BAPTISM OF THE LORD: Is 40:1-5, 9-11; TITUS 2:11-14, 3:4-7, LUKE 3:15-16, 21-22

Today is the feast of the Baptism of  Our Lord. It is the event when God the Father revealed to the world that Jesus was his beloved Son. It was also a revelation of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  The Baptism marks the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. Even though he had no need to be cleansed from sin himself, he receives baptism to take our place, so that we in turn, when baptized, take Jesus' place, and thus  become "sons in the Son".

Baptism is a huge symbol -- it's the water of creation. At its basic level, baptism is the death of the old self. Before anything new can be born, the old has to pass away. In the nature we see death and rising. Winter is the season of death…but in the spring we see the dead trees and plants springing up to life. This occurs in the spiritual realm too.

Water causes death as well as gives life. The great flood of the time of Noah, caused death of all the living beings, except those in the Ark with Noah. The waters of Red sea caused death for the Egyptians, but became a source of life for the Hebrews and freedom from the oppressing Egyptians. When one goes down under water at baptism he loses breath which sustains life. But when he rises from the water it is like coming back to new life. So, in baptism one dies with Christ and rises in Christ, like Jesus rose from death.

In Baptism Jesus exchanges his divine life with us and he takes our mortal nature and makes it immortal by merging it with his nature and life. French writer Henri Barbusse (1874-1935) tells of a conversation overheard in a trench full of wounded men during the First World War. One of the men, who knew he only had minutes to live says to one other man, "Listen, Dominic, you've led a very bad life. Everywhere you are wanted by the police. But there are no convictions against me. My name is clear, so, here, take my wallet, take my papers, my identity, take my good name, my life and quickly, hand me your papers that I may carry all your crimes away with me in death."

The Good News is that through Jesus, God makes a similar offer. When we are baptized, we identify ourselves with Jesus. We publicly declare our intention to strive to be like Jesus and follow God's will for our lives. When we are baptized, our lives are changed. We see people and things differently than before. Baptism enables and empowers us to do the things that Jesus wants us to do here and now. And we are able to love as he loved. Such identification is life changing.

Those who are baptized in Jesus need to nurture that new life so it can grow and mature.

Developing our friendship with Christ is the main project of our whole life. But even so, we can identify three steps that can help us focus our ongoing efforts to become more and more united with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ: those are- knowing him, loving him, and imitating him. When we were baptized, God’s own life was poured into our souls; it was planted like a seed in fertile soil. But every seed, in order to grow to maturity, needs three things: water, sunlight, and nutrients. The seed of divine life in our souls also needs three things in order to grow to maturity. The more fully we come to know Christ, especially through prayerful reading of the Gospels and time spent with him in the Eucharist, the more we will come to love him. And the more we love him, the more we will want to follow and imitate him, especially in his perfect fulfillment of the Father’s will and his tireless, active love for all people.

If we let these three motifs of knowing, loving, and imitating Christ set the rhythm for our daily living, we too can please the heart of God and be filled to overflowing with his life-giving love, just like our Lord.

 Life is a continuous conversion. In every setting in which we are put, we have to “put on the new person.” There are whole areas of our lives which have not yet been brought into subjection to Christ, and it can only be done by this continuous conversion. Paul tells in 2 Cor.10:5 ..bring your every rebellious thought captive in Christ and make it obedient to him. Once we are able to do that, our spiritual growth in Christ becomes strong and steady.

Our baptism calls us to live as the children of God in thought, word and action. It give us the grace to grow daily in intimacy with God by personal and family prayers, by meditative reading of the Word of God, by participating in the Holy Mass, and by frequenting the sacrament of reconciliation. It is a day to thank God for the graces we received in Baptism, to renew our baptismal promises and to preach Christ’s ‘Good News’ by our transparent Christian lives of love, mercy, service and forgiveness. Thus ultimately we may hear the words of the Father: this is my beloved child in whom I am well pleased.