Baptism of the Lord
Introduction to the Liturgy
Resurrection Medical Center

 To day we end the Christmas Season with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.  The readings emphasize the Mission and Ministry of Jesus and of each Christian disciple, in the words of the Prophet Isaiah in the first reading to:  Comfort, give comfort to my people and speak tenderly proclaim that guilt is expiated.  Like Jesus we are called to reassure one another that God does love us tenderly and forgives all our failings and sins but we must be attentive to the words and message Jesus will use to teach us with during the coming weeks of ordinary time.  As Saint Paul says in the second reading in Jesus God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires to live temperately, justly, devoutly.

 Pope Benedict reflects on the baptism of the Lord saying that This is the mystery of baptism:  God desired to save us by going to the bottom of this abyss himself so that every person, even those who have fallen so low that they can no longer perceive heaven, may find God’s hand to cling to and rise from the darkness to see once again the light for which he or she was made.

 As a sign of our personal rising from the darkness and clinging to the hand of God we will have the sprinkling rite at the beginning of Mass.  May this rite soften our hearts and strengthen the grasp of our hand that we may never let go of the hand of God that is always extended to us.