THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD
10-11 January 2026 – Christ the King
Is 42:1-4, 6-7
Acts 10:34-38
Mt 3:13-17
With
its choice of first reading from the prophet Isaiah the Church today associates
the Baptism of the Lord with His establishment of justice upon the earth. The Lord
Jesus came to bring justice to our world, and we are baptized into Christ’s
Baptism and therefore into His mission for the salvation of the world. As the
prophet Isaiah proclaims, Christ our Savior came “to
bring light to the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out
prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness”. Justice:
how should we define it? It is not so much what is our due, but what God has
willed for us from all eternity.
We know from our
catechism that unlike us, frail human beings, Jesus as God did not need Baptism
to be freed from Adam’s sin, from original sin, but rather Jesus’ Baptism by
John in the Jordan points to the other essential aspect of this first of the
sacraments by which we are washed clean of sin and united with Christ. Baptism not
only opens the gates of heaven for us individually, but it also unites us with Christ
in His work of bringing light and life to the world. We are freed from sin so
that in and through us, in and through the Church, in Christ all might be saved,
A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
until he establishes justice on the earth… Not what is owed to us, but what
is willed for us by God.
Today, with the Feast of
the Baptism of the Lord we bring our celebration of Christmas to its completion.
In His birth at Bethlehem Christ was made manifest by the message of a angel to
the shepherds and by His birth announced also to the Magi through the
appearance of a star, at the wedding feast in Cana Christ showed Himself by
turning water into wine, and Jesus when baptized by John in the Jordan, the
heavens opened, and the Spirit descended upon Him like a dove, and God spoke
from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
The Church has always
taught the urgency of Baptism. That if we truly love our children, we will
bring them to the cleansing and life-giving waters of the font of Baptism as
soon as possible after their birth. We certainly want to fill them with Christ’s
saving light, but we also want to empower them to cooperate in the work of
redemption and hence the urgency, that all might be saved, first and foremost
those whom we love. For a long period in the history of the Church, Catholics
did not even wait until the mother was out of bed after giving birth to bring
the baby to church for Baptism, which partly explains the more prominent role played
by godparents in the pre-conciliar rite of Baptism. As often Mom wasn’t able to
be there. Not even a century ago, when Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) was
born on Holy Saturday, April 16, 1927, it was not thought extraordinary that
his father carried the baby directly to church that same day to be baptized
with the new Easter water blest that very morning. Little Joseph’s parents, like
many others back in the day, wasted no time in giving their son to Christ and
freeing him from the power of darkness.
Our second reading shows
St. Peter in the house of a Gentile, of a Roman named Cornelius. The Book of
Acts shows the Holy Spirit at work here as well for the sake of justice, “to
bring light to the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out
prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness”. Justice:
I repeat not so much what is owed to us, but what God has willed for us from
all eternity.
On this feast of the Baptism of the
Lord, I would invite you to take time to sit quietly with the wonder really of
your own Baptism and of your destiny in Christ. In Baptism, we like Christ are
anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power to enlighten our world. Cornelius,
against the common wisdom that Christianity was a Jewish thing was inspired to send
for St. Peter and have him brought to his home. At the preaching of Peter, the
Holy Spirit came down on all those gathered there and Peter understood that he
was to baptize them. Let us be attentive to the Spirit Who never stops
manifesting God’s will for the Baptism of His people. That God’s will would be
manifest in justice, and that all people might know the saving power of God poured
out in Baptism in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit.
Praised be Jesus Christ!
PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI
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