THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD, JANUARY 12, 2025

fresco of Baptism of Jesus in church kostel Svatého Václava by S. G. Rudl (1900)

MASS READINGS

Gospel Luke 3:15-16, 21-22

The people were filled with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Christ.

John answered them all, saying, “I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, 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.”

REFLECTION

“I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Christmas season has come to an end, and now we are starting Ordinary Time in the Church. Our hearts were filled with joy and expectation during Advent and Christmas, and now we stare at the bleakness of winter that will become greyer and colder before spring time arrives.

The mass readings will now tell us of the public life of Jesus, the miracles He performed, and we will ponder what this will mean in our lives.

Jesus starts His public life with His own Baptism in the Jordan river. At the end of Matthew we read Jesus last words to His disciples: "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.* And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." (Mt 28:19-20)

Jesus wants us to receive a Trinitarian Baptism. Do we know which some of the graces we receive by being baptized?

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church we receive *:

• The forgiveness of sins, we become a new creature:

  • Adopted sons of God.

  • Partaker of the divine nature, member of Christ and coheir with him.

  • A temple of the Holy Spirit.

• We receive sanctifying grace, the grace of justification: - enabling us to believe in God, to hope in him, and to love him through the theological virtues

• Makes us members of the Body of Christ, members of the Church

• We become "living stones" to be "built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood."

• Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark (character) of his belonging to Christ

Baptism won't remove the effects of original sin, but it will enable us in our struggle against sin, since we have received the Holy Spirit during this sacrament.

Let us thank God for the wonderful gift of the seven Sacraments He gave us so we can stride in our way of sanctification, and hopefully one day see Him face to face and be in Paradise with Him.

God bless y'all!

Sources:

*https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_two/section_two/chapter_one/article_1/vii_the_grace_of_baptism.html