One year on from the devastating earthquake in Haiti, the people of the nation were
in Pope Benedict XVI’s prayers this Sunday. The Holy Father told the thousands gathered
in St Peter’s Square that he has sent Cardinal Robert Sarah, president of Cor Unam,
the Pontifical council charged with fostering charity, to the Caribbean nation to
express his closeness and that of the entire Church to the troubled population. He
also underlined that the “terrible earthquake” has been followed by a grave cholera
epidemic, and called for prayers and support for the Haitian people.
Before
the Angelus prayer, the Pope recalled Sunday’s feast of the Baptism of Our Lord; when
the Church; “contemplates once more the revelation of God who is close to humanity,
who visits his people in the person of Jesus Christ, in order to set them free from
the tyranny of sin and death”. He prayed “may we open the doors of our hearts to
Christ and welcome him into the world of today”.
As is tradition the Holy
Father marked the feast by bestowing the Sacrament of Baptism on newborn babies.
Sunday morning in the magnificent setting of the Sistine Chapel, 21 infants ranging
between four months and four weeks and all children of Vatican employees, were welcomed
into the Church in a joyful and intimate ceremony presided over by the Pope.
In
his homily Pope Benedict described Baptism as an act of love. God he said, “in gifting
us the faith.. has given us what is most precious in life, that is, the most beautiful
and real reason for which to live”.
“By Baptism, these children are gifted
an indelible spiritual seal, their "character" that marks them forever as belonging
to the Lord and makes them living members of his mystical body, which is the Church”.
The
Holy Father then called on parishes to support parents and families as they help these
children grow and mature in faith. He said, “Collaboration between the Christian community
and family is greatly needed in the current social context, in which the family institution
is threatened from all sides, and finds itself having to face many difficulties in
its mission to educate in the faith. The lack of stable cultural reference points
and the rapid transformation to which society is continuously subject, makes the commitment
to education very difficult. Therefore, it is necessary that the parishes strive increasingly
to support families, as the small domestic churches in their task of transmitting
the faith”.
Below a draft Vatican Radio translation of Pope Benedict
XVI’s homily. Original text in Italian:
Dear brothers and sisters,
It
is my pleasure to warmly welcome you this morning, especially you parents and godparents
of the 21 infants upon whom, in a few moments time, I will have the joy of administering
the Sacrament of Baptism. As has become tradition, this ritual takes place again this
year as part of the Holy Eucharist during which we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord.
With this the Feast, on the first Sunday after the Epiphany, the Christmas season
concludes with the manifestation of the Lord in the Jordan.
According to the
evangelist Matthew (3:13-17), Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized
by John, in fact, all of Palestine flocked to hear the preaching of this great prophet,
the announcement of the coming of the Kingdom of God, and be baptized, that is to
submit themselves to the sign of penance that calls to conversion from sin. While
it is called baptism, it was not the sacramental rite which we celebrate today, as
you well know, in fact it is by his death and resurrection that Jesus institutes the
Sacraments and gives birth to the Church. What was administered by John, was rather
an act of repentance, an act which called for humility before God, for a new beginning:
by immersing themselves in the water, the penitents acknowledged their sins, implored
God for the purification of their sins and were sent out to change their error of
their ways.
So, when the Baptist sees Jesus who, in a line with sinners, comes
to be baptized, he is stunned; recognizing him as the Messiah, the Holy One of God,
He who is without sin, John expresses his confusion: he himself, the Baptist wants
to be baptized by Jesus, but Jesus tells him not to resist, to agree to carry out
this act, fitting to “fulfil all righteousness". With these words, Jesus shows that
he came into the world to carry out the will of He who sent him, to do everything
that the Father asks him, that it is in obedience to the Father that he has agreed
to become a man. This first act reveals that Jesus is the Son of God, true God as
the Father, he is the One who "humbles himself" to become one of us, He who made man
agreed to humble himself to death on the cross ( cf Phil 2:7).
The baptism
of Jesus, which we commemorate today, fits into this logic of humility: it is the
gesture of He who wants to be one of us in everyway and who stands in line with sinners,
He who is without sin allows Himself to be treated like a sinner (cf. 2 Cor 5:21),
to carry on His shoulders the burden of guilt of all humanity. He is the "servant
of Yahweh" of which the prophet Isaiah spoke in the first reading (see 42.1). His
humility is dictated by His wish to establish full communion with humanity, the desire
to achieve genuine solidarity with man and his condition. Jesus gesture anticipates
the Cross, the acceptance of death for our sins. This act of self abasement, in which
Jesus wants to totally conform Himself to the Father's plan of love, expresses the
perfect harmony of will and purpose that exists between persons of the Holy Trinity.
In this act of love, the Spirit of God manifests himself as a dove and comes over
him, and at that moment the love that unites Jesus and the Father is witnessed, by
those who attend the baptism, in a voice from on high, which they all hear. The Father
openly revealed to people the deep communion uniting him to the Son: the voice that
resonates from on high states that Jesus is totally obedient to the Father and that
this obedience is an expression of love that binds them together. Therefore, the Father
is pleased with Jesus, the Son, because he recognises in the gesture Jesus’ desire
to follow his will in everything: " This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased
" (Mt 3 17). The words of the Father, are also a prelude to the victory of the resurrection.
Dear Parents: the Baptism you ask today for your children, also places them
in this mutual exchange of love that is between God the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit, for this gesture I am about to make, sweeps the love of God over them, flooding
them with His gifts. Through the washing with water, your children become part of
the life of Jesus, who died on the cross to free us from sin and in rising again,
conquered death. So, spiritually immersed into his death and resurrection, they are
freed from original sin and begin their life of grace, which is the very life of the
Risen Jesus. "He - said St. Paul - gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness
and to cleanse for himself a people as his own, eager to do what is good" (Titus 2:14).
Dear friends, in gifting us the faith, the Lord has given us what is most
precious in life, that is, the most beautiful and real reason for which to live: it
is by grace that we believe in God, that we know his love , he wants to save us and
deliver us from evil. Now you, dear parents, godparents, ask the Church to accept
these children to her bosom, to give them Baptism, and make this request because of
the gift of faith that you yourselves have, in turn, received. Together with the prophet
Isaiah, every Christian can say: "The Lord formed me as his servant from the womb"
(cf. 49.5), so, dear parents, your children are a precious gift of the Lord, who has
reserved their hearts as His own, to be able to fill them with His love. Through the
sacrament of Baptism, he consecrates them and calls them to follow Jesus, through
the realization of their vocation according to the particular design of love the Father
has in mind for each of them; the goal of this earthly pilgrimage will be full communion
with Him in eternal happiness.
By Baptism, these children are gifted an indelible
spiritual seal, their "character" that marks them forever as belonging to the Lord
and makes them living members of his mystical body, which is the Church. While becoming
part of the People of God, for these children a path of holiness and conformity to
Jesus starts today, a reality that is placed within them like the seed of a beautiful
tree, which must be made to grow. Therefore, understanding the magnitude of this gift
from the earliest centuries, care was taken to give Baptism to infants at birth. Certainly,
free and conscious adherence to this life of faith and love is also required, and
that is why it is necessary that, after baptism, they will be educated in faith, educated
according to the wisdom of Scripture and the teachings of the Church, so that the
seed of faith, which they are receiving today, grows in them and reaches full Christian
maturity. The Church, which welcomes them among her children, is responsible, together
with the parents and godparents, in accompanying them on this path of growth. Collaboration
between the Christian community and family is greatly needed in the current social
context, in which the family institution is threatened from all sides, and finds itself
having to face many difficulties in its mission to educate in the faith. The lack
of stable cultural reference points and the rapid transformation to which society
is continuously subject, makes the commitment to education very difficult. Therefore,
it is necessary that the parishes strive increasingly to support families, as the
small domestic churches in their task of transmitting the faith.
Dear parents,
I thank the Lord with you for the gift of the baptism of these your children; As we
pray for them, we invoke the abundant gifts of the Holy Spirit, who today consecrates
them in the image of Christ priest, prophet and king. We entrust them to the maternal
intercession of Mary, asking for them health and long lives so that they can grow
and mature in the faith, and bring, with their lives, the fruits of holiness and love.
Amen!