Reflections on the Feast of the Lord’s Baptism
The Reverend Nicholas L. Gregoris, S.T. D.
The First Luminous Mystery of the Rosary
The Church concludes the Christmas season with the celebration of the Lord’s Baptism. In 2003, we
celebrated the “Year of the Rosary,” during which Pope John Paul II proposed five new mysteries of the Holy
Rosary known as the “Luminous Mysteries” or the “Mysteries of Light.” These mysteries commemorate
events of Our Lord’s Public Ministry.
The First of these mysteries is the mystery of Our Lord’s Baptism in the Jordan River.
On Jordan’s Bank
I’ve been to the Jordan River on a few occasions and witnessed people, mainly Evangelical Christians,
being baptized in its murky waters that meander from the heights of Mt. Hermon and the Sea of Galilee until
they empty into the Dead Sea.
On both the Israeli and Jordanian sides of the Jordan River, there are markers commemorating the site of
Our Lord’s Baptism.
When Pope Benedict XVI visited the Holy Land in 2009, his pilgrimage included a stop in Jordan. There he
was able to see the excavation work being done along the banks of the Jordan River to preserve
archeological sites that testify to the fact that from the earliest centuries (up to and including the Crusader
period) that Christians worshipped there in commemoration of the Lord’s Baptism.
This archeological evidence in Jordan is supported by the Gospel accounts which state that Jesus went
“across the Jordan” to be baptized. The presumption, given the context of the Scriptures, is that Jesus was
on the Israeli side of the Jordan River and then crossed over to be baptized on the Jordanian side where
John, his cousin and forerunner, was preaching and baptizing.
Crossing Jordan
Each time you leave the world behind and cross over the threshold of a Catholic church, you enter into your
own spiritual Jordan, for each time you enter a Catholic church you should make the sign of the cross,
blessing yourself with holy water, in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, which
sacred gesture calls to mind the gift of your redemption and your baptismal promises.
By naming the Persons of the Blessed Trinity as we sign ourselves, we are reminded that it was through the
Sacrament of Baptism that we were first marked out for eternal salvation as God claimed us for Himself,
snatching us from the grasp of Satan, through the sacred ministry of Holy Mother Church.
Baptism and the Evil One
Did you ever wonder why devils or evil spirits, indeed Satan himself, abhor the use of holy water, for
example, as it is used in the Rite of Exorcism? According to the Bible, demons dwelt in the most arid places.
In preparation for His Baptism that inaugurated His public ministry, Our Lord went into the Judean wilderness
to pray and fast for forty days and forty nights. It was during this time that the devil tempted Our Lord
because he knew that Jesus was not only hungry, thirsty and tired but also dwelling in a deserted place, a
harsh and inhospitable environment inhabited by wild animals and far from fresh water sources such as an
oasis occasionally provides in a desert.
The ancients believed that demons hated contact with water, especially water that served a sacred purpose.
Therefore, from time immemorial the Church “baptized” this belief, using holy water not only in the
Sacrament of Baptism but also in a whole array of blessings directed toward persons, objects and places.
Holy water is, in fact, a sacramental that is a sacred object whose very purpose derives from and is directed
toward the celebration of the seven sacraments.
In the Roman baptismal ritual, the priest recites a prayer of exorcism and may perform a rite called
“Ephpheta,” an Aramaic word that means: “Be opened!” You might recall how in the Gospels Jesus would
heal the deaf and blind by touching their ears and eyes using these precise words. In the Sacrament of
Baptism, the priest touches the ears and mouth of the infant, so that the infant may receive a spiritual
healing that looks forward to the day when he or she will be able to hear God’s Word and also proclaim it.
Washed clean of original sin at Baptism, we became God’s adopted children in His Church. Enlightened by
the word of the Gospel, we have become sons of light and day and no longer sons of darkness and night.
Baptism has made us co-heirs with Christ of the Heavenly Kingdom.
Why was Our Lord baptized?
The Scriptures tell us that Jesus submitted to John’s baptism not because he was a sinner who needed
Baptism to symbolize his repentance and the remission of his sins, but because by thus humbling Himself He
fulfilled all righteousness. What does this mean? Let’s find an answer to our question from St. Maximus of
Turin, a bishop in fifth-century Italy. He was a contemporary of the great Archbishop of Milan, St. Ambrose,
as well as of Pope St. Leo the Great. While not as renowned a preacher as they, Maximus preached a
message that we can appreciate as direct and to the point.
Nevertheless, before we enjoy what St. Maximus has to teach us about the Lord’s Baptism, let’s examine
how he used his human touch to preach the Gospel to his unruly, earthy flock that all too often reverted to
its pagan, pre-baptismal ways.
A frustrated Bishop Maximus exclaimed: “Sometimes I think I shouldn’t bother to preach a sermon. I don’t
think some of you give a second thought to applying my teaching. How many of you go home from worship
and say, ‘Today the bishop spoke about almsgiving. Let’s see what we can give to the poor? You know, he
also warned us about idols. Let’s get rid of everything in the house that even came near an idol.’” On
another occasion, Maximus sought to exhort his congregation to follow the strict Lenten discipline of fast
and abstinence, saying: “Think about it! You will get your reproof during the liturgy if I smell food on your
breath at the kiss of peace.” Finally, he reprimanded his listeners on their reluctance to give up their pagan
past: “I can’t believe that you would leave the sacred banquet and go off to a wild party honoring an idol!
Don’t you know that if you want to reign with Christ you can’t rejoice with the world?”
St. Maximus wrote 106 extant sermons. In his 100th sermon, he explained the significance of the Lord’s
Baptism:
The Gospel tells us that the Lord went to the Jordan River to be baptized and that He wished to consecrate
Himself in the river by signs from Heaven. Reason demands that this feast of the Lord’s Baptism, which I
think could be called the feast of His birthday, should follow soon after the Lord’s Birthday, during the same
season, even though many years intervened between the two events.
At Christmas He was born a man; today He is reborn sacramentally. Then He was born from a Virgin; today
He is born in mystery. When He was born a man, His mother Mary held Him close to her heart; when He is
born in mystery, God the Father embraces Him with His voice as He says: “This is my beloved Son in whom I
am well pleased: listen to Him.”
The mother caresses the tender baby on her lap; the Father serves His son by His loving testimony. The
mother holds the child for the Magi to adore; the Father reveals that His Son is to be worshipped by all the
nations.
This is why the Lord Jesus went to the river for Baptism that is why He wanted His Holy body to be washed
with Jordan’s water.
Someone might ask, “Why would a holy man desire Baptism?” Listen to the answer: Christ is baptized, not to
be made holy by the water, but to make the water holy, and by His cleansing to purify the waters which He
touched. For the consecration of Christ involves a more significant consecration of the water.
For when the Savior is washed all water for our Baptism is made clean, purified at its source for the
dispensing of baptismal grace to the people of future ages. Christ is the first to be baptized, then, so the
Christians will follow after Him with confidence.
I understand the mystery as this. The column of fire went before the sons of Israel through the Red Sea so
they could follow on their brave journey; the column went first through the waters to prepare a path for
those who followed.
As the Apostle Paul said, what was accomplished then was the mystery of Baptism. Clearly it was Baptism in
a certain sense when the cloud was covering the people and bringing them through the water.
But Christ the Lord does all these things: in the column of fire He went through the sea before the sons of
Israel; so now, in the column of His body, He goes through Baptism before the Christian people.
At the time of the Exodus, the column provided light for the people who followed; now it gives light to the
hearts of believers. Then it made a firm pathway through the waters; now it strengthens the footsteps of
faith in the bath of Baptism.
Immersion means Insertion into Christ’s Paschal Mystery
The word baptism is an important one. It derives from the Greek word, “baptisma,” meaning: “immersion,”
which was the earliest form of Baptism. It is still the only form of Baptism permitted by the Greek Orthodox as
you might recall from Ian’s adult Baptism in the comedic film, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” But even infants
are carefully immersed according to the Eastern Orthodox practice.
Immersion, although permitted, is less commonly practiced in the Roman Rite. The form of Baptism
preferred in the Roman rite is called infusion or the pouring of water over the head of the candidate for
Baptism. In order for the Sacrament of Baptism to be administered validly the candidate must be baptized
with three separate immersions or acts of infusion (pouring) to correspond with the separate mentions of the
three divine persons of the Trinity. Another acceptable form of Baptism is sprinkling, but much less common
than either immersion or infusion.
What does immersion symbolize?
St. Paul explains in his Epistle to the Romans that it symbolizes a person’s being buried with Christ. The
person to be baptized is called to die to his sinful ways in order to be buried with the old man, the old self,
together with all his vices, so as to be able to rise up and come out of the waters of Baptism as a new man
in Christ Jesus, clothed with the righteousness and humility of Christ, the New Adam, “the first born of many
brothers.”
Whether you were baptized by immersion, by infusion, or by sprinkling, the theology of Baptism does not
change. As baptized believers, we must live a new life in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit to the greater
honor and glory of God our Heavenly Father.
Whether one examines Baptism as preached and administered by John the Baptist, the baths of ritual
purification practiced by the Jews and Essenes in Our Lord’s time known as “miqwa” or Baptism as a
Christian sacrament of initiation, all of these acts of ritual purification were meant to symbolize for the
believer the forgiveness of sins and repentance, in a word, conversion.
Baptismal Consecration
When we were baptized we received a new name. That name according to the writings of Fathers of the
Church like St. Augustine is ‘Christian.” Christian means ‘little Christ.” Each person who is baptized becomes
a “little Christ” because he shares Christ’s own three-fold office/mission of prophet, priest and king. Our
English word “Christ” derives from the Greek word “Christos,” meaning “Anointed One.” This Greek word
was used by the sacred authors of the New Testament to translate the Hebrew word, “Messiah,” meaning
also “Anointed One.”
In the Rite of Baptism, two rites of anointing take place. The first anointing is carried out with the so-called
“oil of the catechumens,” with which the sign of the cross is traced on the person’s chest. The second
anointing is with sacred chrism with which the sign of the cross is traced on the crown of the head. The
person being baptized is anointed, crowned with the oil of gladness, the oil of salvation in the New
Covenant, as were anointed the prophets, priests and kings of the Old Covenant.
Three-Fold Office/Mission
Prophet
Prophets are not so much those who forecast future events as they are spokesmen of God’s Word. We are
called by virtue of our common Baptism to preach the Word of God, to bear witness to the Gospel of God
and His Kingdom, to testify by means of holy words and deeds to Jesus, God’s own Beloved Son.
At the Lord’s Baptism in the Jordan the Father’s voice was heard bidding all to listen to His Son. Our English
word “obedience” derives from the Latin “oboedire,” meaning, “to listen intently.” In other words, we must
obey God’s Word, first and foremost, before we will be able to preach it effectively to others.
Priest
The essence of the exercise of priestly ministry in religion throughout the ages has been the offering of
sacrifice. This is the essence of the Christian priesthood as well, which derives its efficacy from the one
priesthood of Christ. The Catholic Church teaches clearly that the one Priesthood of Jesus Christ gives rise
to two distinct but related forms of participation: the common priesthood of all the baptized and the
ministerial priesthood. The difference, however, between the two forms of Christian priesthood is not just in
degree but in essence.
While the ordained priest participates in the ministry of Jesus’ priesthood primarily by confecting the
Eucharist, the lay faithful, not possessing this sacral power, are asked to unite their prayers, joys and
sorrows to the offerings of bread and wine that by the power of the Holy Spirit and the consecratory prayer
of the priest are transformed into the Body and Blood of the Lord.
All the baptized are nonetheless called to offer sacrifice, offering to the Lord chaste bodies, pure minds and
sanctified spirits as holy oblations, pleasing in the Lord’s sight. We offer to the Lord as a sweet-smelling
sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving our private and communal prayers, especially the recitation of the
Liturgy of the Hours which sanctifies the hours of each day, the life of the universal Church and that of the
whole world.
King
We are kings on account of our common Baptism. We are called to serve the Lord and each other in charity
and in truth (“Caritas in Veritate”), for “to serve is to reign.”
If we are to build God’s Kingdom on earth, then we must be about humble service and sacrificial love in
imitation of Our Lord, Whose entire life and ministry -- culminating in His Passion, Death, Resurrection and
Ascension -- was a labor of love carried out as that most sacred of duties for us and for our salvation.
Renewal of Baptismal Promises and the Light of Faith
Today, my brothers and sisters in Christ, we should not only thank God for the mystery of Our Lord’s
Baptism but also for how His Baptism made possible our own. The best way we can express our gratitude to
Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for this feast and our own Baptism is by renewing in our hearts
today our baptismal promises as we do each year at the Easter Vigil and at Mass on Easter Sunday.
Furthermore, we are reminded of our baptismal promises when during the course of the Liturgical Year the
priest begins the Mass with the Sprinkling Rite.
Let us recall today how at the Easter Vigil the Paschal Candle, symbol of the Risen Christ, was carried into
our darkened churches scattering the darkness of sin. Each of us was baptized in the light of the Paschal
Candle. From the Paschal Candle, the minister who baptized us lit a candle which he then handed to our
fathers, exhorting them to help us keep that light, symbolic of our new-found faith, brightly burning until
Christ comes again in glory. We are called to share the light of Christ, the light of the Gospel with others so
that they may see our good deeds and give glory to our Heavenly Father.
Pray for the priest or other sacred minister who baptized you, be that person alive or dead. Pray also for all
who are preparing for Baptism, who are called catechumens, as well as for the newly baptized, who are
called “neophytes.”
The White Garment and the Wedding Garment
Another important symbol of Baptism is the white garment, which symbolizes our new- found purity and
holiness of life attained as new creatures in Christ. The white garment symbolizes that our souls have
indeed been cleansed of original sin and purified from all other sins that may have stained them until that
moment.
In the Gospels we read about how at Our Lord’s Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor, His clothes became dazzling
white. Thus, we receive a white garment at Baptism because it too symbolizes that we have been
transformed not just on the outside and for a moment, but on the inside and permanently. The character
imprinted on our souls at Baptism is permanent. No sin, no matter how great, can change that spiritual
reality. Once baptized, always baptized. even unto eternity.
Just as Our Lord’s clothes became dazzling white as a prefigurement of His bodily Resurrection, so too does
the white garment we receive at Baptism prefigure or foreshadow our own bodily resurrection on the last
day.
When in the parables Jesus speaks of a man not being admitted to the wedding feast because he was not
properly clad, because he lacked the wedding garment that everyone was expected to wear as a sign that
they belonged to the wedding party, we Christians understand that wedding garment as related to the white
garment of our Baptism that we are meant to keep unstained until at last we come to take our place at the
Wedding Feast of the Lamb described in the Book of Revelation.
Necessity and Beauty of Baptism
Baptism is so very important for, without it, we could not receive the other sacraments. Baptism was
therefore dubbed by the Fathers of the Church the “vitae spiritualis ianua” (“the door of the spiritual life”).
St. Gregory of Nazianzus, one of the Cappadoccian Fathers writing in the fifth century, explains:
Baptism is God’s most beautiful and magnificent gift . . . . We call it gift, grace, anointing, enlightenment,
garment of immortality, bath of rebirth, seal, and most precious gift. It is called “gift” because it is conferred
on those who bring nothing of their own; “grace” since it is given to the guilty; “Baptism” because sin is
buried in the water; “anointing” for it is priestly and royal as are those who are anointed; “enlightenment”
because it radiates light; “clothing” since it veils our shame; “bath” because it washes; “seal” as it is our
guard and the sign of God’s Lordship.
Baptism’s singular importance can also be determined by making the following theological considerations.
Ordinary Means of Salvation
It is, ordinarily speaking, the means of salvation. The Church draws this teaching from Our Lord’s words to
Nicodemus in John 4: “Unless a man be born again by water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of
Heaven.” Here, there is a play on words in the Greek text since John the Evangelist uses the Greek word
“anothen,” meaning both “again” and “from above.”
When my Evangelical brothers and sisters in Christ ask me if I’ve been born again, I simply reply “yes,” and
then explain to them the significance of Baptism from a Catholic Christian perspective.
The Catholic Church emphasizes the singular importance of the Sacrament of Baptism so much that she
permits even non-believers to baptize in an emergency if they are willing to do so by following the Church’s
intentions, using the proper matter and form as already explained.
Ontological Change
Baptism is one of three sacraments that imprints a permanent character or indelible mark on the soul, the
others being Confirmation and Holy Orders. This means that these sacraments, once validly administered,
cannot be repeated because the recipient has been changed forever, bringing your Christian identity with
you wherever you go and into eternity. This can be illustrated by the fact that even apostates (those who
renounce Christianity in favor of another religion or no religion at all) remain baptized.
Other Forms of Baptism
Even though Baptism by water is the ordinary means of salvation, and the Church admits that God can and
does save people who are not incorporated visibly into the Catholic Church and who may even just be pious
pagans, the Church believes that there are two other forms of Baptism, namely, Baptism of Desire and
Baptism of Blood. These terms require some explanation.
Baptism of Desire refers to those who die before they are actually baptized by water but who desire to be
baptized. This applies in a special way to catechumens, who may die before their Baptism.
Baptism of Blood occurs when a non-baptized person dies in defense of the Catholic Faith. That person’s
martyrdom more than suffices for the waters of Baptism.
Infant Baptism and the Second Baptism
How do sins committed after Baptism get absolved? Through the Sacrament of Penance or what the
Fathers of the Church termed the Second Baptism, a Baptism not by water but by the tears of repentance.
A primary reason for which the early Christians often postponed their Baptism was that they realized that
once they had been baptized, they were expected to lead an unsullied life in imitation of Jesus, Mary and
the Saints. They also knew that if they failed to lead such a life of godly holiness, they would be expected
both to confess their sins publically and to do prolonged public penances before being readmitted into full
communion with the Church, without which communion they would be barred from entering into the fullness
of the communion of saints in Heaven.
Eventually, however, this spiritual procrastination (such as the Emperor Constantine was said to have
practiced) proved fruitless as not only adults were admitted to Baptism but likewise infants (infant Baptism
being the norm in the West as attested to in the writings of St. Augustine by the fourth century).
Baptism and the Mystery of the Trinity
The mystery of the Trinity was revealed at both Our Lord’s Baptism and His Transfiguration, the first and
fourth luminous mysteries of the Holy Rosary, respectively. At His Baptism, Jesus is obviously the Son of
God and Second Person of the Trinity, while the voice heard from the heavens is that of God the Father as
the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove. At the Transfiguration, on the other hand, Jesus once again
takes His place as the Beloved to Whom we must listen, the voice heard belongs to the Father, and the
cloud overshadowing the entire event is symbolic of the Holy Spirit’s presence.
The mystery of the Trinity and Baptism were directly linked by Our Lord Jesus before He ascended into
Heaven from Bethany. Recall how in Matthew 28, Jesus commissioned the Apostles to preach the Gospel to
all nations -- often referred to as “The Great Commission.” Simultaneous with the commission to preach the
Gospel to all nations, came Jesus’ command to baptize “in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Spirit.”
The only baptisms considered valid by the Catholic Church are those administered in the Name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, using one of the three approved modes of baptizing.
Consequently, the Church does not recognize as validly baptized any person baptized only in the Name of
Jesus. Furthermore, if a person belongs to an organization that does not profess the full divinity of each
individual divine Person (such as we find with Mormons and Jehovah’s witnesses who deny the full divinity of
Christ and the Spirit), then their Baptisms are invalid, even if administered in the Name of Father, Son and
Holy Spirit.
Baptism and the Pilgrimage of Faith
Baptism begins the process of one’s eternal salvation. Reborn by water and the Spirit, we look forward to
our birthday into Heaven, hopefully at the moment of our death. On this Feast of the Lord’s Baptism, let us
once again reject Satan, all his works, all his empty promises, refusing to be mastered by sin. The Devil or
Satan never merely presents us with pure evil. If he were to do so, we would reject it, for we are inherently
good, being created in God’s image and likeness, let alone redeemed by Jesus’ Most Precious Blood and
sanctified by His Holy Spirit. What Satan presents us so pompously and arrogantly is the glamour of evil,
presented as an apparent good. Since Satan is the “father of lies,” in order to get his way with us, he must
deceive us as he first deceived Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He has no other means by which to
get us over to his side than to entice us to accept by our own free will that which appears to be good but
really isn’t.
Concluding Reflection:
Finally, let us listen attentively once again to the wisdom of St. Gregory Nazianzus who exhorts us:
Today let us do honor to Christ’s Baptism and celebrate this feast in holiness. Be cleansed entirely and
continue to be cleansed. Nothing gives such pleasure to God as the conversion and salvation of men, for
whom His every word and every revelation exist. He wants you to become a living force for all mankind,
lights shining in the world. You are to be radiant lights as you stand beside Christ, the great light bathed in
the glory of Him Who is the light of Heaven. You are to enjoy more and more the pure and dazzling light of
the Trinity, as now you have received, though not in its fullness, a ray of its splendor, proceeding from the
one God, in Christ Jesus Our Lord, to Whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.