The First Luminous Mystery:
The Baptism of the Lord

“After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened [for him], and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove [and] coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased’” (Mt 3:16-17).

“In those days John the Baptist appeared…. a voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths’…. ‘I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’

“Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. John tried to prevent him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?’ Jesus said to him in reply, ‘Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed him. After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened [for him], and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove [and] coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased’” (Mt 3:1-3, 11-17).

“The baptism of Jesus is on his part the acceptance and inauguration of his mission as God’s suffering Servant. He allows himself to be numbered among sinners; he is already ‘the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.’ Already he is anticipating the ‘baptism’ of his bloody death. Already he is coming to ‘fulfill all righteousness,’ that is, he is submitting himself entirely to his Father’s will: out of love he consents to this baptism of death for the remission of our sins. The Father’s voice responds to the Son’s acceptance, proclaiming his entire delight in his Son. The Spirit whom Jesus possessed in fullness from his conception comes to ‘rest on him.’ Jesus will be the source of the Spirit for all mankind. At his baptism ‘the heavens were opened’—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” (CCC 536).

Briefly reflect, discuss with God, and Praise God.

“Through Baptism the Christian is sacramentally assimilated to Jesus, who in his own baptism anticipates his death and resurrection. The Christian must enter into this mystery of humble self-abasement and repentance, go down into the water with Jesus in order to rise with him, be reborn of water and the Spirit so as to become the Father’s beloved son in the Son and ‘walk in newness of life’:

“Let us be buried with Christ by Baptism to rise with him; let us go down with him to be raised with him; and let us rise with him to be glorified with him.

“Everything that happened to Christ lets us know that, after the bath of water, the Holy Spirit swoops down upon us from high heaven and that, adopted by the Father’s voice, we become sons of God” (CCC 537).

Briefly reflect, discuss with God, and Praise God.

Our Heavenly Father will delight in us as well as we follow Christ through the baptismal waters and incorporate ourselves into his life. Everything Jesus does is an example to us, his disciples and his brethren, as we join him on the journey to the Father. We follow him not only through baptism, we also follow him in carrying our own cross and offering our own life to the Father on the behalf of others. We “go down into the water with Jesus in order to rise with him, be reborn of water and the Spirit so as to become the Father’s beloved son in the Son and ‘walk in newness of life’” (CCC 537). Let us accept the Father’s call and follow Christ into this wondrous newness of life!

Briefly reflect, discuss with God, and Praise God.

John the Baptist, like the desert fathers and so many saints after him, abandoned the things of this world to prepare the way of the Lord. We too must reduce the noise and pleasures of the world to open ourselves to the truth, peace, and joy found in our encounter with Christ.

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Our baptism is also an inauguration into mission. The Father calls us to a mission particularly meant for us that we may share in the work of Christ and please the Father.

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We too have been reborn of water and the Spirit; we too shall “become the Father’s beloved son in the Son and ‘walk in newness of life’” (CCC 537).