Feast of the Assumption (C) 08/15/2007

Baptism (A) 01/12/2014 Every so often I watch America’s Funniest Home Videos. One video involves the efforts made to give a pet cat a bath in the kitchen sink. Initially, the cat appears to be somewhat docile. Then, no one and nothing can prevent the cat from climbing the window blinds in an effort to get as far away from the bath water as possible! This – in some ways – is our experience of Baptism too. We are often initially docile. Intellectually, we accept that Baptism acts out for us the reality that we are created in the image and likeness of God, and that we are God’s beloved. Only an intellectual accent, unfortunately, has no power to undertake the transformation that comes with this reality. We cannot, for example, by sheer willpower – a positive product of our intellects – become more and more inclusive. The opposite, in fact, happens when we live primarily by our intellect and willpower: our world becomes smaller and more exclusive. We gravitate toward the very small (but necessary) world of laws… especially those that we can interpret to get what we want or feel that we deserve. Mother Teresa, in an interview with Roy Lloyd, says something similar. Mr. Lloyd once asked her, ‘What's the biggest problem in the world today?’ She, without hesitation, responds, ‘The biggest problem in the world today is that we draw the circle of our family too small. We need to draw it larger every day.’ This can only happen by our willingness to practice knowing ourselves as God knows us: as God’s beloved. One such practice is a willingness to observe ourselves without judgment and with compassion. It isn’t – I must warn you – a practice that comes easily to us. We are much more familiar with judgment, comparison, competition, and condemnation or criticism. Practicing observing ourselves without judgment and with compassion is like our first efforts when we are a child or after we have been impaired by a stroke or an accident to learn or re-learn to walk or speak. It takes repeated and patient efforts that are reinforced with encouragement. Our first reading from the prophet Isaiah might be a good place to begin to practice by reflecting upon it each day. It is from Isaiah 42:1-4: ‘Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, upon whom I have put my spirit; [my beloved] shall bring forth justice to the nations, not crying out, not shouting, not making [their] voice heard in the street. A bruised reed [my beloved] shall not break, and a smoldering wick [my beloved] shall not quench….’