11 January 2025 – The Baptism of the Lord (Year C) (Sunset Mass)

by Fr Raymond Raj

So my dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, if you have heard about Saint Isidor, Saint Isidor is from Spain. He is a doctor of the Catholic Church. Once he wrote this, very strong powerful words, he said:
Baptism is not the work of man. Baptism is truly not the work of human being but rather baptism is the work of God. The Sacrament of Baptism is so holy that it will not be defiled even if the minister was a murderer.

This Sacrament of Baptism is so holy that it would not be defiled at all, even if the minister was a murderer.

Brothers and sisters, baptism for me simply means faith put to action. Nothing more, nothing less. You know why? Jesus immediately, after this baptism, went straight on for His mission. He did not sit back and relax. Immediately after this baptism, he was in action. Therefore, baptism for me is faith in action.

So speaking of baptism, a little story to share with you:

One Sunday morning after the morning Mass, the parish priest was preparing to baptise a newborn baby, a child. The parish priest immediately after the Mass, he was busy preparing to baptise a child.

Before baptising that child, that particular child, this parish priest asked the parents, rather told the parents, ‘Baptism is an important event in the life of your child. So my question to you, as a parent, are you prepared?‘

The priest asked the parents, ‘Are you prepared?‘

So he immediately, the father of the child said, ‘Yes, Father. We are fully prepared. In fact, Father, my wife has cooked sufficient meal and cookies for all the guests.‘

Hearing this, the priest got angry. The priest was also a human being. He got angry and shouted at this parents, ‘Are you joking? Am I doing a joke here? I am asking you as a parent are you prepared spiritually. You understand, spirit? Spirit, you understand?‘ he shouted.

Then immediately the father said, ‘Yes, Father, spiritually we are prepared. I have bought two crates of beer and two bottles of whiskey. We are prepared, Father.‘

Hearing this, the priest got more angry and said, ‘Even God cannot help you. With this attitude, even God cannot help you.‘

My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, the Sacrament of Baptism is very rich in its meaning. Baptism reflects the profound spiritual truth of who God is.

During baptism, each Christian manifests and declares publicly Jesus is the One who died for our sins. No one else. It was Jesus and Jesus rose again to give us salvation.

My dear brothers and sisters, if baptism can be summarised in one word, what do you think the word would be? In your opinion, if I may ask you, if baptism can be summarised in one word, what that word would be? How are you going to summarise baptism in one word?

As I reflect further and further and further about this Reading today, for me baptism can be summarised in the word of ‘IDENTIFICATION‘.

You and I, we are identified as disciples of Christ through the very act of baptism.

So my dear friends, today the Catholic Church celebrates the baptism of Jesus Christ. During this glorious event, the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus like a dove and a voice from heaven says, ‘You are my beloved. My favour rests on you.‘

And I have problem with this now. If Jesus is God, if Jesus is Divine, if Jesus is sinless, why does Jesus need baptism? As I said earlier the purpose of baptism is to wash away our original sin. If Jesus is sinless, if Jesus is God, then why Jesus needs baptism? Have you ever asked this question? I am sure you have.

Brothers and sisters, the reason why Jesus chose to be baptised is because of identification. Through this baptism, Jesus is identifying Himself with each one of us regardless of our status – rich, poor, holy, sinner, good health or even weak. Jesus is identifying Himself with us.

So my dear friends, the baptism of Jesus is a reminder to every baptised Christian that through this very act of baptism, you and I have become God’s adopted children, not God’s children but we have become God’s adopted children. As adopted children of God, you and I, we are called to be obedient. We are called to be faithful to this Living God.

My dear brothers and sisters, every baptised Catholic will enjoy the privilege of being God’s adopted children, provided you are faithful, you are obedient. If you have these two qualities, you will enjoy the privilege of being God’s children. Of course without a shadow of doubt, you and I, all of us will fall but through this baptism we are given the privilege to bounce back, always, as God’s children.

Brothers and sisters, the baptism of Jesus is also a wake-up call to each one of us, regardless of our age, that you and I regardless of our age, we must be on mission because as I said earlier immediately after this baptism, Jesus went straight on for mission.

And before I close my homily today, I think I need to tell this to each one of you. 

Brothers and sisters, our mission will only die when we die. Therefore, until the last breath, you and I, we are called to be on mission for God. And mind you this one thing – Attending Mass daily or even weekly is not a mission. Mission is what you do after attending Mass, not what you do during the Mass. Mission begins after the Holy Mass.

So today, let us pray for the grace as baptised Christians, you and I will be on mission to glorify the Living God. We pray for this grace during this Holy Mass.

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