Sunday Meditation: The Baptism Of Jesus~A Time Of Transition

 Jesus' baptism by John at the Jordan River is the third of His manifestations; it is the solemnity that ends the Christmas season. It indicates a time of transition, for Jesus and for us. We are told in Scripture that immediately after His baptism, Jesus was driven by the Spirit into the desert. After spending 40 intense days and nights there, He would begin His public ministry. It was a transition from a very private life to one that was very public.
For us too, celebrating this feast indicates a transition; we move from the festive and busy season of Christmas, back into the routine of Ordinary Time. This year we are given about six weeks to catch our breath, so to speak, before entering the rigorous season of Lent.
I invite you to take this theme of transition a step further; perhaps to what this feast is really all about~our own baptism.
In my very humble opinion, baptism is the one sacrament that is most taken for granted. That may be due to the fact that most of us received this sacrament when we were infants. However, our baptism, no matter when we received it, is a transition. This all important sacrament transitions us from life lived in the stain of original sin to life in Christ. Once we are baptized, we belong to God!
Christ was given a mission by His Heavenly Father. He spent three years preaching repentance and the nearness of God's Kingdom. In that time he healed the sick, raised the dead, and made the blind see. He would complete His mission by dying and rising for each of us so that through our baptism, we might live in and with Him for all eternity.

After His baptism, Jesus was given and accepted His mission. We too are given a mission at our own baptism. We are to make that transition from living private lives to living our faith and our life publicly. The mission we are given is the vocation God calls each of us to; we can choose, by the gift of our free will, to accept the mission as Jesus did, or reject it as Satan did.
The Catechism in Paragraph 1213 tells us that the sacrament of Baptism is the gateway to life in the Spirit and the doorway to all the other sacraments. I know in my own life, I don't always live up to my baptismal promises, but because I have been baptized I have access to the sacrament of Reconciliation which brings me back to right relationship with God, and the Eucharist which strengthens me so that I am able to cooperate with God's grace.

So as we transition from Christmas to Ordinary Time, let us resume and continue the work begun in us at our baptism. Let us accept the mission of living our lives in Christ.

Have a Blessed Sunday!

James Tissot's Baptism of Jesus