BAPTISM OF THE LORD

BAPTISM OF THE LORD – Year A

            The powerful forces in nature are used in the Scriptures to help us realize the power of the Holy Spirit. Isaiah spoke of the chosen Servant in whom God was pleased and on whom His Spirit and favor rested. He would carry out the saving and life giving works of the Lord. Jesus was revealed as the Servant Son of God whom the Father was well pleased and upon Him was the favor of the Father, the Holy Spirit.

            Like the powerful forces in nature of fire, wind, rain, and sun, which are beyond human powers, so the powerful Spirit gives power beyond peoples’ human capacities. The presence of the Spirit in us affects our moral and spiritual thinking and acting. Simon Peter said “Rather, in every nation whoever fears Him and acts uprightly is acceptable to Him”. The fear of God and upright behavior are very important. A lack of fear of God generally goes along with a lack of fear of sin and immoral behavior.

            The standard for Christians in our moral and spiritual thinking and acting is Jesus Christ who is Lord of all. Peter in speaking to Cornelius and the people assembled at his house, who had an experience of the Holy Spirit coming to them, sums up the life of Jesus saying “…how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power: He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him”.

            We know more about Jesus and His teachings than Cornelius and those with him could know. People know Jesus was without sin, and that He did saving works toward people. He went to be baptized by John, not because He needed the forgiveness of sins that John’s baptism signified, but as a sign He was identifying with and taking the place of the sinful human race before God the Father. He didn’t personally need John’s baptism.

            Everyone does need Jesus’ baptism in the Holy Spirit. To be baptized means to be immersed into Christ by the Holy Spirit. The life of the Holy Spirit, the life of the Son, and the life of the Father are given to us when we are baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As we become more aware of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, there are new graces, powers, and experiences of the Lord in our life.

            The power and the deeper awareness of our baptism into eternal life gives us growth in faith, conversion experiences, and deeper union with the Lord, which needs to happen all through our life. As we live our human life, the potential of our human life present at our conception and birth is realized, actualized, and experienced. The way we live our human life, and the conditions we are in, affects how our natural life turns out. The same is true for our baptismal life. The way we live our baptismal life, especially in the moral and spiritual dimensions, the way we learn and practice faith affects how our baptismal life develops in this life and within our super-natural life.

            Jesus had the Holy Spirit in His human nature from the time He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary. At the time of His baptism by John, the Father in heaven baptized Him in His human nature and life with the Holy Spirit’s power for His public ministry of establishing the kingdom of heaven. Matthew reports that Jesus, “On coming up out of the water…saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon Him. And a voice came from the heavens, ‘You are my beloved Son; with You I am well pleased’”.

            This powerful experience of the Holy Spirit coming to Jesus in His humanity moved Jesus to begin His public ministry proclaiming the kingdom of God, and working the signs of healing, bringing peace to people in forgiveness, uniting people to God, teaching, and forming the disciples. Everything Jesus did was under the presence and power of the Holy Spirit and His union with His Father in heaven.

            The same Holy Spirit brings the life of Jesus and His mission to the Church in every age, and acts in each member. The more we are living our baptismal life in the Spirit, the more we will grow in faith and experience the powerful Spirit working in our life. May the Father say to us too, “You are my…son (daughter); with you I am well pleased”.

Reflection from Divine Mercy #302

“O Eternal Love, I want all the souls You have created to come to know you.”