Good morning. One of the great joys of my ministry as a deacon is being able to baptize infants with these words: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” This is the baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we hear in the Gospel of Matthew: “After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened [for him], and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove [and] coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (3:16-17).
This is the baptism that the followers of John the Baptist desired when Paul asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers.” They answered him, saying: “We have never even heard that that is a Holy Spirit.” This is the baptism in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that we have all received as a child or, if you are like me, as an adult when we followed Jesus home to Rome.
The Holy Spirit comes upon us when we are anointed with the Sacred Chrism when we receive the Sacrament of Confirmation, and we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit - wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord - so that we may have the strength and courage to go forth and “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). Moreover, with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we have the courage to “observe all that [Jesus has] commanded” us and teach others to do the same (28:19).
In today’s Gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ tells us that “[in] the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” With these words, our Jesus tells us that we, too, with the help of the Holy Spirit can conquer the troubled world that we live in. How? In his first letter, Saint John the Evangelist, gives us this insight when he wrote: “For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith.” And here is the hinge: “Who [indeed] is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:3-5).
My sisters and brothers in Christ, when we believe in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; when we keep the commandments that he has given us - to love God and love our neighbors; when we lead others to encounter the love and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ so that they, too, may come and follow him; then, we can conquer the troubled world in which we live, not with power, but with our faith. The question for us then is, do we have enough faith and the courage to ask the Holy Spirit to activate the graces of the Sacraments that we have received, especially the Eucharist that we receive at every Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, be instruments of the peace that Jesus desires for each and every one of us and for the world? Come, Holy Spirit!
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