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This Sunday, we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. When talking about this celebration in 2006, Raniero Cantalamessa, Preacher to the Papal household, declared: “Was it that Jesus also needed to be baptized, as we do? Of course not. With that gesture, he wanted to show that he had become one of us. Above all, he wanted to put an end to the baptism of ‘water’ and inaugurate that ‘of the Spirit.’ It was not the water in the Jordan that sanctified Jesus, but Jesus who sanctified the water. Not only the water of the Jordan, but that of all fonts of the world.”
The newly baptized is a new creature, reborn by water and Spirit. He or she is a child of God, member of the Body of Christ, the Church, and a temple of the Holy Spirit.
Our Heavenly Father pronounces over every child or adult emerging from the baptismal font the same words he pronounced as Jesus emerged from the Jordan: “This is my beloved son or daughter, in whom I am well pleased.”
Let us pray: Heavenly Father, may we appropriate the words that you said during Jesus’ baptism, so we may know in our hearts that we are your beloved sons and daughters. Amen.
Image credit: AdamJanFigel/Shutterstock.com
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