As you’ve heard several times over the past few weeks, for Roman Catholics in the United States, today marks the formal and liturgical end of the Christmas season. This follows the narrative trajectory of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke). Only the Gospels of Matthew and Luke feature Infancy Narratives. By contrast, the Gospel of Mark practically begins with Jesus’ baptism by John in the river Jordan.
And so, in our cyclically annual celebration of the Paschal Mystery, which is the liturgical year, the Christmas season brings us up to the beginning of the Lord’s public ministry. In the Synoptic Gospels, his public ministry is inaugurated by his baptism and his confirmation.
His confirmation, you might ask. Yes, this is made especially clear in Saint Matthew’s account, which we just heard. As he came up out of the water the heavens were opened, and the voice of Father “confirmed” Jesus’ identity as his “beloved son.” Unlike Jesus, we are not eternally begotten of the Father. We are made children of God by our rebirth through baptism. This identity is confirmed, strengthened, and secured by another epiclesis of the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of confirmation.
Fourteen or fifteen years ago, in Jersey City, New Jersey, I attended a Mass on this feast. It was presided over by Archbishop Celestino Migliore, who was then the Holy See’s delegate to the United Nations. His Excellency gave a very short homily. I have remembered exactly how he started it: “You’re not really born until you’re baptized.”
While Jesus is the only begotten Son of the Father even before his baptism, we are “made,” not “begotten.” This is true both in terms of our existence and our status as God's children. We are made children of God through the baptism of rebirth. Essentially, what baptism does is make explicit what is implicit in each and every person. It’s kind of like finding a Spanish galleon in the ground. At first, you have something metallic covered in dirt. You have to wash it off to see what it is.
The event described in our reading from the Acts of the Apostles is often called “the Pentecost of the Gentiles.” It takes place at the house of Cornelius, a Roman centurion. All those who were baptized on that occasion were Gentiles. This reading can be seen as the fulfillment of what the visit of the magi indicates obliquely: through Christ, everyone is invited into God’s covenant, his singular covenant, with humanity.
We are reborn, regenerated in and through baptism. Baptism washes away our sins and restores us to the state of original grace. It makes us members of the household of God, the Church.
Jesus’ baptism is also a regenerative event. But it is not the only begotten Son of the Father who is regenerated. As Pope Benedict XVI insisted: “It is not the eucharistic food that is changed into us, but rather we who are mysteriously transformed by it” (Sacramentum Caritatis, n. 70). Much the same can be said for baptism- baptism confers on us a new identity, our true identity: child of God.
The Lord is not changed by his baptism. He is the Son of God, “born of the Father before all ages.” Rather, his going down into the water begins the redemption of all creation. It can be seen as something akin to a new act of creation, a definitive act of recreation. In the first chapter of Genesis, the Spirit moving across the water causes life to emerge from its simplest to its most complex form- human beings, man and woman, created in the image and likeness of God. While the divine image is ineradicable, our likeness to God is lost through sin and is restored by grace.
The universal and cosmic nature of Jesus’ baptism is indicated by the theophany it prompts. A theophany is something like God fully revealing himself. Hence, a theophany is a Trinitarian manifestation. There is the Son upon whom the Spirit descends and about whom the voice of the Father speaks.
Of course, the Baptism of the Lord is the first of the Luminous Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. These mysteries were given to the Church by Pope Saint John Paul II in his 2002 Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae. These mysteries fill what was previously a noticeable gap between the Joyful Mysteries, in which we meditate on the events surrounding Jesus’ birth and his life before his public ministry, and the Sorrowful Mysteries, by means of which we meditate on his Passion and death. It is important not to ignore Jesus’ life and ministry.
The fruit of the first Luminous Mystery is openness to the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit that descended on Jesus at his baptism was given to you in baptism and confirmation. It is this same Spirit who is at work in and through baptism and the Eucharist, indeed all the sacraments. The work of the Spirit is to restore us to the divine likeness, to make us like Christ.
The sacraments are the Holy Spirit’s “masterworks.” Our baptism should mark the beginning of our public ministry, the ministry of evangelization. As Pope Saint Paul VI taught: the Church “exists in order to evangelize, that is to say, in order to preach and teach, to be the channel of the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners with God, and to perpetuate Christ's sacrifice in the Mass, which is the memorial of His death and glorious resurrection” (Evangelii Nuntiandi, n. 14).
For those of us who are ordained, the first vestment we put on is the alb. An alb is a baptismal garment. Our stole, which is a sign of ordination, goes on top of the alb.
Baptism is a call, a vocation. It is the primary vocation of all Christians. As one of the Intercessions for Morning Prayer for tomorrow, the first day of Ordinary Time for this liturgical year implores:
Almighty King, through baptism you conferred on us a royal priesthood,
- inspire us to offer you a continual sacrifice of praise
No comments:
Post a Comment