REFLECTIONS TODAY
Gospel • Luke 3:15-16, 21-22
In Israel, the portal by which a male child joins the covenanted people of God is through the rite of circumcision, done on the eighth day after birth. When it is done on the “first day” of the week, the child becomes a “new creation.” For believers, the entry point to the community of Jesus Christ is through Baptism — the Ursacrament, the “head” through which other sacraments are received.
At Pentecost, when those who heard Peter’s speech were touched to the heart, they asked Peter and the other apostles, “What are we to do?” Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized,” and those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand persons were added to the believers in Jesus Christ that day (Acts 2:37-41).
Baptism in early times was done by immersion. As the person goes down to the water with the stain of his sins, he “drowns” and “dies” to his old self. When he rises from the water, he becomes a new person and is clothed in white garment symbolizing his new state. The Gospel tells of John baptizing people in the Jordan River. Jesus joins the line of those who acknowledge that they are sinners, though he is the Holy One of God.
In Matthew, John hesitates to baptize Jesus, saying he is the one who needs to be baptized by Jesus, but Jesus prevails on him (3:14-15). Then heaven opens, with the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus in bodily form like a dove, and a voice is heard from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (v 22). Jesus’ baptism is an epiphany, revealing who he is as he begins his mission of preaching the coming of the reign of God. His identity is established: he is the Son of the Most High.
His mission will be declared shortly: he will proclaim the Jubilee year, the year of the Lord’s favor which involves great joy, healing, and freedom. Our baptism marks us with an indelible character—as God’s beloved son or daughter in Christ. It cannot be erased, even when we go astray, forgetting who we truly are. With repentance and the resolve to return to the Father in heaven, that character shines anew.
Do we treasure our baptism, even when we were baptized as babies? Do we remember the date of our baptism as surely as we remember and celebrate our birthday? On the feast of the Baptism of the Lord when he baptized babies in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, Pope Francis told the parents, “Dear parents, thank you for bringing your children here, for bringing them into the Church.
This is a good day, because we never forget when we were baptized. It is like a birthday, because with Baptism we are reborn into Christian life. Therefore, I advise you to teach your children the date of their Baptism as a new birthday: so that every year they may remember and thank God for this grace of having become Christians” (Jan. 8, 2023).
Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2025,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.