Feast of the Baptism of the Lord:

Feast day : 10 January

“And when Jesus had been baptised, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17). The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is the manifestation of Jesus as the Son of God, by the Father Himself. In the Gospel of St. John we read that John the Baptist too testifies to Jesus as being the Son of God because He saw the Spirit descending on Him and remaining on Him. (John 1:32-34). The “resting of the Spirit” on Him was a fulfilment of prophesies in the Old Testament about the coming Messiah (Isaiah 11:2, 61:1).

On His part, the baptism was the acceptance and inauguration of His mission as God’s suffering Servant. Jesus allowed Himself to be numbered among the sinners at Jordan who were waiting to be baptised by John. When John hesitated to baptise Him, Jesus answered Him “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfil all righteousness.”(Matthew 3:15). Jesus humbly submitted Himself to the Father’s will, out of love, consenting to the baptism of death for the remission of the sins of all mankind. His gesture is a manifestation of his self- emptying, lowering Himself by being accounted as one among the sinners. God the Father, in turn, responded to the Son’s acceptance of His mission by proclaiming Him to be the ‘Beloved Son’.

John the Baptist made another revelation too. After agreeing to baptise him along-with the sinners, John the Baptist looked at Jesus and declared Him as the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. (John 1:29). By doing so, he revealed that Jesus is at the same time the suffering Servant who silently allows Himself to be led to the slaughter and who bears the sin of the multitudes, and also the Paschal Lamb, the symbol of Israel’s redemption at the first Passover, Christ’s whole life expresses his mission “to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

(Catechism of the Catholic Church: Para - 1223, 1224, 608, 535-537)