Word to the Wise
Saturday, June 15, 2019 - Saturday in the 10th Week in Ordinary Time
[2 Cor 5:14-21 and Matt 5:33-37]So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come. And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. [2 Corinthians]
This passage from St. Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians has some significance for me because I had it printed on one of the souvenir cards that I gave out at the time of my ordination to the priesthood 48 years ago. It still carries a "punch" for me because it underlies my parish mission preaching. Baptism makes a person a "new creation." The older way of life that the Corinthians followed was pretty wild in that ancient Greek port city. Paul is telling them that the old way can no longer be followed because baptism changes the relationship of a person to God and to one another. The baptized person is not only changed but becomes an example, an "ambassador for Christ."
The notion of being a new creation can get lost for many of us because we were baptized as infants. Those who are baptized at the Easter Vigil have a much better chance at experiencing what this means. The idea of being "an ambassador for Christ" can seem daunting, but it really means that a life lived in faith and in accord with the teachings of Jesus will preach loudly and represent Jesus. It may seem a little strange to look at ourselves in the mirror and say, "I'm a new creation and an ambassador for Christ," but it is true. A lot of good can happen when we take that status seriously. AMEN