The Baptism of the Lord evokes reflection on its significance

This year, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord fell on Monday, January 9.  As a result, most Catholics, except for daily communicants, were not able to celebrate this nodal event in the life of Christ.  Why is this closing feast of the Christmas Season so important to us? Moreover, did you ever wonder:  “Why did Jesus ask to be baptized?”  After all, the Church teaches that Christ shared in our humanity in all ways but sin.  So, if Jesus was without sin, why would he ask for something that he really did not need?

Well, in his first book written as Pontiff, entitled “Jesus of Nazareth,” the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, answers this question succinctly. Jesus’ baptism anticipates his death on the Cross.  As our Lord asked for Baptism, he willingly took on the sins of the world and, later, he would vicariously atone for those sins on Mt. Calvary.  At the same time, argues the Holy Father, the heavenly voice that is heard after Jesus’ baptism, anticipates his Resurrection.  Just as the Eucharist is also the Sacrifice of Calvary in the sign order, and is offered in a non-bloody manner, so the Baptism of the Lord is, in the sign order, an enacted prophecy of what is to come in the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus asks to be baptized in order to identify himself with us fully.  The Baptism of the Lord both recapitulates and recreates all of history; it encapsulates the past and anticipates the future.

Pope Benedict has given great insight into the feast which we celebrate today.  There’s only one problem to a purely theological homily—it can be a little too cerebral, and therefore, it must contain a pastoral component, that is, a practical application to which people can relate.  So, here’s the part you’ve all been waiting for!

If the Baptism of the Lord is ultimately about redemption, then it follows that this feast calls us to embrace anew our mission as co-redeemers, and sometimes to fulfill this role requires fortitude, perseverance, prudence and courage. We have as a model, Benedict’s successor, Pope Francis.  Just look what he has done in the years since he arrived.  He chooses to dress simply—to wear a simple silver pectoral cross.  He will not travel on land by limousine but by a modest car.  He will not inhabit the papal palace but chooses to dwell in a two-room suite.  He eats with others and not by himself, as popes before him did.  Like other Popes of our times, Francis reminds us all, clergy and laity, that baptism, which frees us from sin and gives us new life in the Spirit, is the beginning of our faith journey, not its end.

Pope Francis has also voiced his concern for the many baptized Christians “whose lives do not reflect the demands of Baptism, who lack a meaningful relationship to the Church and no longer experience the consolation born of faith.” Part of our mission, then, is to help such people to “experience a conversion which will restore the joy of faith to their hearts and inspire a commitment to the Gospel.” (Evangelii Gaudium, 15) When our way of life reflects the precious gift we have received in baptism, then we share in the work of Christ, drawing others to live as children of our heavenly Father.  This is what it means to participate in the New Evangelization, to proclaim the Good News by the example of our lives. How much our world yearns for this evidence of basic, human goodness, especially as we enter a new life in the key of Ordinary Time.   

Father Comandini is managing editor of “The Catholic Spirit.”