If we look carefully at history, we can note that if Jesus never came, our current way of life would have been radically different. There is no question that this one person, whom we recognize as both fully human and fully divine changed the course of history completely.

If we can look at when this process began, we can actually say it was  at Jesus’ baptism. It was there that He began his public ministry, which was at a time in which everything that was considered stable. The Roman Empire was at its height, the Temple was the center of Jewish life and the monotheism of that faith was well established in Judah and beyond.

Pope Benedict XVI says that Jesus was baptized in a process that is the beginning of his pilgrimage to the cross. It is here that he takes upon himself the fullness of human sin by taking upon the role of sinner in obedience to the Father. He humbles Himself before his cousin John and allows himself to be recognized as sin, although He had no sin at all.

But you will notice in the gospel that John makes a distinction between his baptism, which was a symbolic action of repentance and that of Jesus which is baptism of purification. It is a baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire.

It is fascinating because there are several biblical images that we connect with the Holy Spirit and one is fire, which we see here. There John warns that the Christ’s action will be a purifying one that separates the wheat from the chaff. He says that He will baptize in the Holy Spirit and fire.

If you look through the bible at when fire appears, you see that it appears in two ways. One in the normal course of the use of fire, but the other as a purifying action from God. The most common form is describing our pilgrimage through life as what at times can be like a purifying fire that  melts away the impurities of gold leaving it to be the purest and most valuable element. Over and over again in the bible we see the term used as a form of the destruction of that which is impure and untrue leaving nothing but the most pure and the most valuable. In some cases,  all that existed was the impure and untrue leaving nothing. My favorite line from the Old Testament is in Sirach chapter 2 which begins with: “My son when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trials, for it is in fire that gold is tested and worthy men in the crucible of humiliation.”

His baptism will be one, as John says, that will separate those who choose to be in the kingdom of God and those who choose to reject God’s kingdom embracing that  of the world. There will no longer be a middle ground. He is calling us to be either open to Him and His Spirit or we reject the whole process and find ourselves outside of the promise of salvation. We will see throughout the year this vast separation between those who enter the process through their seeking Christ and those who walk away from it and are never seen again. You and I have the option to seek the group we want to enter. It can be a difficult road to seek to enter the purifying process, but it is the only road to holiness. If you want pure gold you have to put it in the fire, otherwise your gold is worthless and may be nothing more than iron pyrite.

When John warns of this baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire and calls us to be open to where the Lord is leading us and being ready to whatever he must dole out to his to make us purer, holier and freer from that which is not God. It is a slow but effective process that works.

You will clearly see this process at work in the readings for this year. You will see those who will who harden their hearts and then vanish from the scene and there are those who enter Christ’s circle and become new men and women in Christ.

However, in either case, if  you look carefully at this reading, you see the atmosphere of expectation, something is coming, the world is changing and the people see themselves as witnesses to what is to come for better for ill.

This purification process began so long ago, but it continues today. If you look carefully in our world, you are beginning to see a hostility to our faith, the likes of which we have not seen in our country since the days of the more rampant KKK. There is a petition at the White House calling for the US to identify the Catholic Church as a hate organization and each of us as haters. This may upset some, but if you look at it from another position you will see that is part of the division. Those who choose to be on the wrong side of the promise of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire will join with those who seek to silence the voice of God in the Kingdom of the world. It is just the latest manifestation of the process that began at Christ’s baptism and continues today.

This is a week as we begin the first week of Ordinary time for 2013 to begin to ask ourselves, are we allowing ourselves to be baptized by the Holy Spirit and fire. Are we allowing ourselves to be purified by Holy Spirit and to become freer from those worldly things that cheapen our humanity. Our we willing to allow Christ to enter our lives, our families and our parish asking him to do what He must to make us more precious than fire-tried gold. Or are we holding back choosing to have no place in this process.

During the Crisis in  the Church, I publically called for us as Church to pray to the Lord asking him to do what He must to strengthen our Church and make it holy. Are we willing to make that prayer today?

Let us pray:

“Lord, let us be baptized by the Holy Spirit and fire that John the Baptist promised at Your baptism. Do what you must in our lives, in our families, in our parish to make us more precious than fire tried gold, to make us as holy as we can be and to make us a parish alive for all to know power of the Christ who entered the waters of Baptism on this day so long ago.” Amen.

God Bless  You,

Fr. Robert J Carr

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