Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Today we celebrate the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, marking the end of the liturgical Christmas season. We know, of course, that baptism does nothing to or for Jesus; it is His entering into the waters of the Jordan that transforms baptism into a sacrament through which we receive life in the power of the Holy Spirit. This feast should call to mind the moment of our own baptism, even if we were too young to remember the event.  On that day, we were washed clean of original sin, made part of the Body of Christ, the Church, and given the gift of the life of grace. Before baptism, our godparents, speaking on our behalf, renounced sin and professed the Catholic faith. We renew our profession of faith every Sunday with the recitation of the Creed. Today’s feast provides us an opportunity both to renew our faith and to renew our renunciation of sin. Consider the questions asked in that part of the baptismal rite:

• Do you renounce Satan?
• And all his works?
• And all his empty show?
• Do you renounce sin, so as to live in the freedom of the children of God?
• Do you renounce the lure of evil, so that sin may have no mastery over you?
• Do you renounce Satan, the author and prince of sin?

Spend some time with these. They are easy questions to assent to, but we want them to be more than aspirational goals. These questions, ceremonially answered with “I do,” might also be answered by each of us today with a resolution: “I want to! I will!”

On this feast of the Baptism of the Lord, may we all be renewed in our baptismal promises and in the graces promised to God’s beloved sons and daughters.

Peace,

Fr. Sam