BAPTISM OF THE LORD [C] (Jan 13): (Is 40:1-5, 9-11; Ti 2:11-14, 3:4-7; Lk 3:15-16, 21-22)

The Christmas season comes to an end with the feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. The Baptism of the Lord Jesus is the great event celebrated by the Eastern churches on the feast of Epiphany because it is the occasion of the first public revelation of all the Three Persons in the Holy Trinity, and the official revelation of Jesus as the Son of God to the world by God the Father.  It is also an event described by all four Gospels, and it marks the beginning of Jesus' public ministry.  The liturgical season of Christmas comes to a conclusion this Sunday with the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord.  Jesus’ baptism by John was a very important event in the life of Jesus.  It marked the end of Jesus' private life, which had prepared him for his public ministry.  It summarizes the mission of Jesus: to reunite each one of us with our heavenly Father, now and for all eternity.

" Our Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit and the door which gives access to the other Sacraments" (CCC #1213). 

Most of us dipped the fingers of our right hand into the holy water font and blessed ourselves when we came into Church today.  Why?  This blessing is supposed to remind us of our Baptism.  And so when I bless myself with Holy Water, I should be thinking of the fact that I am a child of God; that I have been redeemed by the Cross of Christ; that I have been made a member of God’s family; and that I have been washed, forgiven, cleansed and purified by the Blood of the Lamb. 

The 13th century king of France, St. Louis IX (1226-70), insisted that the grand celebration of his birthday should be held on the day of his Baptism, and not on his birthday proper.  His argument was that Baptism was the beginning of a life that would continue for eternity in the everlasting glory of Heaven. We also need to value and appreciate the sacrament of Baptism we received that gave us the dignity of God’s children.

Our baptism is supposed to transform us. Those who are baptized in Jesus have already attained new life through dying with Christ. But we need to nurture that new life so it can grow and mature. That's what church is for. That's what Bible study is for. That's what prayer is for. It is like the Parable of the Sower. Many of those seeds sprouted up, but only a few grew into maturity. The rest withered and died.

There was a multimillionaire businessman, known for his extravagance, who hosted an elaborate, spectacular summer party. Part of his decorations and part of the uniqueness of his party was that he had filled his swimming pool with sharks, barracuda and other assorted dangerous fish.

After cocktails and dinner had been served and everyone was just standing around looking at the assortment of dangerous sea life. The business man announced to his guests that he would like to challenge any of them to try swimming across the pool. And to sweeten the challenge he offered a first prize of either a new home in the mountains, a trip around the world for two or a piece of his business.

No sooner had he made the announcement than there was a splash and a man swam rapidly across the infested waters and bounded up out on the other side. The millionaire turned to the sputtering young man, shaking water off of himself and said: "That was an absolutely stunning performance. What prize do you want?"

With a growl and a scowl the swimmer said: "Right now I really don't care about the prize. All I want is the name of the turkey who pushed me in."

There are a lot of Christians like this man who was pushed into Catholic faith; maybe they were baptized when they were children. But now grown up they don’t appreciate their faith. They do not want to identify themselves as Christians. They do not want to grow with the restrictions and rules of normal Christians. They stop going to Church and practicing their faith. And they go in a different direction than the one they promised to walk.

A man was traveling down the country one day. His journey brought him along some by-roads, where the signposts were few and far between. After a while, he was unsure whether he was on the right road, so he decided to ask the first person he saw. Eventually he came across a farmer driving his cows home for milking. He stopped the car, and asked him if he was on the right road to .. he mentioned the place name. The farmer told him that he certainly was on the right road. The man said thanks, and was about to move forward when the farmer added, in a very nonchalant way, "You're on the right road, but you're going in the wrong direction!" Today’s reflection on Jesus’ baptism challenges us to examine whether we are on the right road and moving in the right direction for our eternal destiny.

This is also a day for us to renew our Baptismal promises, consecrating ourselves to the Holy Trinity and “rejecting Satan and all his empty promises," which our profane world is constantly offering us through its mass-media of communication.  Let us ask Our Lord today to make us faithful to our Baptismal promises.  Let us thank Him for the privilege of being joined to His mission of preaching the "Good News" by our transparent Christian lives of love, mercy, service and forgiveness.