Daily Retreat 01/13/08
2008 Jan 13 SUN: BAPTISM OF THE LORD F
Is 42: 1-4. 6-7/ Ps 28(29): 1-2. 3-4. 3. 9-10 (11b)/ Acts 10: 34-38/ Mt 3: 13-17
From today’s readings: “Here is My servant Whom I uphold, My chosen One with Whom I am pleased, upon Whom I have put My spirit.... The Lord will bless His people with peace... You know the word that He sent to the Israelites as He proclaimed peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.... Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness....”
Good Reasons for Baptism
In accordance with the Church’s recommendation, many of us received the grace of Baptism within a few weeks after our birth, and so it’s hardly a coincidence that, this Sunday, the Church celebrates the Baptism of the Lord, just a few weeks after the Christmas celebration of His birth.
Christ’s baptism marked the beginning of His public ministry, and since the life of Jesus is an example for us, our commemoration of His baptism today is also intended to inspire us to appreciate anew the grace of our own baptism, and understand how our own baptism is connected to Christ’s baptism.
Why are Christians baptized? What happens in the spiritual order when the minister of baptism pours water on a person’s head, saying, in fulfillment of Christ’s own command, “I baptize you in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”? Through the waters of baptism, all sins (including Original Sin) are washed away, and moreover, the person baptized is born anew in the order of grace as a child of God, a bona fide member of His family.
There’s much to elaborate about these two central effects of baptism, but before that line of thought can even be pursued (on another occasion), since baptism washes away sin and gives new birth as a child of God, then the question immediately arises, Why was Christ baptized? He who knew no sin certainly did not require the sacramental cleansing of baptism, and of course, that only begotten Son of God had no need of baptism to legitimize His lineage. No wonder John the Baptist was understandable taken aback when approached by Jesus, when the King explained to His soldier his ironic duty of commissioning his own Monarch!
And yet, as always, God knows best! For Jesus too needed to undergo baptism for two reasons, though His motives were quite different from the spiritually salutary effects you and I received at the moment of our baptism.
First, in order to fulfill all righteousness, Jesus was baptized Himself in order to leave His followers forever with the crystal clear example of the crucial indispensability of baptism - He who Himself wholly knew no sin had the humility to approach John, who though himself holy, did know sin. Clearly, then, none among us, even one with the innocence of a baby, should forego divine sacramental cleansing!
And second, Jesus was submersed in the waters of baptism not for His own rebirth, but to baptize the water itself as the new sacramental conduit of His holiness of life. So now, all the baptismal water which washes the head of a child originates as prolific runoff from the head of Christ!
Is 42: 1-4. 6-7/ Ps 28(29): 1-2. 3-4. 3. 9-10 (11b)/ Acts 10: 34-38/ Mt 3: 13-17
From today’s readings: “Here is My servant Whom I uphold, My chosen One with Whom I am pleased, upon Whom I have put My spirit.... The Lord will bless His people with peace... You know the word that He sent to the Israelites as He proclaimed peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.... Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness....”
Good Reasons for Baptism
In accordance with the Church’s recommendation, many of us received the grace of Baptism within a few weeks after our birth, and so it’s hardly a coincidence that, this Sunday, the Church celebrates the Baptism of the Lord, just a few weeks after the Christmas celebration of His birth.
Christ’s baptism marked the beginning of His public ministry, and since the life of Jesus is an example for us, our commemoration of His baptism today is also intended to inspire us to appreciate anew the grace of our own baptism, and understand how our own baptism is connected to Christ’s baptism.
Why are Christians baptized? What happens in the spiritual order when the minister of baptism pours water on a person’s head, saying, in fulfillment of Christ’s own command, “I baptize you in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”? Through the waters of baptism, all sins (including Original Sin) are washed away, and moreover, the person baptized is born anew in the order of grace as a child of God, a bona fide member of His family.
There’s much to elaborate about these two central effects of baptism, but before that line of thought can even be pursued (on another occasion), since baptism washes away sin and gives new birth as a child of God, then the question immediately arises, Why was Christ baptized? He who knew no sin certainly did not require the sacramental cleansing of baptism, and of course, that only begotten Son of God had no need of baptism to legitimize His lineage. No wonder John the Baptist was understandable taken aback when approached by Jesus, when the King explained to His soldier his ironic duty of commissioning his own Monarch!
And yet, as always, God knows best! For Jesus too needed to undergo baptism for two reasons, though His motives were quite different from the spiritually salutary effects you and I received at the moment of our baptism.
First, in order to fulfill all righteousness, Jesus was baptized Himself in order to leave His followers forever with the crystal clear example of the crucial indispensability of baptism - He who Himself wholly knew no sin had the humility to approach John, who though himself holy, did know sin. Clearly, then, none among us, even one with the innocence of a baby, should forego divine sacramental cleansing!
And second, Jesus was submersed in the waters of baptism not for His own rebirth, but to baptize the water itself as the new sacramental conduit of His holiness of life. So now, all the baptismal water which washes the head of a child originates as prolific runoff from the head of Christ!
posted by FrPitstick | 1/12/2008
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