We are the Baptized!

January 09, 2012

FEAST OF THE LORD'S BAPTISM

Is 42,1-4.6-7 . Ac 10,34-38

Mk 1,17-11

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October 28, 1990. I always look back to the day I was baptized, the very special day  when I was called from nothingness into being, from being a child of sin into being a child of God. Though I fall and break my soul bigtime, I would still go back to this day to remind myself,  I am baptized! I have a Holy Mission! I must not depart from it, no matter how unworthy I am.

Today, while some of us remember the Transfer of the Image of the Black Nazarene from Intramuros to Quiapo in Manila, the whole Church remembers that day when Jesus begins his earthly ministry. He draws through the Jordan River to be baptized, and with this to recognize the redemptive mission he is going to bear for each one of us. He is baptized by John the precursor, and from the heavens a dove hovered over him. A voice is heard, You are my beloved Son; in You am I well-pleased.

John recognizes him as Somebody greater than I; I am not even worthy to untie the thongs of his sandals. He who is great draws nearer to his creation to live with them, to manifest himself through them. He who rules over the waters and the skies wills to be baptized through these powerful elements. He who is spirit and truth is hovered over by a dove. He who is the Son of Man is declared by the powerful voice as God's beloved Son.

The Baptism of Jesus marks the beginning of his service of redemption to the nations. Through this holy initiation, Jesus in turn begins to baptize ... in Holy Spirit. This is through his teachings, healing and miracles. He worked, preached and prayed, and through these he invited the lesser ones to believe in God's providence, while he contradicted the earthly values of the pharisees, scribes and elders. 

But is this the culmination of His mission? No! Jesus came into the fulfillment of his ministry when he carried the Cross and Died and Resurrected! Through this, we are also called to turn from our earthly ways and on to life with God. He was baptized in water and blood, so that we may also be born from death to new life in him.

We draw the Christmas Season to an end today. We realize that we do not end with Jesus staying as an infant; we see him today as a full-grown adult, at the onset of his mission, and fresh for the proclamation. From his birth in a manger, we now see him prepared to draw others to his Heavenly Father. As the shepherds and Wise ones worshiped him in his humble stature, now he calls the people of every age and place to place their trust in God and in Him.

As for us, we ask ourselves, We who are also baptized in the Faith, do we live ourselves as such? Let us examine ourselves if we live everyday in the statutes of the Church and in the decrees of God. Are we willing to offer much, if not all, of our lives for the sake of others? Can we truly consider ourselves as Christians and Children of God in word and deed?

We are truly the Baptized! Like Jesus who was baptized today as he begins his ministry of love and sacrifice, let us also be reminded of our own baptisms in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. As we are reminded, let us truly live by it and for it!