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From the Pastor's Desk: January 10, 2021
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Feast of the Baptism of the LordThe Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which we celebrate today, marks the end of the season of Christmas and the beginning of Ordinary Time.
In the Gospel today we hear the account of the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan. It was a different baptism from which all of us received as we became members of the Catholic Church. The Son of God, who from eternity shares the fullness of life with the Father and the Holy Spirit, was “immersed” in our reality as sinners to make us share in His own life: He was incarnate, He was born like us, He grew up like us, and on reaching adulthood manifested His mission which began precisely with the “baptism of conversion” administered by John the Baptist. The Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove, while the Father’s voice from Heaven proclaimed Him- “My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”
Baptism is not, as is true of all the sacraments, an isolated ritual. But rather it takes place in the context of our whole life. “On the day of our Baptism, we were anointed with the Oil of Catechumens, the sign of Christ's gentle strength, to fight against evil. Blessed water was poured over us, an effective sign of interior purification through the gift of the Holy Spirit. We were then anointed with Chrism to show that we were thus consecrated in the image of Jesus, the Father's Anointed One. The candle lighted from the Paschal Candle was a symbol of the light of Faith which our parents and godparents must have continually safeguarded and nourished with the life-giving grace of the Spirit." (ST JP II)
Therefore, through Baptism, we not only become formal members of the institutional Church, we also become active members of the Body of Christ and are given a mission to proclaim the Good News of Salvation to all. So the baptism Jesus instituted at the Jordan, when He by His own Baptism made the waters of Baptism capable of delivering on what they signified- not just representing the need for the forgiveness of sins, but actually forgiving those sins. This is the Baptism in which Jesus empowers His disciples in the “Great Commission”- to be participants in His own salvific mission: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:18-20). “The Lord desires to be baptized’, says St. Augustine, “so that He might freely proclaim through His humility, what for us was to be a necessity.”
As we come to the end of the Christmas Season, I want to express my most profound words of gratitude and thanks to everyone who in the midst of the challenged related to the virus helped prepare, clean, organize and decorate our beautiful church, set up for the Mass in the field, assist with exceptional music and many others who extended a helpful hand to make sure that our experience this Christmas was a such powerful one – to one and all – Thank you! Once again, we are able to experience the love of our community for each other as the extension of the Love that was born into us– Christ Jesus. Job well done once again!!!
Wishing you a blessed and grace-filled week!
With prayers,
Fr. Andy
