Draw courage from your baptism
Wis 18:6-9; Ps 33:1, 12, 18-19, 20-22; Heb 11:1-2, 8-19; Lk 12:32-48
Courage. Do you have it? Do you wish you had more? How would you acquire it, if you needed to?
In a culture where many feel helpless in the face of the abuse of power or the persuasive influence of lies and deception, the desire for courageous action is great. And yet, you cannot simply force yourself to be more courageous today. Where does courage come from?
It’s not too likely that anyone would look to the Book of Wisdom as a modern manual for the acquisition of courage. And yet, in the passage we encounter from today’s Mass, we find an extraordinary claim for how courage can be won.
Although the author is describing the Passover night when the Israelites fled from Egypt, he is writing millennia after the actual event, likely between about the years 50 B.C. and A.D. 50. He’s writing for Jews in the diaspora who are living far outside of Israel and faced with the challenge of holding fast to the faith of their ancestors while confronted by pagan religions of the Roman Empire.
He reminds his audience that, just as God saved the ancient Israelites by visiting terrible plagues upon the Egyptians, so will he save them from their pagan foes if they can just hold fast to the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. What they require in the face of this challenge is courage.
Without the courage to resist false religions, the Jews will lose their identity and rupture their intimate relationship as God’s chosen people. The attack from false religions can come either from violent opposition or from a subtle lure that promises easy gains and a focus on oneself rather than upon God.
When confronted by these threats, the Jews are called to ground themselves in the “sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith” so that “they might have courage” (Wis 18:6). That is, to be fiercely loyal to the covenantal bond that Moses and the Israelites formed with God when he brought them up from the land of Egypt. That can only happen if the story of Israel’s salvation history is told and retold throughout the generations (see Dt 6:20-25).
There is a powerful lesson we can draw as modern Christians from this Old Testament text. Like the Israelites, we too have an “oath in which we have put our faith” — our baptism. Our rich sacramental theology tells us that by virtue of our baptismal grace, we are forever imbued with the grace of the Holy Spirit by which we fully enter into the Body of Christ and share in his paschal mystery: life, death and resurrection.
That’s true, but is it really a source of courage for us, as the Book of Wisdom claimed the faith of the Israelites was the foundation of courage for them? What would it mean for us to have courage that was drawn from the “sure knowledge” of the oath of our baptismal faith?
For starters, we could take up the challenge to explicitly tell the story of that faith. Are you a godparent? When was the last time you shared with your godchild why your faith has been meaningful for you? How has your relationship with Jesus or the saints been a source of strength, peace or courage? What practices of our faith do you cherish and how might you teach them to new generations?
Beyond this, we can draw courage from our baptism by knowing that it is Christ who lives and acts in us (see Gal 2:20). We truly can love as he loved. In the face of injustice we can find the courage to express righteous anger and forceful action. In the face of lies and deception we find the courage to speak and defend the truth. And in the face of overwhelming suffering or need we find the courage to be generous and self-sacrificing.
The Israelites drew courage from remembering the marvels the Lord had done for them (see Ps 105:5). We should draw courage from our baptismal grace, not simply recalling a sacramental moment from our infancy, but leveraging the very real presence of Jesus in our midst, on the altar and beyond.