MASS READINGS
January 08, 2024 (Readings on USCCB website)
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COLLECT PRAYER
Feast of the Baptism of the Lord: Almighty ever-living God, who, when Christ had been baptized in the River Jordan and as the Holy Spirit descended upon him, solemnly declared him your beloved Son, grant that your children by adoption, reborn of water and the Holy Spirit, may always be well pleasing to you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
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Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. "When the Solemnity of the Epiphany is transferred to Sunday, if this Sunday occurs on January 7 or 8, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is celebrated on the following Monday (Third Roman Missal). This feast brings to an end the season of Christmas. Ordinary Time lasts from the day after this feast to the Tuesday before Lent.
The Church recalls Our Lord's second manifestation or epiphany which occurred on the occasion of His baptism in the Jordan. Jesus descended into the River to sanctify its waters and to give them the power to beget sons of God. The event takes on the importance of a second creation in which the entire Trinity intervenes.
In the Eastern Church this feast is called Theophany because at the baptism of Christ in the River Jordan God appeared in three persons. The baptism of John was a sort of sacramental preparatory for the Baptism of Christ. It moved men to sentiments of repentance and induced them to confess their sins. Christ did not need the baptism of John. Although He appeared in the "substance of our flesh" and was recognized "outwardly like unto ourselves", He was absolutely sinless and impeccable. He conferred upon the water the power of the true Baptism which would remove all the sins of the world: "Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him Who takes away the sin of the world".
Many of the incidents which accompanied Christ's baptism are symbolical of what happened at our Baptism. At Christ's baptism the Holy Spirit descended upon Him; at our Baptism the Trinity took its abode in our soul. At His baptism Christ was proclaimed the "Beloved Son" of the Father; at our Baptism we become the adopted sons of God. At Christ's baptism the heavens were opened; at our Baptism heaven was opened to us. At His baptism Jesus prayed; after our Baptism we must pray to avoid actual sin.
—Excerpted from Msgr. Rudolph G. Bandas
Customs on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord
In the Ukraine the faithful gather in the front of the church where a cross of ice is placed. Since there are no rivers near churches, a tub is filled with water and is placed in front of the ice cross. During special and very unique services the water is blessed and brought home. This is taken in before breakfast is eaten. The remains are kept during the year to keep the home safe from fire, lightening and sickness.
The priest visits his parishioners to bless their homes with the holy water that the New Year may be one of cooperation with the gift of God; His Son and the participation in the Life He has come to lead us in toward Salvation. The evening meal is very much a repeat of the Holy Supper except that there are no restrictions on meat and dairy products. It starts with Kutia, which has been saved from Christmas Eve.
Feast of the Baptism of Christ—Day Fifteen
Today we celebrate the baptism of Christ in the Jordan. This is the second epiphany, or manifestation, of the Lord. The past, the present, and the future are made manifest in this epiphany.
The most holy one placed Himself among us, the unclean and sinners. The Son of God freely humbled Himself at the hand of the Baptist. By His baptism in the Jordan, Christ manifests His humility and dedicates Himself to the redemption of man. He takes upon Himself the sins of the whole world and buries them in the waters of the Jordan. —The Light of the World by Benedict Baur, O.S.B.
- Day Fifteen Activity (Renewal of Baptismal Vows)
- Day Fifteen Recipe (Christ's Diapers)
The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord
The mystery of Christ’s baptism in the Jordan by St John, the Precursor, proposes the contemplation of an already adult Jesus. This mystery is infinitely linked to the Solemnities of the Lord’s birth and the Epiphany that we have just celebrated, as in some ways it takes up and represents their significance to us.
At Christmas we have contemplated the human birth of the Word incarnate by the Virgin Mary. In the 4th century, the Fathers of the Church deepened the understanding of the faith with regard to the Christmas mystery in the light of Jesus’ Humanity. They spoke of the Incarnation of the Word already working like the ‘Christification’ of that humanity that he had assumed from His mother. Or put in simpler terms: Jesus is the Christ from the first instant of conception in Mary’s spotless womb because He Himself, with His Divine Power, consecrated, anointed and ‘Christified’ that human nature with which He became incarnate.
In the mystery of the Epiphany, we then meditated on Christ’s manifestation to all nations that was represented by the Magi, the wise men from the East, who came to adore the Child.
Now, in the mystery of Christ’s Baptism in the Jordan River, we again encounter and represent the truth of the Lord’s incarnation and His manifestation as the Christ. Jesus’ Baptism is in fact His definitive manifestation as the Messiah or Christ to Israel, and as the Son of the Father to the entire world. Here we find the dimension of the Epiphany which was His manifestation to all nations. The Father’s voice from heaven shows that Jesus of Nazareth is the eternal Son and the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove shows the Trinitarian nature of the Christian God. The true and unique God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, shows Himself in Christ, through Him, with Him and in Him.
The Baptism in the Jordan returns to the great Christmas theme of ‘Christification,’ Jesus of Nazareth's spiritual anointing, His presentation as the Anointed One par excellence, the Messiah or the One sent by the Father for the salvation of mankind. The Spirit that descended on Jesus shows and seals in an incontrovertible way the ‘Christification’ of Jesus’ humanity that the Word had already fulfilled from the first moment of His miraculous conception by Mary. Jesus, from the very beginning, was always the Lord’s Christ, He was always God. Yet, His one, true humanity, that which is perfect in every way, as the Gospel records, constantly grew in natural and supernatural perfection. ‘And Jesus increased in wisdom, in stature, and in favour with God and with men’ (Lk2:52). In Israel at 30 years of age, one reached full maturity and therefore could become a master. Jesus came of age and the Spirit, descending and remaining on Him, definitively consecrated His whole being as the Christ.
The same Spirit, that descended on the water of the River Jordan wafted over the waters during the first creation (Gen 1:2). Therefore, the Baptism in the Jordan presents yet another truth: that Jesus has started a new creation. He is the second man (1 Cor 15:47) or the last Adam (1 Cor 15:45), that comes to repair the first Adam’s guilt. He does this as the Lamb of God that takes away our sins. ‘Looking at the events in light of the Cross and Resurrection, the Christian people realised what happened: Jesus loaded the burden of all mankind’s guilt upon His shoulders; he bore it down into the depths of the Jordan. He inaugurated his public activity by stepping into the place of sinners’ (Joseph Ratzinger, Jesus of Nazareth, Bloomsbury 2007, p 18).
—Excerpted from the Dicastery for the Clergy
Mass Readings for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Year B:
The First Reading is from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah 42:1-4; 6-7. This prophecy of Isaiah was chosen today's feast which commemorates the baptism of Christ in the Jordan, because on that occasion the Father's voice from heaven proclaimed that Christ was "his beloved servant in whom he was well pleased." Following the interpretation of the inspired Evangelists and of the ancient and constant tradition of the Church, we can have no hesitation in seeing gin these works of Isaiah, written five centuries or so before Christ, a description of the Savior who came on earth to teach Jew and Gentile the new law of God, the law of love and mercy,.
The Second Reading is from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles 10:34-38. These verse of Acts are read for use today because they contain a reference to our Lord's baptism. That day, nearly two thousand years ago, when Christ by his baptism in the Jordan, began his public preaching of salvation for all men, is a day—a feastday—no true Christian can ever forget. The baptism of John was for sinners—a sign of change of heart and a turning to God. Christ had no sin, he had never turned away from God, he was God—but he was the representative of sinful humanity. He represented us sinners that day and opened the door of salvation for us. In that ceremony Christ was proclaimed by the heavenly Father to be his son and faithful servant, and the power of the Holy Spirit came upon him.
But this was all for us; as God he already had all things in common with the Father and the Holy Spirit. But in his human nature—our weak human nature—he was one that day proclaimed God's true and faithful servant. At the same moment we human beings were accepted in him and through him as God's adopted children. The mission of Christ was for us. There is no comparison between what God has prepared for us, and promises us, and the trifling conditions he asks us to fulfill in order to earn his promised reward.
The Gospel for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is from the Gospel of Mark 1:7-11. That Jesus insisted on being baptized by John in the Jordan, just like all the other sinful mortals, was another proof of his love for us and his willingness to undergo any humiliation for our sakes. He had no sins of which to repent: he had no need to show proof that he was changing his sinful ways and returning to God. But that day in the Jordan, he was the representative of all the sinners of the world. God the Father, "made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God," as St. Paul tells us (see 2 Cor. 5:21. Rom. 8:3). By this act of self-humiliation, this acceptance of all our sins, Jesus began his messianic mission of salvation for all sinners. He ended the same salvific mission on Good Friday by nailing all our sins to the cross together with his own body (see Col. 2:14).
—Excerpted from The Sunday Readings by Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan, O.F.M.
Meditation—The Baptism of Christ
And Jesus being baptized, forthwith came out of the water; and lo, the heavens were opened to Him: and He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him. And behold a voice from heaven saying: This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased."
Jesus stoops so low as to mingle with the multitude of sinners, and forthwith the heavens are opened to magnify Him—He acknowledges Himself worthy of the strokes of divine justice, and behold, the Father declares that He takes all His delight in Him: Humiliavit semetipsum...propter quod et Deus exaltavit illum.
It is at this moment that the mission of Jesus, as One sent by God, is declared authentic. The Father's testimony accredits, so to speak, His Son before the world, and hence this testimony relates to one of the characters of Christ's work as regards ourselves.
The mission of Jesus has a double aspect: it bears at the same time the character of redemption and of sanctification. It is to redeem souls, and, this done, to infuse life into them. That is the whole work of the Saviour.
—Excerpted from Christ in His Mysteries by Dom Columba Marmion
