Dear Preachers:

The baptism of Jesus is not simply a moment in his life; it is a revelation meant to shape ours. In today’s Gospel, Jesus enters the Jordan not because he needs repentance, but to stand fully with a searching, vulnerable humanity. He steps into the water to make it holy, revealing a God who meets us where we are – not after we have tried and failed to purify ourselves in a futile effort to become “worthy.”

At his baptism, Jesus reveals both who He is and who God is for us. The heavens open, the Spirit descends, and God’s voice declares, “You are my beloved Son.” The Trinity is present and active. Baptism, then, is more than membership in a community; it is a declaration of identity. Before we are called to follow Jesus or sent on mission, we are named and claimed as God’s beloved children.

The baptism of Jesus marks the beginning of his mission – and, through him, ours. Immediately afterward, he goes forth to proclaim God’s kingdom, to heal the broken, and to confront injustice. So, it is with us. We are not baptized for private holiness alone, but into a shared vocation: to live the Gospel publicly through mercy, forgiveness, truth, and self-giving love.

Jesus does not emerge from the waters to claim privilege or power over others. His way is humility and obedience to God’s will. Our baptism, then, is not about status but about service – service shaped by compassion and sustained by hope.

The opening of the heavens at Jesus’ baptism signifies that the divide between God and humanity has been bridged. As baptized people, we are invited to trust that the heavens remain open – that God’s Spirit is at work in us even when the waters of life feel cold, uncertain, or unwelcoming. Our reading from the Acts of the Apostles helps us understand why this feast matters, both personally and as Church.

Peter is in the home of Cornelius, a Gentile who had been directed by an angel to summon him. There Peter proclaims the heart of the Gospel: “God shows no partiality.” He then offers a brief summary of the kerygma: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”

This proclamation reaches back directly to the baptism of the Lord, when Jesus was anointed by the Spirit and publicly revealed as God’s chosen one. Today’s feast celebrates not an isolated event, but the beginning of a Spirit-driven life of service. The Spirit is revealed not in sentiment, but in action – doing good, healing, and liberating. The Spirit is purposeful and concrete.

Peter’s declaration that “God shows no partiality” deepens the meaning of this feast. Jesus’ baptism reveals a mission that is universal. Just as Jesus stands in the waters with all humanity, Peter now stands in a Gentile household announcing that God’s saving work is for everyone. Our baptism, then, calls us to dismantle barrier – racial, cultural, social, and religious – and to reflect God’s inclusive love in our lives and in the Church.

This feast holds up a mirror to our own baptism. If Jesus was sent by the Spirit to “go about doing good,” then baptism is not a once-for-all initiation, but a lifelong calling. We are anointed and sent into our workplaces, parishes, families, prisons, hospitals, and streets to be instruments of healing, justice, and peace.

Peter says of Jesus, “God was with him.” At Jesus’ baptism, heaven opened to proclaim God’s presence. In our baptism, that same promise is made: we are never sent alone. We are called to continue what began when Jesus stepped into the Jordan and emerged on mission for us.

Jesus’ baptism assures us that we are beloved, sent, and accompanied by the Spirit. We are invited to live each day as people who have heard God’s voice spoken over our lives: “You are my beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

One final word from today’s reading from Isaiah. The prophet promises that God’s servant will “bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon those who live in darkness.” We know that dungeons are not only places of concrete and iron bars. Many carry what might be called a “portable prison” – darkness inherited from anxious beginnings, broken relationships, or the accumulated weight of a troubled world.

Just as Jesus entered the Jordan alongside the repentant, so he enters our places of darkness and confinement today. He is the one promised by Isaiah, who brings prisoners into freedom. He goes to the hidden places that keep us locked in, to the restricted patterns of living we excuse by saying, “That’s just the way I am.” Jesus does not remain a distant observer. He steps into the waters and into the darkness with us, helping us face what binds us and leading us out – just as God promised through the prophet Isaiah.

Click here for a link to this Sunday’s readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011126.cfm

QUOTABLE

“Christ is baptized, not that He may be made holy by the waters,

but that He may make the waters holy.

He goes down into the water to bury the old Adam entirely,

and to sanctify the Jordan for us and for all the world.”

“On the Holy Lights (The Baptism of Christ)”, preached around A.D. 381.

St. Gregory of Nazianzus, one of the Cappadocian Fathers.

JUSTICE BULLETIN BOARD

I, the Lord, have called you for the victory of justice.

—Isaiah 42: 6

 By our baptism, we are called. . .we are beloved. . .with whom God is well pleased. I can write or say this and know it is true in my head. Sometimes though, my difficulty is believing it in my heart. After all, God is the perfect parent so, surely, to be loved, I need to be perfect. I attempted this for a while in the spirituality of my childhood. It was exhausting and, in retrospect, I felt so unlike myself.

Then one day, when I was a mother and feeling God’s presence keenly, I realized that, like the love I had for my own children, God loved me just the way I am. This was undoubtedly the most liberating day in my life. At the time this occurred, I was deeply immersed in service to others in ministries at my parish. I had to pull back from some of my commitments to discern what seemed to be a sudden “U-turn” to understand my motivations. After many years of study, contemplation and just living life as it spilled out before me, I can say that my loving encounters and relationships with the poor are key to understanding my familial relationship with God. And I was not alone in this thinking, as I saw other parishioners transformed in their faith through service to the disadvantaged.

This brings me to the crux of this article. We have a tremendous need in our community for more people to commit to walk with the working poor or homeless or disabled or refugees or impoverished mothers.  Caring men and women are needed to help in Cathedral outreach ministries to walk with the person or family to be assisted with critical needs that will put them on the path to self-sufficiency in concrete ways, like help with shelter, food, clothing, advocacy, and also to provide spiritual support.

If we are ever going to attack the cause of poverty and create a just world, especially in this Poverty Awareness Month, it will be by walking with the impoverished and using the gifts that we have been given. And, along the way, we will find God calling to us, like a proud mom or dad, “Look at my child, the star of my team!” God has called us for just such a victory, a victory of justice.

Contact:  socialconcern@hnojnc.org

Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director

Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries

Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh, NC

FAITH BOOK

Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the run. Faith Book” is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home.

From today’s Gospel reading:

“After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water

and behold, the heavens were opened for him.”

Reflection:

Christ was not  spared the costs of being God’s Servant. Right after his baptism  when saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him, Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. His baptism doesn’t guarantee him a smooth path through life; nor does it guarantee us a smooth ride.  In fact, our baptism will cost us, for the faithful are to live the life of service that Jesus did.

So, we ask ourselves: 

·        When and how does it “cost” you to be a disciple of Jesus?

·        Do you experience God’s help when being a Christian comes with a price?

POSTCARDS TO DEATH-ROW INMATES

“One has to strongly affirm that condemnation to the death penalty is an inhuman measure that humiliates personal dignity, in whatever form it is carried out.”

---Pope Francis

Inmates on death row are the most forgotten people in the prison system. Each week I am posting in this space several inmates’ names and locations. I invite you to write a postcard to one or more of them to let them know that: we have not forgotten them; are praying for them and their families; or whatever personal encouragement you might like to give them. If the inmate responds, you might consider becoming pen pals.  

Please write to:

Seaga Gillard       #1428278   (On death row since 3/4/2019)

David Godwin      #1142266   (4/23/2019)

Mikel Brady         #1403339   (10/28/2019)

---Central Prison,  1300 Western Blvd.,  Raleigh, NC  27606

For more information on the Catholic position on the death penalty go to the Catholic Mobilizing Network: http://catholicsmobilizing.org

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