Food for thought

Jan 08, 2015

The feast of the Baptism of the Lord is the final day of the liturgical Christmas season. Those who love the season’s festivities may think there’s nothing left to celebrate. But in his Angelus message for the feast of the Baptism of the Lord in 2014, Pope Francis said there’s a lot for Christians to celebrate on this feast day.

When the Lord was baptized by John, the heavens opened, Pope Francis reminded us, and we have to contemplate what that event means for us.

“If the heavens remain closed, our horizon in this earthly life is dark and without hope,” he said, but “on the day of the baptism of Christ, we continue to contemplate the heavens opened.”

This means that with the birth and baptism of Jesus, humanity ultimately benefited.

“Jesus receives approval from the heavenly Father, who sent him, precisely that he might accept to share our condition, our poverty,” the Pope said. “Sharing is the true way to love. Jesus does not dissociate himself from us, he considers us brothers and sisters and he shares with us. And so he makes us sons and daughters, together with him, of God the Father.”