January 11, 2004
Baptism with Fire
Back
to the Ordinary
After this weekend the Christmas decorations are coming down.
Each year we celebrate the Feast of Christmas as a whole season until
the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Now we re-enter “ordinary
time”. Our lives settle into the winter routine and there are
only a few feasts between now and Lent to add a special inspiration
to our souls. Yet, even in the ordinary God comes to live with us. Look
around this week and see where!
At College?
At St. Brigid’s we like to stay in touch through
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Once a person has an e-mail address at school (or if he/she uses a personal
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Past Columns:
Dec28: Our Holy
Family
Dec 21: Home
For Christmas
Dec14: Meddling
Grace
Dec7:
Moving Mountains
Other Colums from 2003
Columns from 2002
John
the Baptist tells his listeners that the one who will come after him will
baptize with the “Holy Spirit and with fire.” Of course he’s
referring to Jesus but what about “fire”? Don’t we baptize
with water?
Fire has been a symbol of passion,
of love, of longing both in and outside of religious literature. (Just
listen to love songs on the radio and count the number of times “fire”
is used.) There’s something about fire’s heat and its ability
to consume and to spread that captures our imagination and that leads
us to link it with love.
The love of God, celebrated in
Baptism is like fire. It warms us, consumes us and then spreads through
us to others. The tiny flame on the little candle we give each family
after their child is baptized is merely a hint of the immeasurable scope
of God’s burning love.
The feast of the Baptism of the
Lord which we celebrate today prods us a bit to ask ourselves, “As
others look at us, can they tell that we are baptized?” That is,
do we seem to be on fire with the love of God? Can people feel the warmth
of God’s love radiating from us? This isn’t just a fantasy
question. How we speak, how we touch, how we smile, how we help -- all
these things reveal us as people who are on fire with God’s love.
(Or they can reveal that the fire is burning out.)
Let us let the breath of the Holy
Spirit blow across the embers of our baptismal fire and re-kindle the
passion we have for God and our sisters and brothers. As we feel the “fire”
grow, let this confidence in God’s love for us animate our actions,
our words, our prayers.
“Come Holy Spirit, fill the
hearts of your faithful. Enkindle in them the fire of your love. Send
forth your Spirit and we shall be re-created and your shall renew the
face of the earth.”
You are Person
