Thursday, January 16, 2025: So, when did you decide you really want to be baptized? I think in the morning, when we get out of bed


REMINDER: Emmaus now meets at 4:00 PM (like we used to). Please make a note of this time change in your calendars. Don't miss us! Our next celebration is on January 26, 2025.

Homily by our friend and mentor Jim Fredericks


The other day, someone asked me an innocent question. “Padre, when did you decide to become a priest? And I gave them a truthful answer: “This morning, when I got out of bed."


I have a spiritual practice, which you might find helpful, so I will share it with you. When I get out of bed in the morning and set my feet on the floor, I ask myself a question: “Do I really want to be a priest today?”


This is serious question. I am not being frivolous when I do this. When I ask myself this question, I try to think about the people I’m going to meet during the day. Do I really want to be a priest for these people? Do I want to find compassion in my heart for them?

In truth, some mornings, as I get out of bed and think about what I have to do for the day, my answer to this question is not always enthusiastic. I even have to confess that, sometimes, I’m not enthusiastic at all. When this happens, I tell myself to get over it and get to work.

Happily, this has not happened very often over the last 48 years. This is a spiritual exercise that I practice. I am offering it to you in the hope that this practice might be helpful to you as well.

Of course, I am not suggesting that you should ask yourself if you want to be a priest when you get up in the morning. Instead, let me suggest that you ask yourself something more basic. When you rise in the morning, ask yourself: “Do I really want to be baptized today?” This is an excellent question for us all, myself included. It is an especially important question for those of us who were baptized as infants. I suppose it is only natural that, from time to time, we take our baptism for granted. 

In fact, however, our baptism is our vocation. And we should never take this for granted. The way we answer this question – do I really want to be baptized today? – should alter they way we live our lives.

In the second reading today, the Letter to Titus, we read,

Beloved: The grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of our great God and savior Jesus Christ.

Yes, the grace of God has appeared within the world. Like Jesus, kneeling before John the Baptist in the Jordan River for His baptism, the Holy Spirit has been poured out on us, “training” us to “reject godless ways and worldly desire. Everyday, the Spirit is inviting us to live “temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age,” freed at last from the futility and lack of purpose that haunts so many people these days. 

So, when did you decide you really want to be baptized? I think in the morning, when we get out of bed, is a good time to answer this question.










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