January 12, 2025 – The Baptism of the Lord - Cycle C Readings: Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7, Psalm 29 “The Lord will bless his people with peace.”, Acts 10:34-38, Luke 3:15-16, 21-22

                         BAPTIZED TO TRANSFORM THE WORLD
 
     The Epiphany was the manifestation of Christ's divinity before the world, and his baptism is a new “epiphany”; God himself reveals to his people that Jesus Christ is his Son. When the Father's voice was heard, heaven opened for all of us. With Christ, we too celebrate our baptism, which is our birth to the life of grace.
 
Sisters and brothers:
 
1. St. Luke tells us that when all the people were being baptized by John, Jesus also went to be baptized. Is this not what he had already done through the mystery of his Incarnation: to mingle with men and enter into the current of their history? He had come to be in solidarity with men in everything; not in sin, but in the consequences of sin. This is the novelty of his doctrine. Jesus approaches sinners as a friend; not as a moralist who seeks out those to blame, nor as a judge who passes sentences, but as a brother who preaches forgiveness. How often people who have fallen and whom we easily condemn need more than our light criticism, understanding, and help that gives them strength to renew their lives!
 
2. Jesus' baptism was like his presentation to society by God. God breaks his silence, bursts in publicly to take him out of his anonymity at the beginning of his public life, and to present him to everyone as his messenger, as the expected Messiah, as the definitive Messiah. This Jesus, who lets himself be baptized by John, anonymously mixed among the people, is not just any man, he is the "Son, the beloved, the chosen one." We too have been baptized. Contemplating Jesus' baptism, we also remember our own.
 
3. On the day of our baptism something has been kindled within our hearts. It is the fire of the Holy Spirit that comes through us to transform the world. The Letter to Diognetus said: “What the soul is to the body, so are Christians to the world.” The Christian is an apostle by vocation. How the world would change if we were faithful to this requirement!
 
In baptism we become children of God, we receive the gifts of the Spirit. The laity of today must be able to offer new solutions to new problems, inspired by the faith of always. We are integrated into the world, in school, in art, in politics, in work and there we must sow the seed of Christ without becoming prisoners of its false myths.
 
Brothers and sisters: We are Christians by baptism but do we live as Christians? Some are added to the statistics because they are registered in the parish registers but they do not know Christ or follow the commandments; it is understood that apostasy is fashionable among them. Confirm your faith and that of your brothers! Value the gifts you have received, take care of them, and thank God for them.
 
Source: ePriest.com / Best Practices and Homily Resources for Catholic Priests