Today we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord and we heard how the Lord was baptized, but there is another way to look at this: the Baptism of the Lord, the Baptism Jesus performed, was different from John’s baptism with water.
John the Baptist said in today’s Gospel that he baptizes with water, but Jesus “will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” And after Jesus was baptized with water, He was baptized with the Holy Spirit, while He was praying the Holy Spirit descended on Him.
I’ve always wondered about this in our own practice of the sacraments. We kind of combine those two baptisms into one, but I’ve always wondered about the action of the Holy Spirit specifically.
When I was baptized I received the Holy Spirit, but then at Confirmation, when I was confirmed, I was supposed to receive the Holy Spirit again, but why? Didn't I receive it already at my baptism? So at confirmation did I receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit?
Well, I’ve come to realize that it isn’t just a matter of either having it or not, on or off, the full Holy Spirit or none at all, I’ve come to realize it is more a matter of degrees of reception and the process isn’t finished at confirmation.
So we receive a portion of the Holy Spirit at our baptism, and then again at our confirmation, but we receive in proportion to how we are disposed, especially at our confirmation, in accord with what we pray for.
We can see that in today’s readings, after Jesus was baptized with water, then He prayed and received the Holy Spirit. And even the second reading from Titus has them somewhat separated, saying “He saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”
They are connected but somewhat separate, and we receive in degrees based on what we are ready for, what we are ready to handle, for our good and the good of the Church.
See, God is a good Father, and He wants to give us the gifts that we ask for, but at the same time, He won’t give us something we are not ready for. It is like earthly parents: no good father would give his 5 year-old child a car when they are only ready for a bike!
So when we were confirmed, were we truly ready for all of the gifts of the Holy Spirit? Probably not likely, I know I wasn’t, and I am still probably not even today!
But as we grow in our faith, as we grow in our relationship with God, we are eventually prepared to receive more and more of the Holy Spirit and the gifts that go along with that, so we ask later in our life for the gifts that we want.
Our asking is inseparably connected to God’s giving. The Lord wants us to cry out, He wants us to show our hunger and stewardship, our readiness to use those gifts properly, when the time is right.
It’s not like if we missed it at our confirmation, we missed it for good, no, we have what is called the “Baptism in the Holy Spirit,” it is somewhat like Pentecost, separate from Baptism, where we ask for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit ourselves, or we ask through someone who imparts the Holy Spirit on us in a greater degree, imparting those gifts on us that we truly desire.
…Gifts of wisdom and knowledge, faith and healing, prophecy and preaching, tongues and joy, mighty deeds and discernment of spirits. (1 Cor 12:4-11)
Many people don’t even realize this is possible, to be baptized in the spirit, to receive in greater degrees, to receive more gifts as we go along.
This was true in the early church as well, we read in Acts Chapter 9: “1 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior of the country and came (down) to Ephesus where he found some disciples. 2 He said to them, “Did you receive the holy Spirit when you became believers?” They answered him, “We have never even heard that there is a holy Spirit.” 3 He said, “How were you baptized?” They replied, “With the baptism of John.” 4 Paul then said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul laid [his] hands on them, the holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.”
They didn’t even know there was a Holy Spirit, yet alone a baptism in it, and I believe that is still true for many people today.
I was at a conference the week after Christmas in Michigan and the founder of the conference, Fr. Mathias Thelen, said there are three ways to know if we have been baptized in the Holy Spirit:
Fr. Mathias went on to say that we need to take an honest look at our church, and at ourselves, and to be courageous enough to say, “something is missing,” there is more waiting for us if we are ready to ask God for it.
Because God wants us to have these gifts, He wants us to be fully alive in Him, in the Spirit, but if we don’t know this is possible, then we won’t ask for it.
Fr. Mathias’ advice was to do this: to forgive, to repent, and then to ask God to come and show you His love. Forgive, repent, and ask for God’s love.
This was essentially what our parish mission did last year, one night was forgiveness, one night was repentance, and one night was a baptism in the Holy Spirit, where we prayed for the Holy Spirit to come down upon us like a new Pentecost.
So this year’s mission will be a little different, it is the next level, level 2, but we will still pray for a Baptism in the Holy Spirit on Tuesday night, February 8th, at 6:30pm, so I am trying to help prepare you now, if you weren’t here last year, to forgive and repent, and then to ask.
Ask, ask, ask, like a child who really wants a gift, and almost becomes annoying because they ask so much. It shows God that we really want it.
For example: there was a priest at this conference from New York City, he has a parish in the Bronx, and it was revealed to him that he would receive the gift of healing, and he asked for three years until he received it. Three years! So we need to be persistent in our asking. This happens in the bible too. God promised a child to Abraham and Sarah, but it took almost a year before that promise came to be.
This is still Christmas, and there are more gifts under the tree, so keep asking God to show you His love. That’s what this is all about. It starts with our understanding of God’s love for us, and then helping others to know of God’s love for them.
This is what the Holy Spirit will do for us when we are properly disposed and ask for Him to bestow on us the gifts we desire. So keep asking, and get ready to receive, with God there is always more!