Baptism of Our Lord

Baptism. The mystery of the Baptism of Jesus is such that it sanctifies an Old Testament action (see below), makes it a sacrament, and is how one enters into the Body of Christ, the Church. There are different kinds of baptism namely, Baptism of Desire (wanting baptism, but die prior to), Baptism of Blood (Martyrdom), and standard Baptism by Water. Baptism by water comes in three versions: sprinkling by water, pouring of water on the head, or full immersion all in the Trinitarian Form. The sprinkling of water is the assumed method done by the first Bishops and Pope, i.e., the Apostles lead by St. Peter, when they baptized 3000 after the Pentecost sermon in Acts of the Apostles. 

Baptism has been prefigured in the Old Testament in four ways according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 1219-22), and in Baptism we are always bound to profess the Faith and observe the Law of Jesus Christ and His Church (St. Pius X catechism, Baptism Q18). In the Roman Missal for the Easter Vigil blessing of the water we see the prayer based on Genesis 1:2 when the Holy Ghost moved over the waters "making them a wellspring of holiness" (Roman Missal). In the story of Noah and his ark we read that those who were saved, they were saved through the water (1 Peter 3:20). The Israelites on leaving Egypt were saved by passing through the Red Sea which was split by the power of God. Finally, in the River Jordan, where Christ was later Baptized, the Israelites crossed into the Promised Land, receiving the gift of God. 

In the Baptism of Jesus, He submitted to the Baptism of John, a Baptism for sinners to repent, in order to fulfill all righteousness (Matt 3:15). His gesture is a manifestation of His self-emptying (Philippians 2:7). It is in the Baptism, not of John, but the glorified and fulfilled Baptism of Jesus done in the "Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost", that we empty ourselves too. We die to self and are risen in Christ. We are made clean as the waters of baptism makes us whole and removes the stain of original and actual sin. 

The Fruit of the mystery is the Openness to the Holy Ghost. In Baptism, we are to be made open to the Holy Ghost, just as Jesus showed us to be. This openness is the appropriate disposition to God and a necessary one to keep so that we stay in the grace of God and follow Him in all things. 

Scriptural Rosary to meditate with:

1. The First Luminous Mystery is: Baptism of Jesus Christ
1. Pater Noster ...
2. A voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. (Mark 1:3)
1. Ave Maria … 
3. John was in the desert baptizing, and preaching the baptism of penance, unto remission of sins. (Mark 1:4)
1. Ave Maria … 
4. And he preached, saying: There cometh after me one mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. (Mark 1:7)
1. Ave Maria … 
5. And it came to pass, in those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. (Mark 1:9)
1. Ave Maria … 
6. But John stayed him, saying: I ought to be baptized by thee, and comest thou to me? (Matthew 3:14)
1. Ave Maria … 
7. And Jesus answering, said to him: Suffer it to be so now. For so it becometh us to fulfill all justice. Then he suffered him. (Matthew 3:15)
1. Ave Maria … 
8. And Jesus being baptized, forthwith came out of the water: and lo, the heavens were opened to him: and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon him. (Matthew 3:16)
1. Ave Maria … 
9. And behold a voice from heaven, saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Matthew 3:17)
1. Ave Maria … 
10. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. (Ephesians 4:5)
1. Ave Maria … 
11. For we are buried together with him by baptism into death; that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)
1. Ave Maria … 
12. O My Jesus ...
13. Gloria Patri ...