The Baptism of Christ

 


https://www.cathopic.com/search/dove


The Kingdom is Here 


Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love.

Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray. O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.


"As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, 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, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.'"


The Baptism of Christ marks the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, to bring others to God as Savior of the world. While Jesus himself never sinned, He takes upon Baptism to show His complete submission to the Father. This cleansing functions as a symbol of His identification with sinners, pointing to death and rebirth. To enter God’s kingdom one must be born again; the Spirit, reborn to new life. Christ overcomes death by first joining into baptism as fully man while also fully God.


Jesus’ Baptism reflects in it all three parts of the Trinity together: God the Father (the voice speaking from heaven), Jesus the Son (the person rising up out of the water), and the Holy Spirit (the dove, a symbol of peace and spiritual rebirth). According to the catechism of the Catholic Church 536, at his baptism, “The Spirit whom Jesus possessed in fullness from his conception comes to “rest on him”.13 Jesus will be the source of the Spirit for all mankind. At his baptism “the heavens were opened”14 – the heavens that Adam’s sin had closed – and the waters were sanctified by the descent of Jesus and the Spirit, a prelude to the new creation.” Christ’s sacrifice allows us as Christians to share with Him his infinite love for us. Through Baptism, we too can become a new creation, through the power of God in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 


Holy trinity one God, pray for us.

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