Jesus Gives Us the Glorious Gift of Baptism
User’s Guide to the Baptism of the Lord
Sunday, Jan. 12, is the Baptism of the Lord. Mass readings: Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7 or Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11; Psalm 29:1-2, 3-4, 3, 9-10 or Psalm 104:1b-2, 3-4, 24-25, 27-28, 29-30; Acts 10:34-38 or Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7; Luke 3:15-16, 21-22.
Today’s feast is a time to reflect not only on the Lord’s baptism but on our own. In an extended sense, when Christ is baptized, so are we, for we are members of his body (Ephesians 5:30). As Christ enters the water, he makes holy the water that will baptize us. He enters the water and we go there with him. He also acquires gifts to give us.
The text says, when Jesus was baptized, “heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’”
1. Access: The heavens and paradise were closed to us after original sin, but at Jesus’ baptism, we have access to the Father and to the heavenly places. Scripture says, “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand” (Romans 5:1). Elsewhere, Scripture says, “For through Jesus we have access in one Spirit to the Father” (Ephesians 2:17).
2. Anointing: In baptism we are not just washed of sins, but we also become temples of the Holy Spirit. After baptism there is the anointing with chrism, which signifies the presence of the Holy Spirit. Scripture says, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16).
3. Acknowledgment: Jesus receives this acknowledgment from his Father for the faith of those who heard it and also to acquire this gift for us. In our own baptism, we become the children of God. On the day of your baptism the Heavenly Father acknowledges you as his own dear child. Scripture says, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ …” (Galatians 3:26).
4. Approval: Jesus had always pleased his Father, but now he acquires this gift for us as well. Our own baptism gives us sanctifying grace, the grace to be holy and pleasing to God. Scripture says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in his sight” (Ephesians 1:1-3).
Consider well the glorious gift of your baptism; if you don’t know the date, do some research and find out. It should be a day as highly celebrated as your birthday.
We have just heard in the Gospel the words that rang out from heaven when Jesus was baptized by John in the River Jordan. They were spoken by a voice from on high: the voice of God the Father. They reveal the mystery that we are celebrating today, the Baptism of Christ. The Man on whom the Holy Spirit descended like a dove is the Son of God who took human flesh from the Virgin Mary to redeem it from sin and death. How great is the mystery of salvation! — Pope St. John Paul II, Feast of the Baptism of the Lord 2002
