One Minute Reflection – 10 January – Feast of the Baptism of the Lord , Readings: Isaiah 55:1-11, Isaiah 12:2-3,4,5-6, 1 John 5:1-9, Mark 1:7-11
“I have baptised you with water but he will baptise you, with the Holy Spirit.” – Mark 1:8
REFLECTION – “Today, the Lord Jesus has come to be baptised. He wanted to wash His body in the water of the Jordan.
Someone might say: “Why did He who was the Holy One want to be baptised?” So listen.
Christ was baptised, not in order to be sanctified by the water but so that He, Himself would sanctify the water and would purify the waves, that He touched by His personal action.
Thus, we have to do with the consecration of the water much more than with that of Christ. For the moment the Lord was washed, all the waters became pure in view of our baptism. The spring was purified so that grace might be obtained for the people who would come afterwards. Thus Christ was the first to go to His baptism, so that the Christian people might follow Him without hesitation.
And in this I perceive a mystery.
Did not the column of fire go ahead into the Red Sea in this way, so as to encourage the children of Israel to walk behind it? It crossed the water first so as to break a path for those who would follow.
According to the testimony of the Apostle Paul, this event was a symbol of baptism (1 Cor 10:1f.). Without any doubt, when the people were covered by the cloud and carried by the water, it was a kind of baptism.
And all that was fulfilled by the same Christ our Lord, who in the column of His body now precedes the Christian people to baptism, just as He preceded the children of Israel across the sea, in the column of fire. The same column, which in times past enlightened the eyes of those who were walking, now gives light to the hearts of the believers. Then it marked a solid path in the waves, now in this bath, it strengthens the steps of faith.” – St Maximus of Turin (?-c 420) Bishop – Sermon for the feast of the Epiphany
PRAYER – By the Benedictines of Stanbrook
When Jesus comes to be baptised,
He leaves the hidden years behind,
The years of safety and of peace,
To bear the sins of all mankind.
The Spirit of the Lord comes down
Anoints the Christ to suffering,
To preach the word, to free the bound
And to the mourner comfort bring.
Our everlasting Father, praise,
With Christ, His well-beloved Son,
Who with the Soirit reigns serene,
Untroubled Trinity in One.
Amen
AnaStpaul 