These thoughts are not original with me: I am cribbing them from the sermon preached today at Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel in New Orleans at the 7:30 AM mass. (Hat tip to the unknown celebrant!)
Today is the feast of the baptism of the Lord. Today we celebrate not only the baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan, but our own baptism. This was not something that happened and can then be forgotten: it was and remains for us a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit. And in this birth, we gained a new father. We now have the incredible privilege of addressing God, creator of the universe, Lord of all, as “Abba”—“Dad.” Think of that: the king of all creation is our father!
And just as we carry within us the DNA of our natural parents, and so come to look like them, we now carry within us the “spiritual DNA” of our heavenly Father. And so we should grow to look like him. Not physically, but in Spirit: the Spirit of God show grow within us and should be seen by all who look upon us. Just as they see my father’s nose and my mother’s eyes, they should see God’s infinite love, however poorly reflected, in me.
Rejoice today, in the gift of your baptism, and pray for the grace to resemble ever more closely your Father in heaven.
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