January 11 | The Baptism of the Lord

On this day we celebrate the feast of the Baptism of the Lord when John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan river at the beginning of his public ministry. This is a moveable feast that always occurs the Sunday after the feast of the Epiphany.

While John protested at first, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?” Jesus answered, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting to fulfill all righteousness.” (Mtt 3:14-15)

According to St. Maximus of Turin: 

"Christ is baptized, not to be made holy by the water, but to make the water holy, and by his cleansing to purify the waters which he touched. For the consecration of Christ involves a more significant consecration of the water."

Christ, by his baptism, made all the water holy and from there on out baptism was not just a symbol of repentance, but a sacrament in which the outward sign – cleansing with water – signified an internal reality – the forgiveness of original sin. This is how Jesus chose to begin his public ministry, by humbling himself to be baptized so that by his baptism the whole world may be made clean.

The feast also serves as a liturgical bridge between the Christmas season and Ordinary Time, Christ was made present in the world during the Nativity, now with the feast of his Baptism we celebrate the beginning of his ministry and the beginning of his march towards Calvary. We begin Ordinary Time with the outward sign of God unifying himself with man to save them.