Homily - 12 January 2025 - The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

Dear brothers and sisters,

As we commemorate the Baptism of the Lord in the waters of the Jordan River, we are reminded that it is in the waters of Baptism that we are born into the family of God and are made members of his Church. Moreover, it is in that holy bath that we pledge our loyalty, our love, and our service to Christ. Baptism is the gift of God by which he gives us his very own life and makes us his sons and daughters by reason of which our lives are changed forever.

Detail, Scenes from the life of Christ and life of Blessed Gerard of Villamagna, MS M 643, fol. 5v

Baptism, of course, is not something that we do for ourselves. Rather, it is something we receive from God’s own initiative. Baptism “is a gift; the gift of life. But a gift must be accepted, it must be lived.”[1] No one gives a gift except in token of friendship and a gift of friendship implies a "yes" to the friend and a "no" to all that is incompatible with this friendship. When we receive the gift of Baptism, it implies a “no” to all that is incompatible with the life of God's family, to all that is incompatible with true life in Christ.

Consequently, in the second dialogue of the Rite of Baptism, three “noes” and three “yeses” are spoken. We say "no" as we renounce temptation, sin, and the devil. We know these things well – that we will be tempted by the world, by the flesh, and by the devil, and that we will sin – but, perhaps precisely because we have heard these renunciations so often, the words may not mean too much to us. If this is the case, we must think a little more deeply about the content of these “noes.” To what are we saying "no"? This is the only way to understand what we want to say "yes" to

 

In the ancient Church, these "noes" were summed up in a phrase that was easy to understand for the people of that time: they renounced, as they said, the "pompa diabuli" (the pomp of the devil), that is, the promise of life in abundance, of that apparent life that seemed to come from the pagan world, from its permissiveness, from its way of living as one pleased. It was therefore a "no" to a culture of what seemed to be an abundance of life, to what was in fact an "anticulture" of death. It was a "no" to those spectacles in which death, cruelty, and violence had become an entertainment. This "pompa diabuli", this "anticulture" of death, was actually a corruption of joy, it was the love of deceit and fraud, and the abuse of the body as a commodity and a trade. If we think about it now, we can say that also in our time we need to say "no" to the widely prevalent culture of death, to the pompa diabuli which still seems to run rampant. As Fulton Sheen reminds us, “Never forget that there are only two philosophies to rule your life: the one of the cross, which starts with the fast and ends with the feast. The other of Satan, which starts with the feast and ends with the headache."

 

The pomp of the devil is still manifested, for example, in drugs, in the flight from reality to what is illusory; to a false happiness expressed in deceit, fraud, injustice, and contempt for others; it is expressed in a sexuality that becomes sheer irresponsible enjoyment, that makes the human person into a "thing," so to speak, no longer considered a person who deserves personal love which requires fidelity, but who becomes a commodity, a mere object; it is expressed by the embrace of freedom simply for the sake of individual autonomy; it is expressed in the desire for wealth that cannot be spent; it is expressed in the desire for comfort that allows me to be lazy and allows me to ignore the struggles of the poor; it is expressed in the willingness to throw away what makes me uncomfortable or gets in my way; it is expressed in the willingness to reject lifelong monogamous marriage in the desire to define myself solely accordingly to my sexual urges; it is expressed in the desire to remain forever youthful, which leads me to ignore the fact that one day I will die.

 

Brothers and sisters, let us say "no" to this pompa, to this promise of apparent happiness, to anticulture of what may seem to be life but is in fact merely an instrument of death, and to this anticulture. If we say “no” to all of this, if we say “no” to so much of what our culture embraces, promotes, and imposes, it allows to say something much greater. Saying “no” to the pomp of the devil and his empty promises enables us to say “yes” to the true culture of life. For this reason, the Christian "yes," from ancient times to our own day, is a great "yes" to life. It is our "yes" to Christ, our "yes" to the Conqueror of death, our "yes" to life in time and in eternity.

 

Just as in this baptismal dialogue the "no" is expressed in three renunciations, so too is the "yes" expressed in three expressions of loyalty: "yes" to the living God, that is, a God Creator and a creating reason who gives meaning to the cosmos and to our lives; "yes" to Christ, that is, to a God who did not stay hidden but who has a name, words, a body, and blood, to a concrete God who gives us life and shows us the path of life; "yes" to the communion of the Church, in which Christ is the living God who enters our time, enters our profession, enters our daily life.

We might also say that the Face of God, the content of this culture of life, the content of our great "yes," is expressed in the Ten Commandments, which are not a pack of prohibitions, of "noes," but actually present to us a great vision of life. They are a "yes" to the God who gives meaning to life (the first three Commandments); a "yes" to the family (the Fourth Commandment); a "yes" to life (the Fifth Commandment); a "yes" to responsible love (the Sixth Commandment); a "yes" to solidarity, to social responsibility, to justice (the Seventh Commandment); a "yes" to the truth (the Eighth Commandment); a "yes" to respect for others and for their belongings (the Ninth and 10th Commandments). This is the Christian philosophy of life, the culture of life that becomes concrete and practical and beautiful in communion with Christ, the living God, who walks with us in the companionship of his friends, in the great family of the Church.

 

Baptism is a gift of life! It is a "yes" to the challenge of really living life, of saying "no" to the attack of death that presents itself under the guise of life; and it is a "yes" to the great gift of true life that became present on the Face of the Child of Bethlehem, who gives himself to us in Baptism and in the Eucharist. Therefore, whenever we present ourselves to receive the Holy Eucharist, the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ, we renew our “no” to the anti-culture of death even as we renew our “yes” to life, to the Church, and to Christ.

 

Today, as we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord and conclude the season of Christmas, let us renew our commitment to make our lives firmly rooted in the faith of Jesus Christ, in all that we received when we were washed clean in the saving waters of Baptism. Let each of us say a firm “no” to the pomp of this world and a resounding “yes” to Christ and so build a society founding on the reality of life and love. Amen.

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[1] Pope Benedict XVI, Homily, 8 January 2008. The remainder of his homily follows in an adapted form.

Homily at the Site of the Baptism of Father Tolton

Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter

Pilgrimage to the Baptismal Site of the Venerable Servant of God Augustine Tolton

Dear brothers,

We find a distressing entry in the baptismal register of this church on May 29, 1854. It reads as follows: “A colored child born April 1, 1854, son of Peter Tolton and Martha Chisley, property of Stephen Elliott; Mrs. Stephen Elliott, sponsor” and is signed by Father John O’Sullivan. No first name is given this child in the register, but we, of course, know him to be the Venerable Servant of God Augustine John Tolton.

What are we to make of the fact that his name is not recorded? It shows what the society of his day considered important: the slave was often overlooked, and yet the slave was not unimportant enough to be entirely forgotten; there is still a record of the baptism having taken place. Such a moment could not be forgotten, for it was a moment when God intervened in our human history.

When he concluded the diocesan phase of the Cause for the Beatification and Canonization of Father Tolton, the late Francis Cardinal George said, “History is what God remembers; the rest passes.” God remembers that on that day he said to the slave boy Augustine Tolton, “You are my son,” when he was washed in the saving waters (Psalm 2:7). God remembers that it was on this very site that the word of salvation was sent to him, a word that echoed throughout this life (cf. Acts 13:26).

The inscriber of that baptismal record may not have remembered young Gus’ name, but his name was known to God even before his conception in Martha Jane’s womb (cf. Jeremiah 1:5). It was on that day that God said to that infant boy, “I will never forget you” (Isaiah 49:15). Because Mother Church has lifted him up as one worthy of our veneration and imitation, we must never forget him, either.

Indeed, we might say his very name was a foreshadowing of the necessity of his remembrance because, as the ancient Romans said, nomen est omen (the name is a sign). The name Augustine comes from the Latin augere, meaning “to increase.” More specifically, the Latin form of the name is Augustinus, meaning “venerable, majestic, magnificent, noble.” The name John comes from a Hebrew name meaning “God is gracious.”

Considering these two names, we might say that because of God’s goodness, he said to the young Tolton in this place, “It is too little … for you to be my servant… I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 48:6).

We have gathered here in this place touched by God because the light of Father Gus’ life has spread not just to the ends of the earth, but even across the decades. Neither virtue nor holiness are bound by time because they are what God remembers, the lives of his holy ones being bound as they are with the life of the Son of God. Is this not the great mystery of Baptism, of incorporation into the only Redeemer of mankind who took on “the form of a slave, coming in human likeness” (Philippians 2:7)?

As we look to the heroic virtue of Father Gus and strive to walk with him along the path of holiness, may we learn from him to “serve the LORD with fear, and [to] rejoice before him” (Psalm 2:11). May he teach us that what the world remembers is not important, but only what God remembers; the world may forget us, but God will not. Amen.

Homily - The Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time - 20 August 2017

The Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Dear brothers and sisters,

A growing number of people claim to be Christians even though they have not yet been washed in the waters of Baptism, a curious claim, to be sure. As we learn in the Acts of the Apostles, the appellation of Christian was first used at Antioch to designate those who had repented of their sins and were baptized; it was not used of someone who liked what Jesus said, but of someone joined to him (cf. Acts 11:26). Indeed, the very word “Christian” means “anointed,” and “derives from that of Christ himself whom God ‘anointed with the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 10:38).”[1] To be a Christian, then, is to be another Christ and this of necessity requires Baptism because it is through the Sacrament of Baptism that we are made “members of the Body of Christ.”[2]

The Sacrament of Baptism “is the basis of the whole Christian life” and through it “we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission.”[3] This is why the Catechism of the Catholic Church defines Christians as “all those who have been anointed through the gift of the Holy Spirit in Baptism...”[4] One simply cannot be a Christian without being baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus (cf. Romans 6:3-4).

That Baptism is necessary for salvation is attested by the Lord’s own word. He said to Nicodemus, “unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). He also told the Apostles to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:15-16). For this reason, Wes and Alaina asked faith of God’s Church for their son, Beau William, who is to be baptized in just a few moments.[5] Though some contest the Baptism of infants, the Church and a child’s parents know they “would deny a child the priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer Baptism shortly after birth.”[6]

The Lord says through his prophet Isaiah today that he will “bring to my holy mountain and make joyful in my house of prayer” those who “join themselves to the Lord, ministering to him, loving the name of the Lord, and becoming his servants” (Isaiah 56:7, 6). Is this not what happens in Baptism? Those who seek this grace are brought into the household of the Father and share in the priestly, prophetic, and royal mission of Christ Jesus. In these waters we are joined to the Lord in love and our lives become his, for we have been purchased at a very high price (cf. I Corinthians 6:20).

Yet to put too much emphasis on the decision of the one who is to be or who has been baptized brings a certain danger.

Becoming Christian is not something that follows a decision of mine: “herewith I make myself a Christian”. Of course, my decision is also necessary, but first of all it is an action of God with me: it is not I who make myself Christian. I am taken on by God, taken in hand by God and thus, by saying “yes” to God’s action I become Christian. Becoming Christians, in a certain sense is passive; I do not make myself Christian but God makes me his man, God takes me in hand and puts my life in a new dimension. Likewise I do not make myself live but life is given to me; I am not born because I have made myself a human being, but I am born because I have been granted to be human. Therefore my Christian being has also been granted to me, it is in the passive for me, which becomes active in our, in my life. And this fact of being in the passive, of not making ourselves Christian but of being made Christian by God, already to some extent involves the mystery of the Cross: only by dying to my selfishness, by coming out of myself, can I be Christian.[7]

Wes and Alaina, Kolby and Courtney, it will be your duty from this day forward to show Beau how to die to his self-centeredness and daily conform his life to that of Christ. In this task, you will not be alone, for you have the Christian community to support and assist you in this sacred task as we each seek to live in accord with our baptismal dignity by dying to our own selfishness.

Teach him to serve the Lord with humility by loving his neighbor. Teach him how to pray and converse with the Lord throughout the day. Teach him how to maintain communion with the Body of Christ, the Church. And teach him how to make an offering of his very life to God. If he does this, he will indeed be a Christian.

You have a magnificent tool to teach Beau the Christian faith in your last name. The medievals saw in the griffin, part lion and part eagle, a symbol of the two natures of Christ, human and divine. They also saw the griffin as a symbol of guardianship. Teach Beau, then, what it means that God became man and how Jesus guards us with his Cross. Teach him, also, to guard his own soul “from the poison of sin” and to “keep the flame of faith alive in his heart.”[8] If you watch over him as griffins to guard him against whatever is opposed to the Gospel, you will show him the way to the house of the Father where he will see the Lord face to face (cf. Isaiah 56:7; Psalm 67:2). Amen.

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[1] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1289.

[2] Ibid., 1267.

[3] Ibid., 1213.

[4] Glossary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, p. 871.

[5] Cf. Rite of Baptism for Children, 76.

[6] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1250.

[7] Benedict XVI, Lectio Divina, 11 June 2012.

[8] Rite of Baptism for Children, 93 and 100.

Are you listening to Pope Francis?

During his Angelus Address yesterday afternoon, His Holiness Pope Francis asked the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square a question he has asked them before:

Which of you knows the date of your baptism? Certainly, not all of you. Therefore, I invite you to go and search for the date, asking, for example, your parents, your grandparents, your godparents, or going into the parish. It is very important to know, because it is a date to celebrate: it is the date of our rebirth as children of God.

Last year on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Pope Francis said, "Remember what I asked you, to look for the date of your Baptism, this way each one of us will be able to say: I was baptized on this day."

As early as 8 January 2014, Pope Francis said during a Wednesday General Audience Address:

I have asked this question two or three times already, here, in this square: who among you knows the date of your Baptism, raise your hands. It is important to know the day on which I was immersed in that current of Jesus' salvation. And I will allow myself to give you some advice... but, more than advice, a task for today. Today, at home, go look, ask about the date of your Baptism and that way you will keep in mind that most beautiful day of Baptism. To know the date of our Baptism is to know a blessed day. The danger of not knowing is that we can lose awareness of what the Lord has done in us, the memory of the gift we have received. Thus, we end up considering it only as an event that took place in the past – and not by our own will but by that of our parents – and that it has no impact on the present. We must reawaken the memory of our Baptism.

Pope Francis keeps talking about the importance of knowing the date of our Baptism into Christ (mine is March 26th) and of celebrating it - and rightly so - but is anyone listening? Three years in a row now, Pope Francis has asked you to learn the date of your Baptism and to celebrate it. Are you listening?

Which baptismal preparation resources do you recommend?

The other day a priest sent along this request:

I’ve been contacted by a transitional deacon back home who has asked for some recommendations for any good Baptism preparation Audio Visual/DVD materials. He tells me that what is on offer around the diocese is either terribly dated or just plain erroneous. Can you recommend any resources?

I'm afraid I can't be of much help to him in this area because I'm a bit out of the loop with such materials at the moment. It seems to me, though, that perhaps Symbolon has something? What would you recommend I pass on to him?

Thanks for your help!

Can an infant receive baptism during the Lenten season?

Earlier today I received a question asking, "Is it a common or even legit thing to not do (infant) baptisms during Lent?"

The short answer to the first question is, "It depends on the parish." The short answer to the second question is, "No."

It seems to have become rather commonplace in the last couple of decades for most parishes not to baptize babies during the season of Lent but to wait until the Easter season. Is this practice legitimate?

Let us first consult the Rite of Baptism for Children. There we find these guidelines that must be borne in mind when considering the time of the baptism of the newborn:

As for the time of baptism, the first consideration is [1] the welfare of the child, that it may not be deprived of the benefit of the sacrament; then [2] the health of the mother must be considered, so that, if at all possible, she too may be present. Then as long as they do not interfere with the greater good of the child, [3] there are pastoral considerations, such as allowing sufficient time to prepare the parents and to plan the actual celebration in order to bring out its character effectively (8).

First of all, then, we consider the health of the child. Is his life in danger, thereby requiring an immediate baptism? The Rite of Baptism for Children clearly states that “if the child is in danger of death, it is to be baptized without delay; this is permitted even when the parents are opposed and even when the infant is the child of non-Catholic parents” (8.1). This is a clear reminder that baptism is necessary for salvation (cf. John 3:5; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1257-1261).

If the child is not in danger of death we must next look to the health of the mother. Certainly it would be most preferable for the mother to be present at the baptism of her child, but this is, strictly speaking, not necessary, particularly in cases where the infant is in danger of death.

However, if the health of the mother suggests a later baptism, it is permissible to delay the baptism on the newborn - so long as the infant is healthy - until the mother's health improves sufficiently for her to attend the baptism. Presumably, this would be a matter of a few days or weeks rather than months.

The pastoral considerations can hardly be such as to take more than a few days to consider. Baptisms are done on a frequent enough basis that acquiring the necessary items (baptismal candle, white garment, etc.) should not take more than a few minutes, at most (unless they should need to be ordered, and then only a few days). Other factors to consider, such as music for a baptism outside of Mass, which, sadly seems rarely to be present, surely shouldn’t take more than a few hours. All in all, by the time an organist can be contacted and a cantor secured, surely not more than a day or two will have passed.

It might be argued that a parish only has a "Baptism class" only once a month or maybe even only quarterly. Even so, this is not a sufficient reason to delay the Baptism because the parents can be properly prepared outside of the formal class.

What, then, is to be done if the child is born quite healthy and the arrangements are made? How long must one wait? The answer is simple: “An infant should be baptized within the first few weeks after birth” (RBC, 8.3, emphasis mine). This requirement is also stated in the Code of Canon Law:

Parents are obliged to take care that infants are baptized in the first few weeks; as soon as possible after the birth or even before it, they are to go to the pastor to request the sacrament for their child and to be prepared properly for it (can. 867 § 1).

Just how many weeks constitute the “first weeks after birth” is not set forth in liturgical law, but the above considerations seem to imply a rather short amount of time.

Here we might well note that even though baptism is not to be delayed, if there is no “well-founded hope that the infant will be brought up in the Catholic religion, the baptism is to be delayed” and the parents “are to be informed of the reasons” (RBC, 8.3; cf. can. 868 § 1, 2º).

We might also note that the most appropriate time for the celebration of baptism - particularly the baptism of adults - is “during the Easter Vigil or on Sunday, when the Church commemorates the Lord’s resurrection” (RBC, 9). This is, most likely, the reason why so many parishes do not baptize infants during Lent. It is an attempt, probably a mostly unnoticed and unrealized one, to highlight the baptismal character of the season of Easter.

It is also more than likely an attempt to highlight the penitential character of Lent. I would suggest, however, that witnessing a baptism during Lent would do much to highlight the penitential character by recalling to those present the necessity of conversion and repentance in the Christian life demanded by virtue of our baptism. It should be remembered that the Lenten season “disposes … the faithful to celebrate the paschal mystery … through reminders of their own baptism and through penitential practices” (General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, 27). What better reminder of baptism can there be than a baptism?

But even if Easter is the most appropriate time for baptism, there is nothing forbidding baptism during Lent in the liturgical books or in the Code of Canon Law. The canons specify that baptism "can be celebrated on any day," though "it is nevertheless recommended that it be celebrated ordinarily on Sunday or, if possible, at the Easter Vigil” (can. 856). There you have it, then: baptism may be celebrated on any day, even during Lent. However, “it is not fitting that Baptisms and Confirmation be celebrated” during Holy Week (Paschale Solemnitatis, 27). Even so, baptism is not strictly forbidden during Holy Week (because of a possible danger of death), though the proximity of these days to Holy Saturday would seem an obvious reason to withhold baptism until the Easter feast whenever possible.


Most parishes that do not allow baptisms during Lent also do not allow marriages during Lent. And, while there is nothing about such a practice in the liturgical books for baptism, there is something concerning Lent in the Rite of Marriage, though it does not absolutely forbid marriages during Lent. What we find is this: “When a marriage is celebrated during Advent or Lent or other days of penance, the parish priest should advise the couple to take into consideration the special nature of these times” (11).

This is a veiled way of saying no flowers and little music (unless it happens to be Gaudete or Laetare Sunday), and much simplicity; nothing too fancy. But even here there is nothing forbidding marriage during Lent.

Clergy who refuse to baptize children during the season of Lent should remember that "sacred ministers cannot deny the sacraments to those who seek them at appropriate times, are properly disposed, and are not prohibited from receiving them" (can. 843 § 1). What is more, these same ministers "have the duty to take care that those who seek the sacraments are prepared to receive them by proper evangelization and catechetical instruction, attentive to the norms issued by competent authority," the very norms discussed above (can. 843 § 2).

On baptism

I had every intention of preparing the text of a homily to preach this morning for the First Scrutiny of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, but we all know what happens to the best of plans.

Last evening I was called to the hospital to be with a dying parishioner and his family who died late last night, peacefully and surrounded by his family. Please keep them in your prayers.

Consequently, morning came all too quickly and I lacked the energy to write out a homily early this morning. I did, though, borrow these words Saint Cyril of Alexandria addressed to his Elect:

May the gate of paradise be opened; may you then enjoy the fragrant waters, which contain Christ; may you then receive Christ’s name, and the efficacious power of divine things! Even now, I beseech you, lift up the eye of your understanding; imagine the angelic choirs, and God the Lord of all sitting, and His Only-Begotten Son sitting with Him on His right hand, and the Spirit with them present, and thrones and dominions doing service, and each man and woman among you receiving salvation. Even now let your ears ring with the sound: long for that glorious sound, which after your salvation, the angels shall chant over you, “Blessed are they whose iniquities have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered” (Psalm 32:1); when, like stars of the Church, you shall enter in it, bright in the outward man and radiant in your souls.

Great indeed is the Baptism which is offered you. It is a ransom for captives; the remission of offenses; the death of sin; the regeneration of the soul; the garment of light; the holy seal indissoluble; the chariot to heaven; the luxury of paradise; a procuring of the kingdom; the gift of adoption. But a serpent by the wayside is watching the passengers; beware lest he bite thee with unbelief; he sees so many receiving salvation, and seeks to devour some of them. Thou are going to the Father of Spirits, but thou art going past that serpent; how then must thou pass him? Have “thy feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15); that even if he bite, he may not hurt thee. Have faith indwelling, strong hope, a sandal of power, wherewith to pass the enemy and enter the presence of thy Lord. Prepare thine own heart to receive doctrine, to have fellowship in holy mysteries. Pray more often, that God may make thee worthy of the heavenly and immortal mysteries.[1]

[1] Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, the Protocatecheses 16, in Lectures on the Christian Sacraments, ed. F. L. Cross (Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1995), 50-51.

Trinitarian baptismal formula upheld

The only thing I found surprising about the recent decision of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was that this decision had not already been officially made.

We were repeatedly told throughout our seminary studies that the only valid formula for baptism was and is: "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Period. No ifs, ands, or buts. Anything else would not confer the grace of baptism.

If you or someone you know was not baptized "in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," you , or they, are not, in fact, baptized and will need to be baptized as quickly as possible.

For more, see Dr. Ed Peters, the American Papist and Fr. Z.

On a somewhat related topic - but not really - Mormon "baptisms" have been declared invalid by the CDF.

Homily - 13 January 2008 - The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

As we enter this year marking the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of our parish, we would do well to focus on the Sacrament of Baptism. It is in the waters of Baptism that we are born into the family of God and are made members of his Church. It is in the waters of Baptism that we pledge our loyalty, our love and service to Christ. Baptism is the gift of God by which he gives us his very own life and makes us his sons and daughters and because of this our lives are forever changed.

Baptism is not something that we do; it is something that we receive from God’s own initiative. “Baptism, as we have seen, is a gift; the gift of life. But a gift must be accepted, it must be lived.”[1]

A gift of friendship implies a "yes" to the friend and a "no" to all that is incompatible with this friendship, to all that is incompatible with the life of God's family, with true life in Christ.

Consequently, in the second dialogue of the Rite of Baptism, three “noes” and three “yeses” are spoken. We say "no" and renounce temptation, sin and the devil. We know these things well but perhaps, precisely because we have heard them so often, the words may not mean much to us.

If this is the case, we must think a little more deeply about the content of these “noes.” What are we saying "no" to? This is the only way to understand what we want to say "yes" to.

In the ancient Church these "noes" were summed up in a phrase that was easy to understand for the people of that time: they renounced, they said, the "pompa diabuli", that is, the promise of life in abundance, of that apparent life that seemed to come from the pagan world, from its permissiveness, from its way of living as one pleased.

It was therefore "no" to a culture of what seemed to be an abundance of life, to what in fact was an "anticulture" of death. It was "no" to those spectacles in which death, cruelty and violence had become an entertainment.

This "pompa diabuli", this "anticulture" of death was a corruption of joy, it was love of deceit and fraud and the abuse of the body as a commodity and a trade.

And if we think about it now, we can say that also in our time we need to say "no" to the widely prevalent culture of death.

It is manifested, for example, in drugs, in the flight from reality to what is illusory, to a false happiness expressed in deceit, fraud, injustice and contempt for others, for solidarity, and for responsibility for the poor and the suffering; it is expressed in a sexuality that becomes sheer irresponsible enjoyment, that makes the human person into a "thing", so to speak, no longer considered a person who deserves personal love which requires fidelity, but who becomes a commodity, a mere object.

Let us say "no" to this promise of apparent happiness, to this "pompa" of what may seem to be life but is in fact merely an instrument of death, and to this "anticulture", in order to cultivate instead the culture of life. For this reason, the Christian "yes", from ancient times to our day, is a great "yes" to life. It is our "yes" to Christ, our "yes" to the Conqueror of death and the "yes" to life in time and in eternity.

Just as in this baptismal dialogue the "no" is expressed in three renunciations, so too the "yes" is expressed in three expressions of loyalty: "yes" to the living God, that is, a God Creator and a creating reason who gives meaning to the cosmos and to our lives; "yes" to Christ, that is, to a God who did not stay hidden but has a name, words, a body and blood; to a concrete God who gives us life and shows us the path of life; "yes" to the communion of the Church, in which Christ is the living God who enters our time, enters our profession, enters daily life.

We might also say that the Face of God, the content of this culture of life, the content of our great "yes", is expressed in the Ten Commandments, which are not a pack of prohibitions, of "noes", but actually present a great vision of life.

They are a "yes" to a God who gives meaning to life (the first three Commandments); a "yes" to the family (Fourth Commandment); a "yes" to life (Fifth Commandment); a "yes" to responsible love (Sixth Commandment); a "yes" to solidarity, to social responsibility, to justice (Seventh Commandment); a "yes" to the truth (Eighth Commandment); a "yes" to respect for others and for their belongings (Ninth and 10th Commandments).

This is the philosophy of life, the culture of life that becomes concrete and practical and beautiful in communion with Christ, the living God, who walks with us in the companionship of his friends, in the great family of the Church. Baptism is a gift of life.

It is a "yes" to the challenge of really living life, of saying "no" to the attack of death that presents itself under the guise of life; and it is a "yes" to the great gift of true life that became present on the Face of Christ, who gives himself to us in Baptism and subsequently in the Eucharist.

Whenever we present ourselves to receive the Holy Eucharist, the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ, we renew our “no” to the anti-culture of death while we renew our “yes” to life, to the Church, to Christ.

As we celebrate one hundred and fifty years of Catholic faith here in Effingham, we cannot help but think of those who have gone before us, marked with the sign of faith. Our thoughts turn to their devotion to Christ and to the Church. As this parish was established the faith of the Church truly was the center and foundation of the lives of the parishioners.

Today, as we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord and conclude the season of Christmas, may our lives, like those of our ancestors, be firmly rooted in the faith of Jesus Christ. May each of us say “no” to the pomp of the world and “yes” to Christ. Amen.

[1] Pope Benedict XVI, Homily, 8 January 2008. The remainder of the homily follows in a slightly edited form.