudium 262)
In preparing preparing for this homily, I learned that St. John Vianney, who is also known as the Curé D’Ars, did many acts of penance in order to bring to fruition his desire for holiness of his people. This is what St. John the Baptist is addressing.
The pharisees and the sadduccees are just focused on themselves, they have no desire in seeing the salvation of the sinners about them. We cannot be like them. We must take action to bring holiness to fruition. We must be people of prayer and penance in a way that leads not only to our own transformation, but that of the world around us.We need people who will pray for the parish, who will pray for the youth, who will pray for the elders, the apostates etc. We need people to pray for those estranged from the Church for one reason or the other. We need people who will even make acts of penance to bring to fruition the work of the Holy Spirit in this parish.
When I first came here, I asked everyone to pray the parish prayer, I make that request again. For those who do not do this, and I know many already do, I am going to invite you to begin a regular devotion of the Rosary or some regular devotion that as an act of prayer seeks to bring to fruition our desires for holiness for ourselves and others. I am going to invite you to do acts of penance as well that are offered up as a form of prayer to bring others to Christ and strengthen our mission for the salvation of souls in Christ. The traditional method of no meat on Friday is not only an interesting idea it also supports the local sea based economy as we know and again I invite you to be praying the parish prayer.
For those who hear those words and say we are going back. No we are not going back, we are going forward seeking to be led by the Holy Spirit. But the Spirit of Vatican II is to engage the culture and we cannot do that if we are not rooted in prayer and penance for it is in those actions that we grow stronger in our service for Christ.
Our mission is the salvation of souls and we have a job to do and a parish to build, neither of which can happen if we are not engaged in prayer and penance. Lent is a time to pray for our own conversion, but the rest of the year we can do acts of prayer and penance to pray for the conversion and holiness of others. Prayer and acts of penance have an important place in our lives and in the battle for souls that we engage in from the front lines.I know many people here do pray the rosary among other things and I strongly encourage it. We need strong devotions among ourselves to bring the Holy Spirit’s great power in our midst. Our seeking to turn from sin and grow in holiness is a powerful first step and our desire to bring holiness to our parishes is another step. Let us do acts of prayer and penance so that our parish will bear much fruit for Christ in the coming year.
God bless you,
Fr. Robert J Carr
