Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
In those days when Jesus was about 30 years of age, he went from Nazareth to the Jordan to be baptized by John.
This solemnity that we celebrate today, the baptism of our Lord, takes place as the first event in our Lord's public life.
He concludes his 30 years of what's called the hidden life, his life at Nazareth, his life of perfect obedience to Our Lady and to St. Joseph.
And now he makes his way down to the Jordan.
Of course, there were huge crowds already going to the Jordan to be baptized by John.
Everyone had heard about John's holiness and about the power of his words and of his preaching.
And that he was giving a baptism of repentance, a baptism of penance, in preparation for the reception of the Messiah.
And so now our Lord...
The true Lamb of God goes to the Jordan to be baptized as well.
And the first question that enters into our mind is,
Why is our Lord going to participate in a baptism of repentance?
He who is the Holy One and has no need of repentance.
Well, this is the same question that enters into the mind of St. John the Baptist.
St. John the Baptist, upon seeing the Lord, said,
St. John the Baptist, upon seeing the Lord, said,
St. John the Baptist, upon seeing our Lord, says,
I ought to be baptized by Thee, and comest Thou to me.
So St. John himself is wondering,
Why am I going to baptize you with this baptism that I am giving in preparation for your coming?
And our Lord gives him the answer.
Suffer it now, for so it becometh us, to fulfill all justice.
To fulfill all justice.
And like many of the sayings of our Lord,
it isn't really all that clear what he means by his words.
So we look to the interpretations of the fathers and of the saints after their meditation,
what our Lord means by to fulfill all justice.
Well, we can look to all of our Lord's words and actions being inspired by the two loves.
The love for God.
And the love for man.
And this gives us an insight into the deeper meaning of his words and of his actions.
So when he says,
Suffer it now, for so it becometh us, to fulfill all justice.
Some other translations say,
To fulfill all righteousness.
That's another way of saying,
To fulfill the will of God.
Our Lord, as well as each and every one of us,
we express our love for God,
in fulfilling his will.
In this way, we fulfill all justice.
We fulfill all righteousness.
So our Lord is going to be baptized,
to fulfill the will of his Father,
which is his food.
Now he's also going to fulfill all justice,
that is, not only out of love for God his Father,
but also out of love for us.
To fulfill all justice.
To bring justice to us.
You see, in our Lord's baptism,
he's not repenting.
He's not doing penance.
He's not the one being sanctified in this baptism.
But instead, it is he who is sanctifying the waters
in preparation for our baptism.
This is seen as the institution of the sacrament of baptism,
by which each and every one of us,
will be made just.
By which each and every one of us,
will be made righteous,
and be given the grace and enable us,
to then fulfill all justice.
That is, to fulfill the will of the Father.
And so then we see John's true humility.
John obeyed the command,
and Jesus was baptized.
See, John has true humility.
He didn't push the issue.
He obeyed.
In humility, he obeyed.
Even though, perhaps, he didn't understand.
He didn't have time to reflect.
He didn't go and look up
what the fathers and doctors of the church
have to say about our Lord's saying
in order to understand what was taking place
and then fulfill the command of God.
But no, our Lord's word was enough for him.
And so he obeyed.
Then the heavens were opened.
The heavens were formerly closed
due to original sin.
And now, with the coming of our Lord,
he opens them once again.
And they are open for us.
Then we enter the church,
which is the gateway to heaven,
by means of this sacrament of baptism.
The Holy Ghost descended upon him
in the form of a dove.
And a voice from heaven exclaimed,
This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased.
Now here we have a revelation
of the Holy Trinity.
That which was revealed
only in shadows
and in obscurity in the Old Testament.
You see right in the book of Genesis,
it talks about the Spirit
hovering over the waters of the earth.
We hear the words of God when he says,
Let us make man
in our own image and likeness.
All a reference to the three persons
in the one divine nature.
But it isn't made public and explicit
until this moment,
the baptism of our Lord.
We have the voice of the Father.
We have the descent of the Holy Spirit
in the form of a dove.
And the Father proclaiming that
this is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased.
And this also has meaning
for each and every one of us
who have received
the sacrament of baptism.
Baptism is the first
and greatest grace
that God can give to the soul.
Baptism which
wipes out original sin,
which justifies the soul,
which infuses sanctifying grace,
and infuses
the three virtues
of faith, hope, and charity.
With the sacrament of baptism,
there is imparted on the soul
a character,
a sacred character, which
again, the saints have explained
is like a stamp
being pressed into hot wax.
And it leaves an indelible mark
on the soul.
Some of you may have heard
about the efforts of those who have
lost their faith.
I think there were
specific incidences in Germany
and also in England
of some Christians
who had lost their faith
and went back to their parish
to request that their baptism
be cancelled from the books.
They wanted to deny their baptism,
get rid of it.
And so the issue went to the courts
and as far as I know,
the courts upheld the church's right
not to cancel the baptism
but to keep it written in the books.
But even so,
let's say that the courts decided
the opposite.
That okay, the church had to
throw away those documents
to burn them or whatever.
It doesn't mean anything
with respect to the sacrament
that has been imparted to the soul.
It is an indelible mark
that can never, ever
be cancelled out.
It's a mark that conforms the soul to Christ.
So that when God,
looks upon the soul, he can pronounce those same words.
This is my beloved son or daughter in the Lord.
Obviously not sons and daughters by nature,
but nevertheless, sons and daughters by adoption.
This is the sacrament by which we are adopted,
we are made adopted sons and daughters of God
and conformed to Christ.
With that indelible mark, God sees Christ in us.
Now, the sacrament of baptism, of course,
is just the mere beginning of Christian life.
Sanctifying grace that enters the soul at the moment of baptism
is at its bare minimum, at minimum level.
And it's meant to grow and increase throughout life,
throughout the life of the Christian.
This is the process that is known as sanctification.
The growth and expansion of sanctifying grace.
Where that image of Christ in our soul becomes ever greater,
ever more pure.
We receive a greater conformity to Christ the Son
by means of always fulfilling the will of God,
by always fulfilling justice,
fulfilling that which is right.
And so the same can be said that although the mark is indelible
and connective,
never be erased entirely,
it can certainly become deformed by our sins,
by venial sin and especially by mortal sin.
So, we rejoice today in the baptism of our Lord
in that he has sanctified the waters
and has given to the church this first and greatest grace,
this first and greatest sacrament, that of baptism,
which conforms us to Christ the Lord.
This first and greatest grace, that of baptism,
which conforms us to Christ.
Let's cooperate and call to mind the promises
that were made either on our behalf
or, if we are baptized as adults,
that we ourselves have made
to reject Satan and all his empty promises,
to believe in God the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit
and all that the church teaches
and live our lives accordingly.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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Amen.
Christ the Lord be with you.