Basic HTML Version
Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7 or Isaiah 55:1-11
Isaiah 12:2-3, 4BCD, 5-6
Acts of the Apostles 10:34-38 OR 1 John 5:1-9
Mark 1:7-11
Summary
In Isaiah, God speaks of a “chosen one” with whom he is “pleased” and fills him with his
Holy Spirit. The Gospel of Mark speaks of the baptism of the Beloved Son and the de-
scending of Holy Spirit upon him.
Reflection
On this final day of our Christmas celebration, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, we
are reminded to reflect on the significance of Jesus’ spiritual anointing and baptism in
OUR spiritual lives.
While going through the RCIA process, I experienced a significant change in the way I
viewed the birth and baptism of Christ. During one particular session, we were asked if
we knew the date of our birth. That’s an unusual question, I thought. So, with a per-
plexed looked we all raised our hands. Then, those who were baptized were asked to
raise their hands. Many of us raised our hands. Then we were asked to keep our hands
raised if we knew the date of our bap-
tism. All hands went down. This “Aha
moment” led to an insightful and spiritual
discussion regarding the importance of
remembering and reflecting on the rea-
son and purpose of our baptism. Bap-
tism itself is a symbolic act that has to
be accompanied by an inner change.
The Greek word for ‘repentance’ here is
metanoia
, meaning “a change of heart”.
It implies a radical change in the way we
look at the meaning and purpose of life
and how we live that life. It calls for
much more than ‘repentance’, which we
normally understand as ‘being sorry’.
Metanoia
is much more. It calls for a to-
tal reorganization of one’s attitudes so
that we may live a spiritual life that hon-
ors God and the Baptism of His Son, Je-
sus Christ.