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Hello again everyone, and welcome back to this episode of the Monday after, where I revisit what we shared together in the church yesterday on the Sunday before. So I hope you enjoy this little retelling of the homily. And I began by sharing with you that I'd been watching my parents dog for a little while here in the rectory in the house. Annie, little Aussie doodle. I miss her. She was good company. I came to understand about her what you will probably take for granted or find obvious if you are a dog owner yourself, but that Annie is very dependent upon me taking care of her when she's here, my parents taking care of her when she's in the house with them. That she is a domesticated dog, that she is a member of the household having been adopted as a puppy and probably would not do all that well living on the street the way that dogs who are not members of households have to live. They live according to their instincts and their appetites. And I don't know how well Annie would do out there. And if she was forced to live as a dog on the streets, it would be a very sad thing. So as Christians baptized into the household of God, the church made sons and daughters of God and brothers and sisters of one another. We also now are dependent upon the spirit of God to lead us in our decision making, to feed us with the sacraments. Okay? And we wouldn't do all that well living on the streets or living as people in the world live, who live according to their instincts and their appetites and who do what dogs do, which is, I'll kill you if you get in my way or if you come between me and that food. They steal if they have to steal. They kill if they have to kill. But as members of the household of God, we are free from having to kill and having to steal because we're being provided for by our God. Does that make sense? And this is what Christ wants for us, that we would allow the Father to take care of us the way that the Father takes care of him. So why would John the Baptist refer to Jesus though, as the Lamb of God? And what does the Lamb of God have to do with bringing us into the household of God? What does Lamb of God have to do with baptism? Okay, so let's go back to the beginning of the scriptures. We see the sacrifices of Cain and Abel, those two brothers. Cain offers some of his grain, Abel offers a lamb to God, and the lamb is accepted. It's what upsets Cain and why he kills his brother. But There's a sacrifice to God of a lamb right away in the beginning of the Scriptures. Fast forward a little bit. You see Abraham now with his son Isaac. And Abraham being called to sacrifice his son Isaac. And as his son Isaac is carrying the wood like Christ carrying the cross, carrying the wood that will be used to burn a fire and make the sacrifice. He asks his father, father, where is the lamb? Where is the lamb? God will provide, Abraham says. And then Abraham is commended for his faith. And God says to him, abraham, do not sacrifice Isaac, but rather look over there in the thicket and you will find a ram. Offer the ram to me. And he does, Right? Okay, fast forward a little bit. Like from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. From him and 12 sons of this Jacob, his people begin to Egypt they go where they meet only woe. And they cry out to God once again. And this is where Moses comes in. This is how we remember that with the children of the faith formation program. And while enslaved by the Egyptians, how are they set free? But by the blood of the lamb. God instructs Moses to have the people put the blood of a lamb sacrificed on the doorposts of the household, like the entryway into a household. So they put the blood of the lamb on the doorposts. And anyone who had the blood of the lamb on the doorpost awoke the next morning to find that their firstborn male was alive. The angel of death had passed over those houses. But those who did not put the blood of the lamb on the doorpost, when they awoke in the morning, they found that their firstborn male had died in the night. That's a pretty strong foreshadowing image of how Christ's blood on the cross, a kind of doorpost into heaven, will allow the angel of death to pass over him and us as he's raised from the dead. And it promises us that we too, will survive death and live forever. The blood of the lamb has entryway into the household. That's the defining moment. The Pharaoh releases the people. The Hebrew people making their way now, led by the Spirit into the desert, following Moses, the Egyptians chasing after them and getting up to the Red Sea. But God allowing the people through the Red Sea, through the waters. An image of baptism. And then those same waters falling back upon the Egyptians as they're chasing after the Hebrew people. When they emerge on the other side of those waters, they are really like the people of Israel. This is when they know themselves to be particularly favored by God, as if they have been made members of his household. So as they make Their way then into the promised land. And it is Joshua who leads them in, which is Yeshua, which is Jesus. They then set up temple sacrifice to give thanks to God. And they offer lambs in memory of the Passover event. So the sacrifice of a lamb in thanksgiving for having been made members of the household of God. Now Christ's baptism is meant to make what he's done for Israel something that all the nations and all the peoples of the world can enjoy or be adopted into. So baptism is how you and I are also adopted into this household of God, which is made possible by Christ, who is the glory of the people, Israel. So no wonder then at the Last Supper with his apostles, as they're celebrating the Passover, Jesus has bread and wine there. And they would have asked, where is the lamb, master, where is the lamb? Then he takes the bread and says, this is my body given up for you. This is my blood poured out for you with the wine for the forgiveness of sins. I am the Lamb, he's saying, right? But also at the Last Supper, what else did he do? Remember, he washed the apostles feet. So he washed our feet, right? Of course, washing the feet of the people who have made their way to a house after a long journey. And the servant would wash the feet of the person so they can enter into the household. You wash the dirt from the feet so they can enter into the household. And as Christ gives himself to us in the Eucharist, he is taking upon himself the sins of the world, taking away our sins. The Lamb of God, as this Eucharist is connected with his death on the cross. And in that sense washing us or cleansing us of sin so as to prepare us for entry into the Father's house. Isn't that amazing? So you can see then why John the Baptist would call him the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and then would baptize us with the Holy Spirit to enable us to remain as members of the household the way that Annie needs now continually to be taken care of, lest she go back to living like someone on the streets or the dogs who live by their appetites and passions alone. So we too, as Christians, we want to live by the Holy Spirit now and allow God to feed us so that we don't have to just go back to living in an animalistic way by our instincts or passions or appetites alone. And I said yesterday, I encouraged you to consider these couple of examples. On that one occasion, Jesus spoke about not casting out demons by demons. Like if you've got A problem, don't cast it out with other evils. It'll only get worse for you. But rather say, come, Holy Spirit. And if by the spirit of God, the demon is cast out, you will be truly free and truly well. For example, he you got financial problems. Don't go to Jake58 and start gambling. You will only make it worse. Don't start fudging the numbers in the paperwork or lying at work or cheating people. It'll only make it worse. But rather say, come, Holy Spirit, the Father knows what you need before you even ask him, allow him to provide for you. You might be surprised to find, like what my parents found when my father lost his job. And they were in a real tough time economically. He and my mother, as my sister and I, were very little. And someone was putting cash in the mailbox to sustain them anonymously. A neighbor whose identity we discovered later in life. But she had been giving us cash, my family, to get my parents through the time when they were saying, we think we have to sell everything, we think we have to leave. It was a friend from the church, my mother's and my father's best friend to the end. And she was anonymously, but by the spirit of God providing for my parents when they were no doubt tempted to be dishonest about things if they had to be. So instead of being dishonest or cheating, we can say, come, Holy Spirit, since I am a member of your household, Heavenly Father, please, you consider me a beloved daughter, a beloved son. Take care of me. That's what Christ wants for us. And that's what I want you to hear today. It's like an example of how, yeah, we might be tempted to go live like people on the street when we get desperate or afraid. It's almost like Annie here in the rectory. When I leave and go do something for an hour or two, she looks at the window, will he come back? Will he come back? Will he come back? She might be tempted, if you can imagine, to kind of break out and survive in whatever way she can. But then I do come back to her and I do take care of her, which is why the dog is always so happy to see you again. It's like I thought maybe you were gone. I thought maybe this was the end, you know? I'm not leaving you so with God too, if we turn to him, if we wait on him, as the psalm says, wait for the Lord with courage, be stout hearted and wait for the Lord. If we wait for him, he will come to us. He will provide for Us, he will take care of us. You know, if you're experiencing, like, a little distance from a loved one, perhaps instead of getting something illicit going on the side, now you get this, like, lie on top of this heartbreak. It's just going to make it worse. We're going into the world of fantasy on a regular basis, like escaping the emotional pain. It's just going to make it worse. It will just make everything worse. Casting out demons by demons only makes things worse. But if we say, come, Holy Spirit, we say, heavenly Father, we know that we are dear to you. You have made us members of your household. Please take care of us. If we allow him, he will. If we wait on him, he will show up and he will give us the grace of reconciliation and forgiveness and understanding and new hope, a restoration of the bonds of unity. This is what the Holy Spirit can accomplish. So through prayer and maybe going back to church a little bit or going to see a priest, let's both go to confession and admit our culpability. So Come Holy Spirit is a way of letting Christ, who has made us members of the household of God, care for us and baptize us with the Holy Spirit to help us to make decisions with the Spirit of God as sons and daughters of God, as brothers and sisters to one another. And one other example, and I didn't mention this yesterday, but you might find it interesting if we have to choose between, say, good things, which is hard to do. It's harder than choosing between, like, a good and a bad thing. That's an easy decision to make. You know, which one's good, which one's bad. But to choose between goods, to sort of prioritize rank according to a kind of hierarchy of goods, which one is best for us, that requires some real discernment. So we have to say, come, Holy Spirit, you know, pray about this, right? Talk to someone about it who also tries to live by the Holy Spirit, God, what. What would you have for me? It's an easy thing to go from, like, a bad way to a good way of life. It's a hard thing to go from a good way of life to a better way of life. And that requires much prayer and discernment. So you say, come, Holy Spirit, you know, so this is how we spoke yesterday in the church. So as no longer to be slaves to sin, living merely by appetites and passions, we say, come, Holy Spirit, the way that the Hebrew people were enslaved by the Egyptians. But the blood of the Lamb on the doorpost, the entryway to the household, sets them Free from that slavery, to be led by the Spirit to the Promised Land through the waters of the Red Sea. So Christ dies on the cross, and his death sets us free from sin, which is the slavery to the evil one, enabling us to set out on a journey led by God's Spirit through the desert of life in this world, but to the promised land of the Father's house. And at that last supper, when he washed our feet, we saw the gesture of the servant welcoming the person into the household. Remember, that's why servants would wash your feet at the door, to let you into the household, to cleanse you. We saw it. We saw what he accomplished for us on that cross. The day after that, his death, in some mysterious way, makes it possible for us to enter into the Father's house if we would live by His Spirit. If we'd live by His Spirit. So let us make our decisions with the Holy Spirit so as to truly live this freedom that that was won for us on the cross by Christ. It's the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. I'm thinking about that Syrophoenician woman who comes to Jesus and begs him to heal her daughter. And then Jesus responds to her. It is not right to take the food from the children and throw it to the dogs. And she says, ah, but even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from their master's table. Wow. Like she understood in some mysterious way what she was dealing with. I know that you Jews are special. I know that this isn't some mysterious way. Because of you, Lord, the household of God. I believe you are in some ways his son and the heir to the kingdom and are offering it to those with whom you live, whom you invite into your communion. So please, even if you once considered me a dog on the street, consider me a daughter. And he's pleased to.