BAPTISM OF THE LORD First : Is 55: 1-11 ; Second : 1Jn 5: 1-9; Gospel : Mk 1:7-11 THEME OF THE READINGS In the baptism of Jesus, as in all baptisms, water plays the central role (Gospel). In the banquet of the covenant between God and men imagined by Isaiah, water cannot be lacking, along with other drinks (first reading). In his first letter, Saint John tells us that He it is who came by water and blood, and that, ... there are three witnesses, the Spirit, water and blood, and the three of them coincide (second reading). In the gospel, after Jesus, baptized by John, came out of the water, the heavens opened up and the Holy Spirit came down in the form of a dove. Water is the one element most present in all the texts, water with all of its symbolic richness and with the other elements that accompany and complete it. DOCTRINAL MESSAGE Man, thirsty for God. Man is a naturally thirsty being : thirsty for joy and happiness, thirsty for justice and peace, thirsty for eternity, thirsty for God. The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God ; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for (CCC 27). Nobody but God himself can quench this thirst for happiness. This is why God, through Isaiah, invites and urges men to: Oh, come to the water all you who are thirsty ... Pay attention, come to me; listen, and you will live (first reading). Water and Jesus. The water that quenches man’s thirst is the baptismal water. Jesus, the prototype of every human bing, wanted to immerse himself in the purifying waters, not because he was a sinner but because he had taken the world’s sins upon his shoulders. In the waters of the Jordan, in the waters in which Christ immersed himself, all of humankind immersed itself in him and with him, and was cleansed of its sin. Jesus Christ, the Saint of God, also made the waters of the Jordan holy. Therefore, the thirst for holiness that every man has begins to be quenched with the baptismal water and with the water of the Spirit, through a spiritual existence, that is, guided and promoted by the Spirit of God. Water and blood. Is water enough to quench one’s thirst? In Christian existence, blood is also important, the blood that with water came out of Christ’s side (Jn 19: 34). The Fathers of the Church will tell us that two sacraments issued from Christ’s side, which had been pierced with a lance: baptism and the Eucharist. Together with confirmation, they are the sacraments of Christian initiation. Now man is not only thirsty for God, but he is thirsty for the God, revealed in Jesus Christ, The reflection of God’s glory and bears the impress of God’s own being (Heb 1: 3). Drink from this all of you, for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, poured out for many for forgiveness of sins (Mt 26: 28). Water, blood and the Spirit. The three coincide (second reading). How do the three coincide ? In revealing the love of God, which has become visible for us through Jesus Christ. In fact, water (Jesus’ baptism) and blood (Jesus’ crucifixion) manifest that Jesus’ humanity is a humanity like our own, against all Platonic idealizations or gnostic manipualtions. The Spirit, in turn, which comes from heaven, reveals that this Jesus, who is entirely a man, is the Son from whom God draws all his pleasure. How do the three coincide? They also coincide in that it is the Spirit that makes water effective in purging from sin and blood, effective in quenching the thirst for redemption. His mystery of salvation is made present there by the power of his Holy Spirit (CCC 1111) and The mission of the Holy Spirit in the liturgy of the Church is to make the saving work of Christ present and active by his transforming power (CCC 1112). PASTORAL SUGGESTIONS Baptismal spirituality. Through the baptism, the Christian becomes imbued with Christ, the image and prototype of the new man, created in the likeness of God. He has before him the task of making Christ grow until full inner maturity. The true novelty extends to all of man’s being, but it especially becomes rooted in the heart, a new heart capable of knowing, loving and serving God with filial spirit, and of loving men and God’s things. This is the undeferable, fundamental and permanent taks in any Christian’s life, in whatever state, time or situation. On the basis of this new way of being, experienced consciously by the action of the Holy Spirit, the new man gives his life an inner dynamism geared towards the development of his religious and moral conduct, in accordance with his model, Jesus Christ, and by means of the incessant purging of his disorderly passions of sensuality and pride. The construction of this new man, day after day, is the primary goal of Christian faith and of the apostolic ministry in the Church. Hence the need to meditate assiduously on the richness and depth of the gift of baptism and of the commitment that it entails, a meditation that is both individual and communitarian. Because The whole organism of the Christian’s supernatural life has its roots in the baptism, since the baptism enables him to believe in God, to hope in Him, and to love Him through the theological virtues; giving him the power to live and act under the prompting of the Holy Spirit; allowing them to grow in goodness through the moral virtues (CCC 1266). Are we as Christians sufficiently aware of baptismal spirituality? What can I do to develop this spirituality in myself and in my brothers ?
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 07:38:12 +0000
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