Baptism of Jesus Christ January 9th 2012

Mass Readings for today are here. 

Reflections from Creighton Online Ministry here
and another reflection of mine from last year is here.



Fr Austin at a Concord Pastor Comments says "We are coming to the close of a season of Theophany: of manifestations, appearances of God among us.
The word Theophany comes to us from the Greek (Θεοφάνεια - Τheophaneia) which means "appearance of God."Three feasts in a row celebrate the appearance of God in Christ: Christmas, Epiphany, and the Baptism of the Lord. 

I gleaned a few words from a podcast by Robert Barron on The Baptism of Jesus that stuck in my head; apologies for lack of full sentences...


"Priest, Prophet and King - by being anointed with the chrism of baptism
we are all supposed to share in these offices if we are baptised !! "

We are all little mini-messiahs by virtue of our baptism. 

Overwhelming ?!! ( Never thought of it that way before .)


"Prayer, the words of God on my lips, proclaims the centrality of God in my life.  To proclaim means to give a reason for the hope that is within me; to be grafted onto Christ ; to give good counsel, or via pastoral work. 

We never watch the baptism of Christ from the outside as a distant historical scene . We participate in it now."

Image source

In the entry for 9th January 2012 from Margaret Silf's Book of Grace Filled Days, she mentions a friend who has composed a song about Jesus' baptism which uses these words to express how "God's favour" rested on Jesus:

" You are everything I knew You could become." 

Silf says : " Just imagine, when we stand face to face with our Creator, will we also hear such words: " You are everything I knew you could become." ?

Well, all I can say to that is Lord Show Me The Way. !!



 Click here to read an article that gives a first hand account of what the reality of sharing in the Baptism of Christ meant for one person who took time out from her frazzled life to go on retreat at a Jesuit retreat centre in Pennysylvania.



                                                        
    painting by Davezelenka 2005







Fr. Ron Rolheiser says "Baptism consecrates us and consecration is a prescriptive rope that takes us where we would rather not go ~ but yet it is suffering that produces maturity.

To consecrate means to be set aside ~ to displace from ordinary usage ~ we lose our ordinary freedom. Once consecrated we cannot opt in and opt out as we choose.

The video shows the Baptism scene from Zeffirelli's film Jesus of Nazareth. 

The splendid Michael York plays John The Baptist and intensely blue eyed Robert Powell is Jesus.




This is a short clip of what looks like a remarkable film documentary; not much in the way of information, but  it is "atmospheric" and makes me inclined to want to see the whole thing.
Below is a short video link showing Orthodox Christians re-enacting the baptism of Jesus Christ in the Jordan River as part of Holy Week observances. 

Click here for link as it won't let me embed.

The song Take Me ToThe Water by the wonderful Nina Simone.



When I reflect onThe Baptism of Jesus it allows me to glimpse "The Cosmic Christ" as Richard Rohr would say.








The Baptism of Christ shows He who is a perfect union of the spiritual and the physical in the fulfillment of God's purpose under the grace and blessing of The Holy Spirit. 

 I pray to let God be alive in me now , active and present in my life now;to be immersed in the sea of a life larger than the shallow waters of my own ego.

The beautiful video images below are set to Alison Krauss' haunting acapella rendition of "Let's Go Down To The River and Pray."



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