by Father Michael W. Panicali
I can never forget the first baptism I celebrated. I was a transitional deacon assigned to a parish in the Archdiocese of Boston (I attended Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Massachusetts). The little baby girl who presented for baptism was of Southeast Asian descent and precious to behold. I was so nervous about celebrating the sacrament and unsure of myself that I asked my pastor supervisor to stand next to me in the event I did not do something correctly.
I was not prepared for the emotions that I experienced that Sunday afternoon eight years ago. Truthfully, I was in tears, or very close to it. I felt that sanctifying grace not only washed over that child but washed over me! It was palpable. To be able to take part in ushering her onto the path of eternal salvation and helping bestow upon her entrance into God’s very family — to say it was awe-inspiring would not be doing it any justice. Today’s Gospel leads us into the awe-inspiring experience of Jesus’ baptism by his cousin, John, in the Jordan River. It must have been jaw-dropping for John to witness Jesus come to him for baptism and then to witness what transpired. Luke reads, “After all the people had been baptized, and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove.”
The late Pope Benedict XVI says in his homily on the Baptism of the Lord in January 2013 that evangelist Luke’s version “shows the life of meekness and humility that the Son of God chose freely, complying with the Father’s plan to be obedient to His desire for love for man in all things, even to his sacrifice on the cross.”
Pope Benedict, through a theological lens, explains, “Having reached adulthood, Jesus began his public ministry by going to the River Jordan to receive from John a baptism of penance and conversion. What might seem paradoxical in our eyes actually happened. Did Jesus need penance and conversion? Of course not. Yet the one who is without sin put himself among sinners to have himself baptized to make this act of penance. The holy one of God joined those who recognized they were in need of forgiveness and asked God for the gift of conversion, that is, the grace to return to him with their whole heart, to belong totally to him. Jesus chose to join the ranks of sinners, to be in solidarity with them, expressing God’s closeness.
Jesus shows his solidarity with us, with our efforts to convert and to be rid of our selfishness, to break away from our sins in order to tell us that if we accept him in our life, he can uplift us and lead us. And
Jesus’ solidarity is not, as it were, a mere exercise of mind and will. Jesus truly immersed himself in our human condition, lived it to the end, in all things save sin, and was able to understand our weakness and frailty. For this reason, he was moved to compassion. He chose to “suffer with” men and women to become a penitent with us. This is God’s work, which Jesus wanted to carry out.
As I write this, I am only slightly certain of the name of the baby girl for whom I administered the sacrament of baptism for the first time. When I talk about baptism with my students in religious education, it would be useful to use the first name of the child whose baptism moved me to tears because it was my very first — a novel experience that only few are able to understand.
This God moment occurs each and every time a soul presents for baptism. While, for me, the novelty seems to have worn off through the years, what is accomplished and realized in each and every baptism always remains the same and has the same supernatural effects. Our Lord has ordained and even submitted to it himself, though he did not require it — leading us on the way to salvation, as he does in and with all things.
Readings for The Baptism of the Lord
Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7 or
40:1-5, 9-11
Acts 10:34-38
or Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7
Luke 3:15-16, 21-22
Father Michael W. Panicali is the Parochial Vicar for St. Helen, Howard Beach. He is also chaplain of Knights of Columbus, Council 6134, Most Precious Blood-Sts. Simon and Jude, Bath Beach.
