A HOMILY AT THE SACRAMENTS OF BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION

17th July 2005, Cathedral of the Annunciation of the BVM, Ottawa.


1. When the Son of God took (at His conception)
a complete human nature in the womb of Blessed
Mary, what we call "the Incarnation" began. "The
Word became flesh and dwelt among us". At the
Ascension He took His dead and risen human body
to Heaven, but His Incarnation has never ended.
Yes, His glorified Body is in Heaven enthroned at
the Father's right hand, but He is also present
in the Blessed Sacrament of His Body and Blood -
the inward part of It being "The Body and Blood
of Christ" as the Catechism teaches. The New
Testament further tells us that the Church is His
Body, that Christians have the mind of Christ,
and that they are one spirit with Him - closer
than the union of husband and wife! The
Incarnation continues.

2. Now there is a wonderful saying of Pope St Leo
the Great to the effect that what was visible in
the life of our Lord has passed over into the
sacraments. So the Sacrament of Holy Baptism is
our participation in the events of Jesus' Good
Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Day. The
Catechism defines the inward and spiritual grace
of Baptism as "a death unto sin and a new birth
unto righteousnessS by which we are made the
children of grace by the power of the Holy
Spirit." The purpose of our being "the children
of grace" is the reproduction of Jesus in our
souls, and the purpose of each individual
Christian life is to reproduce, within the limits
and under the particular circumstances of each of
us, Jesus' holy life. Our holiness is the
holiness of Jesus, and our life is an imitation
of His because we have been made one with Him in
Baptism. The Incarnation continues.

Did you know that at Baptism that we are given
the supernatural virtues of Faith, Hope and
Charity? It says so in the first prayer of the
Baptismal Service: it prays that the candidates
may be "steadfast in Faith, joyful through Hope,
and rooted in Charity [BCP, p. 533]. These are
virtues that you have to practise and cultivate
because they are present in the soul in an
undeveloped and unrealized condition. In other
words you have to learn them as you would learn
to play the violin or how to control a soccer
ball. How do you do that? -- by daily prayer,
such as:

O my God, I believe in Thee, and all that Thy
Church doth teach, for Thou hast said it, and Thy
word is true;

O my God, I hope in Thee for grace and for glory
because of Thy mercy, Thy promises and Thy power;

O my God, I love with my whole heart and for Thy
sake I love my neighbour as myself: kindle in me
the fire of Thy love;

and by practicing these Virtues as we go about our daily life.

[Note. The difference between ordinary human
faith, hope, and love and the supernatural
virtues of faith, hope, and charity is that the
former rest on people and things, while the
latter rest on God and are directed to Him as the
Creator and Perfector of our nature. They have to
do with our end (God) and the means by which He
is attained. Thus they are concerned both with
the present and the future - the future, being
the vision of God in Heaven, and that perfection
of our being which is the consequence of that
vision; and the present, being all the means and
helps, especially of divine grace, by the use of
which we come to God and become like Him. See
also Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis, Book 3,
chapters 9-12]

3. The Sacrament of Confirmation, which follows
Holy Baptism, is our personal Day of Pentecost.
Sanctity/Holiness is the effect of the grace of
Baptism, but the development of this sanctity is
the work of the indwelling Spirit, the Fountain
of grace, the Giver of Gifts, Himself the Gift of
God Most High. The Sacrament of Confirmation
bestows what we call the Gifts of the Spirit. You
know what they are:

i. KNOWLEDGE:
The gift of knowing the truth; knowing the
Father, and Jesus the Saviour whom He sent among
us, and the Holy Spirit, the Love of the Father
and the Son.

ii. WISDOM:
The gift that gives us the power to see all things as God sees them.

iii. UNDERSTANDING:
The gift of comprehending God's revelation more fully.

iv. COUNSEL:
The gift that helps us to see just what we should do in a given situation.

v. FORTITUDE/MIGHT:
The gift that gives us the power joyfully to do what we know to be right.

vi. PIETY/TRUE GODLINESS:
The gift that enables us to give to God the love
that a child would give to a loving Father.

vii. FEAR OF THE LORD:
The gift that enables us to be willing to respond
to the impulses of the Holy Spirit, and gives us
a fear of being separated by sin from our
awe-some God.

The place of the Sevenfold Gift of the Holy
Spirit in our spiritual life is a bit different
from that of the Virtues. I mentioned playing the
violin a moment ago. The purpose of practicing an
instrument is to gain control not over the
instrument, but over oneself -- eye, ear, hand,
one's whole body being in perfect control and
harmony under the mind - this is like the life of
the Virtues. But, during the period of practice
there gradually develops that indefinable
something, which no amount of practice can give,
that instinctive command over the instrument and
understanding of the music, which makes the
musician. That is like the Sevenfold Gift of the
Spirit - it enables the soul to operate by
intuition and obedience to the Spirit to produce
an inspired performance, which is what the Saints
are! By the Gift of the Spirit, God Himself takes
control, asking of the soul that it allow Him to
guide it, be docile to His leading, and supple in
His hands. Practice is still necessary of course;
it always will be in this life until we see God
face to face. They are like sails that catch the
wind of the Spirit!

So we can say that Confirmation is the strong but
gentle unfolding of what our Baptism means.
Regular, at least weekly, reception of Holy
Communion will continually bring Christ into your
heart, and the Holy Spirit will engrave Christ's
living image ever more deeply into your soul
making Him present within you in your own time
and place and way, thus bringing forth in you
those same Gifts of the Holy Spirit which Jesus
brought forth in His human soul. That is how we
become Saints, or, as our Lord says, "perfect as
your heavenly Father is perfect." The Incarnation
continues.

4. A Sobering Note.

With regard to yourselves, Confirmation will give
you the grace to live a life of personal holiness
in an unholy world, especially the gift of
Fortitude -- to sacrifice and to suffer for
Christ. You are called to be "counter cultural",
and your guide is not to be the ways of the
society in which you live and the media which
transmits them, but of your Lord, whom this world
either ignores or hates. And if it hates Him, it
will hate you, as He said.

For others, you receive the grace to spread and
defend the Faith by word and example as true
witnesses of Christ. The word witness is the same
word as martyr. I need hardly remind you that a
few years ago we said good-bye to the 20th
century, the bloodiest in human history -- 120
million people killed (at a conservative
estimate) and that is not counting members of the
armed forces who died in battle! The primary
target of the 20th century's regimes of terror
was the Church or some other faith group.
Two-thirds of all Christian martyrs died in the
last century. Organized irreligion is the
greatest killer the world has ever known. The
Church has once again become the Church of the
martyrs, of witnesses even to death for the Faith
of Christ; witnesses that political power is not
all there is; witnesses that human beings are not
what the totalitarian project claims they are
--machines to be manipulated, and that scientific
materialism a liberation.

5. So how do you react you someone attacks you or
the Christian Faith? The classic answers are St
Peter's:

With regard to an attack on yourself for being a
Christian the great Apostle writes, "If you are
insulted for the name of Christ, you are
blessedS[and] let him not be ashamed, but let him
glorify God in that name [I St Peter 4:14, 16]"
St Peter learned that from our Lord, who, in the
Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount, said,
"Blessed are those who are persecuted for
righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of
God" and " Blessed are you when others revile you
and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil
against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be
glad, for great is your reward in heavenS. [St
Matthew 5:10, 11].

So your persecutors are actually doing you a
favour! A charitable reaction on your part --
such as a silent prayer for them after the manner
of our Lord, "Father, forgive them for they know
not what they do" -- may well have converting
force for the persecutor or any on-lookers. And,
says St Peter, "do it with gentleness and
respectSso that, when you are slandered those who
revile your good behaviour in Christ may be put
to shame [I St Peter 3:16]."

When it is a question of an attack on the Faith,
again it is the Leader of the Apostolic Band who
tells us what to do: "Always," St Peter says, "be
prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks you
for a reason for the hope that is in you [1 St
Peter 3:14]" So you have to know how to defend
your Faith, and be able to give an explanation to
genuine inquirers, or know where to find the
answer. But even our Lord said, "Do not to give
dogs what is holy, and do not cast your pearls
before swine [Matt 7:6]" Be discriminating in the
proper sense of that word, for as C.S. Lewis, one
of the greatest defenders and explainers of the
Faith in the 20th century once wrote, "It is said
that people have rejected the Christian Faith,
but how can they reject what they don't know, and
when the have never been taught it?" Most people
do not have a clue about the Faith, so most often
it is sheer ignorance speaking.

+

6. So Elizabeth Lynn, Shannon Elizabeth, Robyn
Heather, and Jasmine Amber -- may the new life of
Christ's Spirit now imparted to you inspire your
heart, inflame your love, and give you the grace
of perseverance in living your new life of
communion with the Holy Trinity in Christ's Holy
Catholic Church. Worship regularly at the
Eucharistic Sacrifice; offer your lives back to
Him; daily live in intimate union with Him; and
show Him forth to others, at whatever cost, to
the very end of your days.

And then may you reign with Him in glory with all His Saints forever. Amen.

Trinity VI 2005

by Fr. Carl Reid

Three weeks ago, on the Third Sunday after Trinity, prompted by St. Peter’s exhortation in the Epistle reading for the day, “all of you be subject to one another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble,” I preached a somewhat forthright sermon on the need for this small Christian family at 289 Spencer Street to get along with each other. That sermon could have been preached just as topically on the following Sunday – Trinity IV when the Gospel reading from St. Luke was the passage about judging not, and the need to expel first the log in our own eye before we offer to remove the speck in anyone else’s eye. And then last Sunday – Trinity V – the Epistle reading, again from St. Peter, “have compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous; not rendering evil for evil,” might just as easily have served for the same message.

Clearly, this was an important exhortation, yea commandment, from Jesus and the Apostles to the young Church. If followers of Christ are not able to get along with each other, then why in the world would any non-believer find this religion to be anything different than that which goes on in the mean streets of our cities?

In my sermon, which was clearly aimed at our getting along with our fellow Annunciation members, I did make a passing reference for the need, once we leave these premises, of being examples to a fallen world. I made what some took to be a humorous example of where that might begin – behind the wheel of our automobiles.

Now, at the risk of raising some hackles, I must observe that, while perhaps most of the seed did indeed fall on good ground (time will tell), there was some seed that appears to have fallen on quite rocky ground indeed. Perhaps instead of mentioning driving habits, I should have said something about being pleasant and civil to restaurant staff. A few examples in the past three weeks, by members of this congregation, were, shall we say, less than Christ-like advertisements for a “loving-congregation-won’t-you-come-and-join-us.” I mention this because when we come to today’s Gospel reading – well, how in the world can any of us “love our enemies,” a direct command from Jesus, if we can’t even be civil towards those who aren’t our enemies?

“Love your enemies.” Of course, in human terms, a completely impossible directive. And yet there it is, a moral imperative from the lips of God incarnate – a human impossibility but yet a divine necessity.

So why in the world would Jesus command us to do something that is quite impossible? Because He, uniquely, makes it possible. The Epistle reading, which at first glance may appear to be unrelated to the Gospel passage, is that brilliant bit from St. Paul in his letter to the Romans that describes that which takes place in the souls of all who undergo Christian Baptism. Yes, it is beyond our human understanding, just in the same way that we cannot ever understand how Jesus becomes truly present in the bread and wine – and yet, we know that to be true.

So how can morally frail, emotionally protective humans ever truly love their enemies? To paraphrase St. Paul – in our Baptism, our old natures are buried symbolically with Christ; and, just as He rose to a new and more glorious life, we too, having been regenerated in the Sacrament, being washed from our sins, are given the grace to walk a new life. St. Paul concludes the passage, “likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

(It bears repeating here that in Baptism we are indeed regenerated, washed from our sins; however, the gift that is at the same time both wondrous and dangerous – free will – pretty much guarantees that we will not remain in the state of purity that occurs at the moment of our Baptism. But in our Baptism, just as in the Eucharist, we receive grace, by which, when we turn those free wills to be in accordance with God’s will, we make tiny steps along the lifelong road towards sanctification, holiness. With Christ dwelling in us by the power of His Holy Spirit, Whom we receive in these Sacraments, His grace gives us the potential to accomplish the humanly impossible command to love our enemies.)

It is thus by our living with Christ, with Him in us and we in Him, as we say in the Prayer of Humble Access just prior to every partaking of the precious Body and Blood, that we might accomplish that which is humanly impossible – loving our enemies.

But what does, “love your enemies” mean? It does not mean that our love has bent them to our will for them. News flash! It may come as a rather rude surprise for us to acknowledge that, even in fulfilling this commandment through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the enmities are quite likely to remain. When we accept this probability, then we begin to understand that this type of love expects no recognition, reward or reciprocation. The Divine Love, because if we truly love our enemies, we become a sort of reflection of that true Love, the Divine Love does not depend on anything outside of itself.

“Love your enemies” – they may still be our enemies; “… do good to them which hate you,” – their hatred for us might very likely remain; “… bless them that curse you,” – their vitriol and epithets both in word and posture may be evident for all to see; “…pray for them which despitefully use you.” – their abuse of our good-will may continue.

How very topical this is for us today when the Church is increasingly under attack from various groups in our ever more post-Christian society. There are some groups who have publicly stated that one of their driving purposes is to destroy the Church. I guess that we would have to recognize them as enemies. And how do we respond to their animosity?

“Love your enemies.” Within the walls of 289 Spencer Street, within our small community that is a part of the Body of Christ, there are some pretty hateful comments directed towards some of those who are our enemies. Is that what Jesus meant?

“Love your enemies.” It’s not a suggestion.

THE ANNUNCIATION OTTAWA 2005 CLRK