“I baptize you with water, but the one who is coming will do much more: 

   he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11

 Be comforted, my people,

Be strengthened, says your God.   Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, proclaim to her that her time of bondage is at an end, that her guilt has been paid for, that from the hand of Yahweh she has received double punishment for all her iniquity.

  A voice cries, “In the wilderness prepare the way for Yahweh. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley will be raised up; every mountain and hill will be laid low.

The stumbling blocks shall become level and the rugged places smooth.   The glory of Yahweh will be revealed, and all mortals together will see it; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.”

  Go up onto the high mountain, messenger of Zion, lift up your voice with strength, fear not to cry aloud when you tell Jerusalem and announce to the cities of Judah:

Here is your God!

  Here comes your God with might; his strong arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and here before him is his booty.   Like a shepherd he tends his flock:  he gathers the lambs in his arms, he carries them in his bosom, gently leading those that are with young.

Ps 104:1b-2, 3-4, 24-25, 27-28,29-30

O bless the Lord,my soul.

 

＊＊＊ 2nd Reading ＊＊＊

Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7

 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all,   teaching us to reject an irre­ligious way of life and worldly greed, and to live in this world as responsible persons, up­right and serving God,  while we await our blessed hope—the glorious manifestation of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus.  He gave himself for us, to redeem us from every evil and to purify a people he wanted to be his own and dedicated to what is good.

 But God our Savior revealed his eminent goodness and love for humankind  and saved us, not because of good deeds we may have done but for the sake of his own mercy, to the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit   poured over us through Christ Jesus our Savior, so that having been justified of his grace we should become heirs in hope of eternal life.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊   

Luke 3:15-16, 21-22

 The people were wondering about John’s identity, “Could he be the Messiah?”  Then John answered them, “I baptize you with water, but the one who is coming will do much more: he will baptize you with Holy Spirit and fire.

As for me, I am not worthy to untie his san­dal. Now, with all the people who came to be baptized, Jesus too was bap­tized. Then, while he was praying, the heav­ens open­ed: the Holy Spirit came down upon him in the bodily form of a dove and a voice from heaven was heard, “You are my Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

 

Baptized into Our Ordinariness

Read:

Isaiah announces the day of liberation for God’s people with the coming of the Lord. in the words of Paul, the grace of baptism Justifies us and makes us heirs to eternal life. Jesus enters the waters of baptism and the Holy Trinity manifests itself.

Reflect:

Fulton Sheen (Life of Christ) observed that a person received baptism to be freed from the stain of sin; but Jesus entered the waters of Jordan to be stained by our sins.

How great an act of humility and self – emptying in this kenotic act, Jesus is not alone – the entire Trinity is present, as is evident in the Baptism scene. Isn’t it also interesting that with the Baptism, the extraordinary liturgical season of Christmas ends the “ordinary time” begins?

With the Baptism, God the Almighty enters the waters of sinful human condition, becomes like one of us, and lives the sweaty, dusty, boring ordinary life of a human being.

Thus appeared the Grace of God – as Paul reminds Titus – walking amidst us as an ordinary human, so that we could become like, him, heirs to his extraordinary patrimony.

Pray:

“Father, I thank you for claiming me as your beloved daughter/son.”

Act:

Meditate on this verse, as applied to you: “You are my beloved child.”