“What do you wish me to do for you?”
In this Gospel James and John make a request of Jesus. In Matthew’s Gospel, the mother of James and John go up to Jesus and not the two brothers. [1] Either way a request is made, they want Jesus to do something for them, but are they ready for what He will do?
If we are baptized as a child or infant, what do our parents request of Christ and His Church? If we are baptized as an adult, what do we request of Christ and His Church?
Search: Call to Baptism
What is our baptism an acceptance of and inauguration into? There are different prayers within the Rite of Baptism and each one gives us an indication of what we are accepting and what we are inaugurated into. Basically we are inaugurated into the life of Christ and therefore we accept the life of Christ.
What do the Renunciation of Sin and Profession of Faith tell us about our life? The Priest or Deacon will ask the parents and God parents, “On your part, you must make it your constant care to bring him (her) up in the practice of the faith. See that the divine life which God gives him (her) is kept safe from the poison of sin, to grow always stronger in his (her) heart. If your faith makes you ready to accept this responsibility, renew now the vows of your own baptism. Reject sin; profess your faith in Christ Jesus. This is the faith of the Church. This is the faith in which this child is about to be baptized.” [2] Once we are of the age of reason, it is also our personal responsibility to practice the faith. This is why going to Mass, learning our Catechism, and reciting prayers is essential. It is our responsibility to keep safe the divine life that has been given to us. This is why we must strive to stay in the state of Grace. The Sacraments help greatly with this. We also are responsible to reject sin and profess faith in Jesus Christ in all areas of life. We are called to live out our baptism. The Church, through its doctrine, Sacrament’s, morals, and prayer gives us the tools necessary to live out our baptism.
What does the anointing with Chrism tell us about our life? The Priest or Deacon will say, “God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has freed you from sin, given you a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, and welcomed you into his holy people. He now anoints you with the chrism of salvation. As Christ was anointed Priest, Prophet, and King, so may you live always as a member of his body, sharing everlasting life.” [3] We are part of the Body of Christ and as Christ was anointed Priest, Prophet, and King, so we are anointed into the threefold mission of Christ. We are Priests because we offer the gift of our self and make sacrifices. We are Prophets because we speak the words of Christ and are a herald of the Gospel. We are Kings because we are to be leaders and examples of holiness. We are responsible for our thoughts, words, and actions and we are to care for and guide others.
Search: Priest, Prophet, King
What does the Clothing with the White Garment tell us about our life? The Priest or Deacon says, “N., you have become a new creation, and have clothed yourself in Christ. See in this white garment the outward sign of your Christian dignity. With your family and friends to help you by word and example, bring that dignity unstained into the everlasting life of heaven.” [4] Christian behold your dignity. We must always behold our dignity. We are dignified because we are created in the image and likeness of God. Moreover, we are dignified through baptism because we are united with the one whose image we share. Through physical birth we share in the image of God, through baptism (spiritual birth) we are united with the life of Jesus Christ, God made flesh. We are called to holiness, to bring our dignity unstained into the everlasting life of heaven. If we stain our dignity, we must be reconciled, through the waters of Sacramental Confession, which is like a second baptism. We must hold onto the theological virtue of Hope that not only are we called to bring our garment spotless and unstained into heaven, but that God gives us the Grace to do this, and “with God all things are possible”. [5]
Search: Wardrobe and Garments
What does the Lighted Candle tell us about our life? The Priest or Deacon says, “Parents and godparents, this light is entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly. This child of yours has been enlightened by Christ. He (she) is to walk always as a child of the light. May he (she) keep the flame of faith alive in his (her) heart. When the Lord comes, may he (she) go out to meet him with all the saints in the heavenly kingdom.” [6] This little prayer says a lot: Christ, who is the source of our grace and all goodness in our life, enlightens us. Like a fire, He is the reason we are warmed, and we are able to see. Without Him there would be coldness in our life. Cold is the absence of heat. Without Him there would be darkness in our life. Darkness is the absence of light. We can only give this warmth and direction to others if we keep the fire alive in our own heart. Like the ten virgins who were called to faithfully wait for the bridegroom, we are called to keep our lamps burning and to await our bridegroom, Jesus Christ.
Both the lighted candle and the white garment give us hope for heaven and speak of our destiny as citizens of heaven, while the anointing with Chrism, Renunciation of Sin, and Profession of Faith grounds us in our responsibilities while on earth.
What does the Ephphetha or Prayer over Ears and Mouth tell us about our life? The Priest or Deacon says, “The Lord Jesus made the deaf hear and the dumb speak. May he soon touch your ears to receive his word, and your mouth to proclaim his faith, to the praise and glory of God the Father.” [7] This prayer helps protect us against the sin of pride. When we become prideful and full of self rather than God we could begin to thing that we no longer need to receive his word. We might feel that we have heard the message before or that we have heard it all. Our pride can also cause us to proclaim not His faith or His message, but our own message or what we interpret or think the faith should be. When we are prideful, we do not give praise and glory to God the Father, but rather we give praise and glory to our self. The opposite of pride is the beatitude, “Blessed are those who are poor in Spirit”. Like the deaf and dumb man we must know that we are deaf and dumb without Christ and therefore must continually rely and long to listen attentively to His word and to proclaim His Faith with our mouth. It is in this humility that we are able to give praise and glory to God the Father. Baptism is the door into the Sacramental Life. Like the mute and deaf man in the Gospel we are in need of Christ and Christ gives Himself through the Sacraments.
Search: The Mute and Deaf Man (Sacramental Life)
Search: Speak for Yourself
At the end of the Rite, the Priest or Deacon says, “You have put on Christ; in him you have been baptized. Alleluia, alleluia.” This beautiful statement says it all. In Baptism we “put on Christ”. In today’s Gospel, James and John are asking to “put on Christ” to share in His glory. We too want to “put on Christ” to share in His glory, His suffering, every part of Christ. We want to share in the whole Christ. We pray in the Angelus prayer that we “by His passion and cross we may be brought to the glory of His resurrection.” Let us therefore put on the whole Christ.
“The Priest at the Mass is in persona Christi. In the Mass, the priest ‘puts on Christ’. Pope Benedict XVI spoke to priests about the importance of putting on Christ in the Mass. ‘This event [Mass], the ‘putting on of Christ’, is demonstrated again and again at every Holy Mass by the putting on of liturgical vestments. Vesting ourselves in them must be more than an external event: it means entering ever anew into the ‘yes’ of our office — into that ‘no longer I’ of Baptism which Ordination to the priesthood gives to us in a new way and at the same time asks of us. The fact that we are standing at the altar clad in liturgical vestments must make it clearly visible to those present that we are there ‘in the person of an Other’.’ It is only in putting on Christ at the Mass, where we learn, to put on Christ in all aspects of our life. When we put on Christ we become a new creation. In the words of Saint Ignatius we are not ‘held back from living’ but our on our way to becoming our true self. ‘When you give yourself away you find that a new and more real self has somehow been given to you.’” [8]
[1] cf. Mt. 20:20-21
[2] Rite of Baptism
[3] Rite of Baptism
[4] Rite of Baptism
[5] Matthew 19:26
[6] Rite of Baptism
[7] Rite of Baptism
[8] See Link to Liturgy Lesson You will be my witnesses