BAPTISM OF THE LORD
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JESUS BEGINS HIS PUBLIC LIFE WITH
BAPTISM
WE ALSO BEGIN OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE WITH BAPTISM
We finish, today, the ChrisMtas
celebrations with the last manifestation of Jesus in the
Not too many days ago we saw Jesus being
born in the
We accompanied him in the flight into
We also accompanied him when he went to
Today, we
see him already an adult. He was about thirty years old when he took leave of his
mother, Mary, to go to preach the
Mary knew very well that Jesus would not return to
In
We leave
The Most Holy Trinity is manifested in Him who speaks,
the Father; in the Son, who is baptized; and in the Holy Spirit, who in the form
of a dove descends upon Jesus.
After the contemplation of the baptismal scene, we
contemplate the adorable person of Jesus under three aspects:
1. Jesus, the Messiah.
2. Jesus, the Son of God.
3. Jesus, a person whom he really
loves.
JESUS, THE MESSIAH
Jesus appears as the Messiah, but not in the way the
Jews hoped. The Jewish people did not have an exact notion of the Messiah. For
many years they had been waiting for a priestly Messiah, who would also be an
earthly king. But Jesus is never called a priest in the gospel, and when they
wanted to make him king, after the multiplication of the bread and the fish, he
disappeared.
Thus begins the Gospel of Saint Matthew:
The book of the genealogy of Jesus
Christ, the son of
David (Mt 1:1).
The people thought he was the awaited Messiah.
Some in the
crowd who heard these words said, "This is truly the Prophet." Others
said, "This is the Messiah"
(Jn
When Jesus asked the Apostles what the people said of
the Son of the Man, Peter answered: "You
are the Messiah." Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him (Mk
Jesus is condemned to death because he
has said that he was the Messiah.
Then
the high priest said to him, "I order you to tell us under oath before the
living God whether you are the Messiah, the Son of God." Jesus said to him
in reply, "You have said so” (Mt 26:63-64).
JESUS, SON DE GOD
Jesus is presented by the Father as the Son of God.
And a voice
came from the heavens, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well
pleased"
(Mk
The divinity of Jesus is something consustantial
to Him. John the evangelist, in the prologue of his gospel, already presents
Jesus as God: In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (Jn 1:1); And
the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the
glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth (Jn 1:14).
Later, when the Jews wanted to stone him, because he
said that God was his Father, he
answered to them, that they should consider the works he did, works only
God could do: I told you and you do not
believe. The works I do in my Father's name testify to me (Jn
Jesus has many followers, who follow to him because he
is the Son of God, and their words are truth and life. We did not follow a dead
and revived man, but a God that the life by us has given.
JESÚS,
THE PERSON WHO LOVES AND WHO TEACHES TO LOVE
The person who love, knows to
pardon and does not stops at works but at deeds.
Jesus really loved and had many friends. Among them, Martha, Mary and Lazarus. When this one fell ill,
his sisters sent this message to Jesus: "Master, the one you love is ill"
(Jn
11:3).
Remember the new commandment:
I give you a new commandment: love
one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another
(Jn
Jesus knows to pardon. He pardons Peter. And to the
adulterous woman, when the prosecutors disappeared and left her alone, he says:
Neither do I
condemn you. Go, (and) from now on do not sin any more
(Jn
JESUS IS THE GOOD MAN WHO PASSES THROUGH THE WORLD
DOING GOOD
When the disciples of John went to ask him
who he was, He responded.
Go
and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame
walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor
have the good news proclaimed to them
(Mt 11:4-5).
Three main ideas about Jesus on seeing Him being
baptised by John: Jesus, the Messiah; Jesus de Son of God; Jesus the person who
loves and who teaches to love.
I do not want to finish, today, this theological
reflection without remembering our baptism.
We Christians, when seeing the great personality of
Jesus, we have to deduce practical consequences for our life.
One day we were baptized and the priest anointed us
with the holy oils, as a sign of our consecration to God. Every Christian is a person
consecrated to God.
Baptism makes us children of God, and instills in our hearts the seed of the three theologal virtues: faith, hope and charity.
Jesus said: This is how you are to pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name (Mt 6:9).
Baptism incorporates us into the great community of
Christians.
Like Jesus did, we have to pass through the world
doing good.
In the celebration of the Eucharist, we, the Church, the
baptized, find again the Lord, under the species of bread and wine; we find Him
when we are going to receive Holy Communion.
Lord, I thank you for the baptism that you have given
me without any merit on my part. It makes me be part of the Church, reminding
me that life is beautiful and illuminating my way towards You.