The Baptism of the Lord

Is 41:1-4, 6-7; Acts 10:34-38; Mt 3:13-17

To Be Holy

Nowadays, when we talk about “holiness”, people tend to think of someone like Padre Pio with his stigmata, or an elderly Pope who worked tirelessly in spreading the Good News to all people, or perhaps someone like Mother Teresa who dedicated her life to care for the poor and the needy.  It’s as though the word “holiness” brings to mind those who dedicated their lives to the religious vocation…and it’s not very often that we think of lay people when we think speak of “holiness”.  Is it because it’s harder for a lay person to become holy?  Or by not being a religious, the lay person sets a lower expectation of himself, thinking that merely slipping through heaven’s gate would be a great accomplishment already, regardless of how close to or far away from the Lord you sit in the heavenly banquet?  Or perhaps lay people have to continuously struggle with the hardship of life and therefore it’s so much tougher to be holy?

The late Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan wrote: “The laity assumed that in order to be holy, one must pray all the time, renounce worldly life, make sacrifices and deny one’s self – in other words becoming like the hermits from the old days.  Meanwhile, religious believed that to be holy, one must dedicate one’s self to help the world, one must assimilate and work in the society, involving in the social and  political systems, and competing with the laity in life.  As a result, things got mixed up!  The laity wants to live as religious, and the religious wants to live as laity.”

No.  To be holy does not mean to act upon whatever we think or want.  To be holy means to live the way God wants and teaches us to.  If God wants rain, I want rain.  If God wants sunshine, I want sunshine.  If God wants happiness, suffering, success, failure, I want the same things.  Therefore, to be holy is not to reach the point where we can satisfy our wishes because we have accomplished certain tasks for God or for the Church, rather, it is when God’s will be done through us, even if success is not apparent.  So then, for all those who recognize and accept God’s will in their lives, and cooperate with God to carry out His will, they are holy people.

Jesus was called Good Master or Most Holy One because He always carry out the Father’s will.  Jesus kept repeating these words to his disciples:  “I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the One who sent me” (Jn 6:38); and “My food is to do the will of the One who sent me and to finish his work” (Jn 4:34). 

To carry out our own responsibility is the surest path to holiness as proclaimed to us in today’s Gospel on the feast day of The Baptism of Our Lord. 

On the first day of his public ministry, Jesus came to John the Baptist at the Jordan River to be baptized.  John, recognizing Jesus as sinless, the Lamb of God, quickly tried to refuse, by saying: “It is certainly you who should be baptizing me,  not the other way around”.  But Jesus told him: “Allow it for now, for it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness”.  These were Jesus’ first recorded words in his public life.  Could it be that Jesus wanted to open up for us a new horizon: a way to holiness by doing the work that God calls us to do.

This means that it’s not just the priests, the religious, the missionaries or the popes who are able and responsible to become saints.  More correctly, every one has some responsibilities and is capable of becoming more holy in our own duties or callings.

Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan wrote:  “Workers can be holy at their workplace, soldiers can be holy in the military, patients can be holy in the hospital, students can be holy in school, farmers can become holy in the fields, priests can be holy in their priestly services.  Each step forward becomes a step of sacrifice in our duties.” (Duong Hy Vong, 24)

Duties and responsibilities are not just connected with our jobs or works, but also with our position in the family, in community and in society - positions as parents, spouses, sons / daughters, leaders, teachers…  One can not bear the title without fulfilling the duties and responsibilities that come with it. 

On the other hand, we can not become holy if we don’t have God, because God is Holy.  If we want to become holy, we must accept God as the center of our life, and through Him, with Him and in Him, we will be able to complete our duties and be sanctified.

One important point to remember is that during his whole life time of doing the Father’s will, Jesus never stopped being in communion with the Father through prayers.  He prayed continuously: in his home, in the temple, on the road, in the desert, and in the garden…He prayed day and night, in happy times as well as in sad times, before performing a miracle as well as after his preaching.  He even prayed right before He took his last breath: “It is finished” (Jn 19:30), “Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit” (Lk 23:46)

With God’s grace, and through our prayers, we will surely reach our destination in fulfilling our daily responsibilities and for the rest of our life.

If by the end of my life, I can pray Jesus’ last words – “It is finished, into your hands I commend my spirit” – then how wonderful and blessed it would be for me.   

Sưu Tầm              

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