WEEKLY HOMILY for January 9, 2011: Tattooed and Branded for God

Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Cycle A
St. Margaret Church, Bel Air
January 9, 2011

Tattooed and Branded by God
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


TATTOOS

Tattoos have gone mainstream.

College student and business professionals alike have subjected themselves to hours of needle pricks to adorn their bodies with colorful designs, flowers and images.

Now those who say stay ahead of the trends are now getting “branded” rather than “tattooed.”

As you can imagine, branding hurts quite a bit, and once you are branded, you are branded for life.

Anyone considering getting a tattoo or being brand is warned to be sure that they really want the mark they are getting and to consider it permanent, for getting rid of them involves painful expensive elective surgery that leaves a scar.

In addition, whatever symbol a person chooses says something about him or her; are marks of identity.

So an Olympic athlete will have a set of Olympic rings, lovers each other’s names, and a Christian a cross.


OUTWARD SIGN; INNER REALITY

In baptism, we are tattooed or branded by God into the very heart and life of God. No, baptism is not simply a ritual or milestone.

Baptism we learned is an outward sign of in inward reality, that is Baptism is an outward, visible, tangible sign, that points to, represents, explains a deeper inner reality that is true of me.

We are all familiar with the words of baptism and each of the three times something is said, water is poured to explain or reinforce the reality of what is happening.

So what’s the reality beneath what’s going on?


"IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER" AND WATER

“I baptize you in the name of the Father” and water is poured. What is real here is that God is invoked as creator of all that is, namely all humans, animals, plants, minerals share in God’s creating power.

We are all made (1) By the same Creator, (2) Of the same cosmic dust, (3) For the same purpose of being one with the Creator. It’s as if we were all different portraits of the same artist, and though different in many ways, we all reflect that same artist.

God the Father/Creator is my brand. It’s the way I come to know myself and it’s the way others come to know me.

It’s out of that reality that I live and so I live with a respect for all of creation: the quality of air, sea, land, and of life in all its forms.


"IN THE NAME OF THE SON" AND WATER

In the Baptismal Ritual we then hear, “I baptize you in the name of the Son” and again water is poured.

What is real here is that I become through my own efforts and God’s grace one with Jesus who has the relationship to me of brother, savior, redeemer, or model.

In living out my life and the choices I make I become more like him in identity.

Of course it will take lots of (1) Denying of myself for his self, (2) Picking up my crosses in life as he picked up his, and (3) Following him as I’d follow the directions of a trusted friend when completely lost.


"IN THE NAME OF THE HOLY SPIRIT" AND WATER

Finally we hear, “I baptize you in the name of the Holy Spirit” and water is poured a third time.

What is real in this final instance is that as the breath of God moved over creation God’s breath continues in another very real sense in our own breath.

The automatic unnoticed presence of a life-giving breath, one after another, keeps us alive and in touch with the divine already within us.

We have only to notice it and experience a sense of gratitude over it to come into God’s presence even more poignantly.


BE ATTENTIVE TO YOUR TATTOO/BRANDING

So we’ve been tattooed and branded by God and for God, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

The question today at Jesus’ baptism is, “Are we living up to our tattoo, our brand?”