Sixth Sunday After Pentecost

Dearly beloved, Today we mark the sixth Sunday after Pentecost. In the first reading St. Paul speaks about the mystical import of the sacrament of Baptism. All of the sacraments cause interior conformity to Christ: by the matter acting upon us, whether water or holy oil or the Body and Blood of Christ, the soul is affected—according to the purpose of the sacrament, our mind and heart are changed to be like the Lord and participate in his mysteries. This change in us, making us like Jesus, formed into him interiorly, is necessary for our salvation—to enter the kingdom of God we must put off the old man, Adam with his sins, and be made into the new man, Christ with his holiness. In today’s reading from Romans, Paul teaches us that Baptism creates conformity to Christ in regards to his death, burial, and resurrection. In a mysterious way, beyond our comprehension, Baptism causes the old man, the man subject to sin, to die, be buried, and the new man rise in Christ. The threefold pouring of water and the Trinitarian formula effect this change interiorly, such that the person who is baptized is a new creation, freed from sin to serve the living God. Though we are used to the pouring of water over the infant or even the adult, in the early Church until the early Middle Ages, the norm was a threefold immersion. St. Ambrose describes the rite in his works on the sacraments: he says that the candidate was asked if he believed in the Father and upon saying ‘I believe,’ he was immersed in the baptismal water; then asked if he believed in the Son and the Holy Spirit, being dunked a second and third time. Ambrose then remarks that this threefold immersion not only professes belief in the Trinity, it is also a participation in Christ’s burial, for he was in the tomb for three days, and hence three immersions. The candidate dies and is buried in baptism; the font is his grave; and the man who comes forth is a new man, made like to Jesus Christ. This conformity to Christ in Baptism is infallible; it happens in us though we do not sense it, especially if we were baptized as infants; we really are different from those who are unbaptized, as they live according to the legacy of Adam, and we according to the treasures of Christ. But although the sacrament of Baptism works in us by divine power and causes us to die to sin and rise to life in God, still, as we become more and more aware of life, we must choose to live in accord with the gifts we have received and the state of our inner life. We have died with Christ and risen with him, but we can choose to follow the ways of Adam or Jesus. And if we follow Adam, then eventually we will again become subject to sin and the devil. St. Paul says of Christ: ‘in that he died to sin, he died once; but in that he lives, he lives unto God.’ Because the Lord was sinless, when he died to sin, he died only once, for his death for to atone for our sins, not for his own. Due to his divinity and his holiness, his one death had the power to forgive and sanctify all sinners. We, in contrast, are not sinless, and therefore we must die many times to atone for our sins. Though the mystical death of Baptism is enough to be saved, as soon as we sin when we come to habitual use of reason, we must atone for that sin; we must die to ourselves so that Christ may live in us again. The Lord’s one death meant that he did not need to die again but could live wholly for God; our many deaths over the course of a lifetime make it possible for us to live for God—it is only in heaven that this struggle will be over and we will live only for God. This means that the more we choose to be conformed to Christ’s death and burial, the more glorious will be our resurrection. We know from the lives of the Saints that there are many who choose this path, who every day die to themselves in a profound way and thus become more and more like Christ in his resurrection, even in this life. But most of us are not courageous enough to choose this path, or too attached to ourselves to choose the self-denial required to follow the likes of St. Teresa of Avila or St. John of the Cross. And so, to overcome our cowardice or self-love, the Lord sends us the means to be conformed to him, in three principal ways. First, he gives us our body and its temperament. Each body and each temperament has its own share of trials, which are the means of our sanctification. I have been given a male body, of moderate proportions, with a decent constitution, and a strongly melancholic temperament. This means I am subject to the usual male temptations and irritations, to the limitations of my stature and health, and prone to sadness and discouragement. I can either rebel against this realities, have a pity party or loathe myself, or I can accept them with joy as a means to save my soul. This is the first immersion, given by the Father. Second, the Lord gives us our state in life, with all of its responsibilities and implications. It is the arena wherein we work out our salvation, the place where we die and are buried with Christ. State of life means marriage, priesthood, single life, and all the key things which come with each form of life. The world tends to chafe at a stable state, but that is where the most meaningful growth occurs: it is by accepting the Lord’s will and not running away from it, and by responding ever more generously to its demands that I die and Christ lives in me. This is the second immersion, given by the Son. Third, there are the circumstances that present themselves to us as life goes on. Our body and temperament are given us at conception; our state in life is chosen in our 20s or 30s; in addition to these two fundamentals, there are the vagaries that befall us here and there. Although good things come our way on a regular basis, it is the evil things that come our way that serve as an instrument of our becoming more like Christ. Whereas temperament and state of life are always with us, slowly working our salvation, gravely difficult circumstances can do a lot for us in a short space of time. The more intense and demanding the experience, the more inner growth occurs, the more there is death to sin and life for God. We rarely notice in the going, but afterwards we can see that the Lord was laying his hand on us for a reason; usually not only our sanctification is at stake, but that of others also. The trial will give us the interior riches needed to navigate a change in life or the wisdom necessary to guide another. This is the third immersion, given by the Holy Spirit. In all three cases, gratitude is essential: gratitude that the Lord loves us enough to lead us along the paths of holiness, and gratitude that he allows us to see the wisdom of it all, if only we open our eyes. It is a threefold immersion: he knows our self-love and our cowardice, and so he pushes us into the font of the spiritual life. Our duty is to drink deeply and take in all the grace that we can get. It is our version of the stigmata: St. Francis and St. Catherine and St. Pio became more like Christ in receiving them; they were painful to bear but also an honor; and their glory in heaven increased through their acceptance of those wounds. May the Lord strengthen and enlighten us today through his Body and Blood that we may die ever more each day, and that we may recognize the grace found in our temperament, our state, and our grave trials. May the words of St. Paul to the Philippians be true for us also: ‘May I know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead… forgetting the things that are behind, and stretching forth myself to what lies ahead, I press towards the mark, to the prize of the supernal vocation of God in Christ Jesus.’