2nd Sunday of Advent 2016: Baptism Begins

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Last week when I penned the first post for Advent, I had every intention of writing a few times per week. As usual, the best-laid plans can quickly go to waste.

Instead, I was mostly off line (minus a few social media shares) while I was at ShiftCon. That’s something I’ll be sharing more about in the future.

Before and after, though, has been a parade of illness striking family members. I’m praying we are all healthy for our return trip to Alaska. And, that no one is sorely disappointed that some planned activities had to be canceled.

2nd Sunday of Advent 2016

Today at Mass, the priest who gave the homily spent a long time reflecting on the Gospel reading. (Matthew  3:1-12)

Specifically, he focused on how John the Baptist baptized in the spirit of repentance in anticipation for the Messiah’s coming. While he was willing to baptize the Pharisees and Sadducees, he verbally dressed them down. Essentially, relying upon your lineage and how they were descended from Abraham would mean little. Also, they were told to “produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.”

Taking it a step further, we ALL need to experience conversion. Saying that we are Christian and come from a line of ‘good Christians’ is not enough to ensure our salvation.  Riding on the coattails of those who came before us will not lead to our salvation. And, we should have our actions fit with what we profess to be.

I left Mass with food for thought. Basically, am I fully living my life the way God desires? Do my actions glorify Him and mark me as a Christian?

I may have been fully initiated into the Catholic Church through the Sacraments of Baptism, Communion, and Confirmation. But, I can not be stagnant in my life. Basically, now that I have accepted Christ into my life I need to fully live my life as a Christian. The only question now is what change do I need to affect in my life to let me grow closer to Christ and be a reflection of Him in the world.

 

My friend Trish over at A House Upon the Rock is (hopefully) joining me in co-hosting this 40 day meme.   We will not be doing a daily link-up, but rather a weekly one.  If you blog more than once a week, please add each link to the link-up, we’d love to find you and read what you are doing and learning as you seek Him.

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Please consider joining us as we Seek Him for the next 40 days.   We will celebrate from the first day of Advent through Epiphany on Jan. 6th.

When joining us on the 40 Days of Seeking Him meme, please link directly to your post.  Every week we will link up and share what we are doing, learning or how we celebrate the birth of our Lord. You are more than welcome to link up to more than one post each week if you’ve written multiple posts on the topic of Advent and growing closer to Christ.

If you would, please help us find each other by using the photo button in your posts. Grab the code on this page here. Also, we’ll be using the hashtag #40DaysofSeekingHim on social media!

We have a Pinterest board we will be adding participants posts to from the weekly link ups. If you want to follow it you can find it here.  We will also be highlighting a favorite post from the previous week as well as the most visited post.

We’d love to have you join our Facebook Group/Page. We will be posting there and chatting through the season as well.

Thank you for joining us.  I look forward to reading your posts (as many as I possibly can) as we share what we are doing to prepare our hearts for the most wonderful gift God gave us ~ Jesus Christ.

What are your plans for this Advent Season?