Weekly Reflection

Baptism leaves no visible marks. It is impossible to tell if someone has been baptized, just by looking at that person. This makes baptism a social sacrament. To be baptized and to keep our memory of baptism alive, we are called to keep the life of the Church alive in us. We keep records of baptism, in books and on certificates, but it is more important to be living the life of a baptized person. We are called to make our baptism visible not just to other people but to ourselves, by the way we live our life. After His baptism, Jesus went off to pray alone in the desert, but this was to prepare for the life lived for others, which He was now to begin. The temptations that He was to endure from Satan show this, as they are temptations to force the kingdom of God on humanity by power. Instead Christ calls each human being to an intimate sharing with Him in His work of redemption. How do we answer that call?

“The feast of the Circumcision of Christ commemorates the Holy Family’s fulfillment of Leviticus, which required a male child to be circumcised on the 8th day after his birth.

The symbolic significance of circumcision as a sign of the Old Covenant seems to be two-fold. First, it required the shedding of blood, which reminded Israel that sacrifice was required to fulfill the covenant. Second, it marked the organ of reproduction, which reminded Israel that the covenant was with Abraham and his “seed.”

The point of circumcision was to mark off the male children until the arrival of the one particular child who would fulfill the covenant.

Baptism is the sign of the New Covenant that replaced circumcision. Circumcision was an external sign. Baptism points to an inward renewal. This is the main distinction between the Old Covenant and the New. The Law of Moses was written on tablets of stone. Through the Holy Spirit, the Law is now written on our hearts. This fulfills the prophecy of Deuteronomy, which said, “The Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live”.

The day of circumcision was also when the Jewish people named their children. Our Lord is named “Jesus,” which means, “God saves.” Baptism is when we “Name this child”. Christians typically name their children in advance of baptism. The significance of naming in baptism is not the meaning of the name. Rather, the Christian name is the name by which God knows us, since we become His adopted children in baptism.

This all gives us some perspective with which to approach the New Year. Today is, after all, also New Year’s Day. In the light of the truth that Jesus has fulfilled the Law for us and that we are sons of God and heirs of the covenant promises through baptism and faith, we ought to resist the temptation to approach the New Year the way the world does, with the pattern of bold resolution destined for failure.

Part of our inheritance “in Christ” is freedom from captivity to the pattern of behavior that characterizes the world. Life in Christ begins with success. God makes us His children by grace. He forgives us and accepts us as we are. Then, by grace, God begins to do His will in our lives.

Christ has come. He has fulfilled the Old Covenant. God’s gift to us, given in baptism and received through faith, is that we are now the sons of God of and heirs of all His covenant promises. Thus, for the New Year, resolve, as the epistle says, to “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13).”

St. John’s prologue, opening his Gospel, tells us that Jesus is the light that enlightens all people. It is a powerful statement. In our time the word “enlightenment” is most often used to refer to the great growth of scientific knowledge and enquiry during the 17th and 18th centuries, which sought to understand the world by the sole means of human reasoning and intelligence. God has taken steps to make himself known to us and in a way that is at once humbling and magnificent.

In order to know Jesus we are called to listen to Him and speak with Him. This is what the disciples did in their lifetime, coming to know this special person very well. When the Lord was crucified it looked like a disaster, but the resurrection opened their eyes to the dawning truth. Jesus is the Son of God. He is the living Lord. This is amazing gift of Christmas. Not only that God became a child for us, but that by God’s grace now we may become children of God in this broken world.