January 12, 2020

Baptism of the Lord - Fr. Leo

We hear of Jesus’ manifestation as the Son of God in Matthew’s gospel.  God’s voice came from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”  From the Acts of the Apostles we hear that, “He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.  All this foreseen by the Prophet Isaiah who speaks of him as a quiet voice to bring justice.

While Jesus is manifest as the Son of God in the gospel, we also hear of our part in God’s coming into the world.  John the Baptist is our prototype.  At first he sees his unworthiness as he recognizes the One who is before him.  Thus he did not want to baptize him, but wanted to be so blessed by Him.  Jesus persuades John to do so, and through that action, God then speaks to all in proclaiming Jesus as his only begotten Son.

Like John, I think we all see ourselves as unworthy to be builders of God’s kingdom within ourselves and in our world.  Those feelings make us shy away from living in the Spirit.  Jesus understands this, but wants us, in all our humanness, to live in Him and be channels of His Holy Spirit. The prophet Isaiah makes clear when he says, “I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from their confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.”

In celebrating Christ’s baptism, we are called to recognize our own sharing in Christ’s mission, as we too have been baptized in the same Holy Spirit, and are called to live in God and to become a source of light and love for others, as God is for us.  Let us ask God to strengthen our baptismal faith, so that with confidence, we may hear God’s voice proclaiming us as his sons and daughters, and that with faith in God, and the power of the Spirit in us, we may come to baptize all things in God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.