Some
Thoughts on the Liturgy
THE
IMPORTANCE OF REPENTANCE
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Jesus was the Son of God and obviously in no need of any
baptism of repentance
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here in Matthew’s account of the Baptism, Jesus gives the
reason for his Baptism, telling John the Baptist:
Allow
it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all
righteousness.
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it is difficult to understand this English translation, but
I believe that its meaning is: it is right that the people
see the importance of the baptism of repentance
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if Jesus is rightfully going to be one of us, and if people
are to see the importance of the baptism for repentance,
then he must be baptized
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Archbishop Naumann in his Call to Share letter in the
bulletin opens with the religious belief that Baptism is
the most important day of a Christian’s life
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as Christian people, therefore on this feast of the Baptism
of Jesus, we should concentrate on why our Baptism is so
important
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it is not only that we will stay out of hell, something
most of us had drilled into our minds,
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but, in Jesus’s mind,
before we can accomplish the things of
Christianity—following him, accepting his Kingdom,
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we have to admit a need for Baptism, that is, for
repentance first
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most of us do not remember our Baptism, and so we must call
it to mind again
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the reason we were baptized is to draw us to an
understanding of our need for repentance
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and so in the prayer that he taught us, the Our Father, he
says that we ought to pray “Forgive us our sins”—that
is, ask for repentance
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some reflections on “repentance” are in order
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In the section of the Catechism that comments on the Our
Father, the authors become particularly strong when
speaking of personal repentance
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I have placed this excerpt in your bulletin, and I hope you
take the time to read it
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I find this to be a really challenging section in the
Catechism
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the Catechism actually becomes passionate in its approach
to this idea of personal repentance, using very strong
language
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this
petition is astonishing (Catechism’s
words)
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our
petition—namely “forgive us our trespasses”, will not
be heard unless we have first met the strict requirement of
forgiving each other
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astonishing because there are many who will not forgive
others
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I have heard in my ministry: “I cannot forgive so and so”
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our petition looks to the future, but our response must
come first
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and what better way to do that than by participating in
some way in the program of the Archdiocese that is named
“Call to Share”
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this is our way to show in a sense that we love everyone
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this
is daunting (again,
Catechism’s words)
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God’s outpouring of mercy cannot penetrate our hearts as
long as we have not forgiven those who have trespassed
against us
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love, like the Body of Christ, is indivisible
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we cannot love the God we cannot see if we do not love the
brother or sister we do see:
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if we refuse to forgive our brothers and sisters, our
hearts are closed and our hardness makes us impervious to
the Father's merciful love
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but in confessing our sins, our hearts are opened to God’s
grace
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there
is no limit or measure to this essentially divine
forgiveness—
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forgiveness must extend to everyone: "Owe no one
anything, except to love one another." (Romans 13:8)
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Jesus knew that the Kingdom he preached could only come, if
people admitted the possibility of sinfulness in their
lives
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and so he tells John the Baptist: this baptism is the right
thing to do because I want them to see how important it is
to ask for repentance, that is, to forgive our sins
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we are baptized and say “forgive us our sins” but the
condition before we can expect an answer is that first, we
forgive others.
With
all that in mind, we may want to renew our baptismal
promises:
Dear
brothers and sister, through the Paschal Mystery we have
been buried with Christ in Baptism, so that we may walk
with him in newness of life. And so, let us renew the
promises of Holy Baptism, by which we once renounced Satan
and his works and promised to serve God in the holy
catholic Church. And so I ask you:
Celebrant:
Do you renounce sin, so as to live in the freedom of the
children of God?
All:
I do.
Celebrant:
Do you renounce the lure of evil, so that sin may have no
mastery over you?
All:
I do.
Celebrant:
Do you renounce Satan, the author and prince of sin?
All:
I do.
Celebrant:
Do you believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of
heaven and earth?
All:
I do.
Celebrant:
Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who
was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered death and was buried,
rose again from the dead and is seated at the right hand of
the Father?
All:
I do.
Celebrant:
Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic
Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting?
All:
I do.
Celebrant:
And may almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has given us new birth by water and the Holy Spirit and
bestowed on us forgiveness of our sins, keep us by his
grace, in Christ Jesus our Lord, for eternal life.
All:
Amen.
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