12 January 2025 – The Baptism of the Lord (Year C)

by Fr Raymond Raj

So my dear brothers and sisters in the blessed Lord, if you have heard about Saint Isidor, Saint Isidor is from Spain. He is a doctor of the Catholic Church, not medical doctor, Theologian. Once he said this:
Baptism is not the work of man but rather Baptism is the work of God. The Sacrament of Baptism is so holy that it would not be defiled even if the minister was a murderer.

This Sacrament of Baptism is very holy that it would never, ever be defiled even if the minister was a murderer.

So brothers and sisters, baptism simply means faith put to action. Nothing more, nothing less. Faith in action means baptism. So speaking of baptism, a little story comes to my mind:

One Sunday morning after the morning Mass, something like this, the parish priest was busy preparing to baptise a newborn baby, a new baby came to the church to be baptised.

So before baptising this child, the priest asked the parents, rather told the parents, ‘Listen here. Baptism is an important event in the life of your child. So my question today to you is: As a parent, are you prepared? Are you prepared for the baptism of  your child?‘

Immediately the father of the child said, ‘Father, we are fully prepared. You know what, Father? My wife has cooked sufficient meal, sufficient cookies for all the guests.‘

Hearing this, like any other human being, the priest got triggered (anger) and he shouted at the father of the child ‘Do you think it is a joke? Do you think it is a joke? I am asking you a question and you are thinking it is a joke? I am asking you are you spiritually prepared. You understand, spirit? You understand?‘ he shouted. The priest shouted.

Immediately the father said, ‘Yes, Father, spiritually we are prepared. I just bought two crates of beer and two bottles of whiskey.‘

The priest got more angry and shouted, ‘Even Jesus cannot help you.‘

My dear brothers in the Lord, the Sacrament of Baptism is very, very rich in meaning. Baptism reflects the profound spiritual truth of who God is. During baptism, each Christian manifests or rather declares that it is Jesus who died for us and it was Jesus who was buried and it was Jesus who rose again for our salvation. So I suppose if baptism can be summarised in one single word, that word would be IDENTIFICATION.

You and I through our baptism, we are identified as children of God. More than that, we are identified as followers of Jesus Christ.

Brothers and sisters in the Lord, today the Catholic Church celebrates the Baptism of Jesus. During this glorious event, the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove and a voice from heaven says, ‘You are my son. My beloved, my favour will always rest on you.‘

So I have a very big problem with this statement. If Jesus is God, if Jesus is Divine, if Jesus is sinless, (I said in my introduction the purpose of baptism is to cleanse us from original sin), if Jesus is God, if Jesus is Divine, if Jesus is sinless, why does Jesus need baptism? Why does Jesus go for this baptism?

Brothers and sisters, open up your eyes and listen carefully. The reason why Jesus chose to be baptised is of IDENTIFICATION. Through this very baptism, Jesus identified Himself with the people, regardless of their status, regardless of our status – rich, poor, righteous, sinner, Jesus identified Himself to us through this very baptism.

Brothers and sisters, the baptism of Jesus Christ today is a reminder to each one of us that baptism endorse each one of us to become children of God. As the children of God we are called to be obedient, we are called to be faithful to the Living God. Which means you and I must carry our cross.

Every baptised Catholic will enjoy the privilege of being God’s children provided he or she is faithful, is obedient to this Living God. Of course without a shadow of doubt my dear friends, you will fall, I will fall, but God has given us the privilege always to rise as his children.

The baptism of Jesus is also a wakeup call for every Catholic to be on mission because immediately after this baptism, Jesus went to the desert for his first mission.

So brothers and sisters, the Feast of the Lord’s baptism is an iconic event to remind us as God’s children through baptism all of us are equal.

Number two, baptism is a call for you and for me to be on mission for this Living God. Whether the mission is successful or failure, immaterial but be on mission until your last breath.

And of course, I would like to give you one advice today. Some of us, not all, some of us we tend to think attending Mass is a mission. Some of us think that way. I attend Mass every day, I attend Mass every weekend so I have completed my mission.

Brothers and sisters, mission is what you do after Mass not during Mass. Let me say this again:
Mission begins after Mass. Not what you do inside the Mass.

So today, let us pray for the grace as baptised Christians we shall glorify God by our words, by faith put into action. We pray for this grace during this Holy Mass.

Click below to listen to homily and watch video:

Click to live-stream Mass on 12 January 2025