Sunday Reflections

It was an embarrassment to the early disciples that Jesus was baptized by John.  To deal with this each gospel writer made it clear that Jesus was never a disciple of John but that his baptism was an occasion for God’s Spirit to descend upon him.  From documents of the Second Vatican Council we read in Gaudium et Spes (The Church in the Modern World): “By his incarnation, he, the Son of God, has in a certain way united himself with each individual. He worked with human hands, he thought with a human mind. He acted with a human will, and with a human heart he loved. Born of the Virgin Mary, he has truly been made one of us, like to us in all things except sin.”

In my early years of faith, I used to think that it must have been easy for Jesus since he knew that he was God’s son.  Now I realize that Jesus, like each of us, had to go through the human process of discovering his identity and figuring out what to do.  He was not born with a master plan.   How did he do this?   Quite simply, he prayed.   Mary McGlone [Celebration, National Catholic Reporter Pub. Co., Kansas City, MO: Jan 2019] offers this reflection: “Luke’s depiction of Jesus around the time of his baptism portrays him as a man of prayer above all else. His identity and his mission flowed from his relationship with the God who called him his beloved Son. As the Gospel of John makes clear, Jesus dedicated himself to doing the Father’s will in all things. Jesus discovered and chose to follow a vocation that grew out of his Jewish tradition. As his followers, we are invited to follow his example. Ritualizing our commitment is only a small step. Baptism is our entry point into a life of contemplation and action, a life of discovering and spreading God’s great love for humankind.”

Most of us can easily tell someone the date of our birth but how many of us know the date of our baptism.  Indeed, most of us even celebrate our birthdays in a special way each year.   Perhaps we need to celebrate our baptism in a similar way.   We forget that every time we enter a church and make the sign of the cross with holy water, we are doing exactly that:  we are remembering that we were baptized into the death of Christ in order that we may rise with him.   Baptism launched us into a new life, a rebirth, a mission from God.  Like Jesus, through prayer and contemplation we can continue to grow ever deeper in our understanding of who we are as daughters and sons of God and what God is asking us to do with our lives.

I leave you with this thought from Dick Folger [op.cit.]: “After John the Baptist immersed Jesus in the waters of the Jordan River, the Son of God rose up, water trickling down his face, standing anointed as he lifted his eyes to the skies. A heavenly confirmation came when the voice of God came from the heavens: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” At our own baptism, God says the same to us. We are anointed with holy oils; we are garbed in white; we are given a lighted candle to keep the flame of faith burning brightly in our hearts. Today’s Gospel reminds us that this is a good day to check our candles and make sure they are still burning.”