The beginning of the year is where a lot of feastdays converge. I was rather confused with some of them because I thought that they are happening in chronological order. For example, I know Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on December 25th. Then, there was the Holy Innocents day. After that the Epiphany of the Lord and soon followed by Baptism of the Lord. The Baptism of the Lord is this coming Sunday, 11th January 2009.
So, as a Catholic convert, I had mistaken that Baptism of the Lord was carried out a few weeks after Jesus was born. No. It is not. Jesus was only baptised when He was around 30 years old. Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist, mentioned in Luke 3:23. (there are many Johns in the Bible too)
(Stained glass window from my church, Cathedral of the Holy Spirit. You can see a bigger picture on this link. A scene from Jesus baptism by John, the one who lived in the wilderness, eating wild honey and locusts hehehe, that much I learned from RCIA. John the Baptist sounds real cool as a hermit.)
The awesome thing that happened at Jesus Baptism was :
8I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.
9And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.
10And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:
11And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
12And immediately the spirit driveth him into the wilderness.
(Gospel of Mark, chapter 1, 8-12, taken from Biblegateway)
God, the Father declared that Jesus is His beloved Son.
Now, I am slowly beginning to understand Catholicism. I am thankful that being a lector has pushed me to reflect on the reading for Baptism of the Lord and I realised it is not just a simple ceremony of going for a dip in the river Jordan and being told that Jesus is the Son of God.
It has a much deeper meaning to it. In Isaiah chapter 42
6 “I, the LORD, have called you ito serve the cause of right;
I have taken you by the hand and formed you;
I have appointed you as covenant of the people and
light for the nations7 to open eyes of the blind,
to free captives from prison
and those who live in darkness from the dungeon.
(copied from Sunday readings, year B, our church Sunday missals)
So, the question I want to ask myself is if I have attempted to do what the Lord calls me to do, i.e.
covenant of the people andlight for the nations
to open eyes of the blind,
to free captives from prison
and those who live in darkness from the dungeon
because I have not only been baptised with holy water at my baptism on Easter 2003, I have also been baptised with the Holy Spirit. It is a good reminder to us Catholics that we are not merely ‘bath in water to carry the Christian title’ but we have a lot of tasks to carry out.
Then only we can proudly sing :
(this song We are one in the Spirit has been in my mind the whole of today and I am glad I found it on Youtube. Initially, I do not know the title of the song but the tune and part of the lyrics keep playing in my mind. Thank God for Google and Youtube.)
January 9th, 2009 at 3:53 am
why do u take a human to be your god? Please return to the truth before you regret it later. i guarantee you
January 9th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
human, Jesus Christ is God that was born as a human & *not* a human elevated to God status. Try going to an online Bible website and search for the famous John 1:
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2He was with God in the beginning.
3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
4In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
NOTE: The Word = Jesus Christ.
January 9th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Here is the Online Indonesian Bible :
http://www.bibledbdata.org/onl.....43_001.htm
1:1 Pada mulanya adalah Firman; Firman itu bersama-sama dengan Allah dan Firman itu adalah Allah.
1:2 Ia pada mulanya bersama-sama dengan Allah.
1:3 Segala sesuatu dijadikan oleh Dia dan tanpa Dia tidak ada suatupun yang telah jadi dari segala yang telah dijadikan.
1:4 Dalam Dia ada hidup dan hidup itu adalah terang manusia.
1:14 Firman itu telah menjadi manusia, dan diam di antara kita, dan kita telah melihat kemuliaan-Nya, yaitu kemuliaan yang diberikan kepada-Nya sebagai Anak Tunggal Bapa, penuh kasih karunia dan kebenaran.