Good News Ministries at 1511 Carter Oaks Drive, Valrico, FL 33594 US - Why did Jesus need to be baptized?

The Baptism of Our Lord Is 42:1-4, 6-7 Ps 29:1-4, 9-10 Lk 3:15-16, 21-22 http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/010801.htm Reflection: When I got married, I was a Protestant. And sheesh, did I "protest" against the Catholic Church because it declared my marriage to a Catholic man to be invalid! Just because Ralph had been raised Catholic, what did that have to do with the sanctity of our union? He did not go to church much until he went to my church. His conversion to real relationship with Jesus took place within my Christianity. Our wedding ceremony was a very faith-filled, Christ-centered celebration of our commitment to each other and our mutual commitment to God. It seemed obvious that God blessed our union and made it very valid indeed. About a year after our wedding, the Holy Spirit led me into a relationship with the Catholic Church. I struggled and squirmed in His mighty hand as I fell in love with the Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Gradually, I understood and embraced what it meant to be Catholic, but I still could not agree that my wedding ceremony had been invalid. Six years into the marriage, I found myself staring at today's Gospel reading and wondering why Jesus -- who had never sinned -- needed John's baptism of repentance. At the time (in 1981), I was standing on the banks of my own Jordan River, i.e., the beginning of the ministry that has evolved into what I'm doing today. I was preparing to give one of my first teachings to our prayer group. And God raised the question: "Why did Jesus need to be baptized?" There are multiple layers of answers to that question, but God was showing me exactly what I needed to see at that point in my life: Jesus joined the repentant sinners around Him as He approached the Jordan River. He surrendered Himself to the baptismal water so that He could become one with the people He was about to serve. That melted my resistance to the Catholic Church's teaching on the requirements of a valid marriage. I heard it in my heart as deeply and profoundly as any "AHA!" moment of conversion could ever be: "And Terry, I want YOU to become one with the people I am calling you to serve by getting your marriage blessed by the Church." Until then, I'd had no idea what God was calling me to do. The service I'd been giving to my little prayer group was barely significant. but what God placed in my heart made a lot of sense. In my un-Catholic marriage to a Catholic man, I had divided myself from the people I was called to serve. Baptismal water is the womb of God from which we are reborn into His family and His ministry. When we bless ourselves with drops from holy water fonts, making the sign of the cross, we renew our baptisms. In the Jordan River, Jesus was reborn from ordinary life to ministry. In getting my marriage blessed by the Catholic Church, my husband and I were reborn into unity and ministry. Is there something you need to surrender so that you can be reborn into what you are called to do? Today, Ordinary time begins on the liturgical calendar AND we begin the post-Jubilee time of ordinary life. As Pope John Paul II said in his homily on the celebration of Epiphany, throughout the Jubilee Year we have been like the Three Wise Men who journeyed to Jesus. Now, like those Wise Men, we return to the world from which we came, to the the everyday life where we will witness to what we have seen. The Church is the star that led us to the Bethlehem of new discoveries in our faith. We have had our Herods who tried to trick us and deceive us into betraying our Lord, but we have heard and followed the guidance of God. The Wise Men's lives were forever changed by their pilgrimage -- what will YOU do differently now? To whom will YOU tell the Good News of your Jubilee? Let us begin our Ordinary time with a renewal of our baptisms, so that we may be reborn into ministry with Him: Do you reject Satan? And all his works? And all his empty promises? Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth? Do you believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died, and was buried, rose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father? Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting? Take a moment now to surrender whatever parts of your life are still controlled by you instead of God, and pray: "Dear God, I am a sinner. I sometimes fail to put You first in my life. Forgive me. Change me. Renew me. To demonstrate that I mean it, that I truly want You to be Lord of my life completely, I will do a special act, just as Jesus put His life fully into the Father's hands by surrendering to John's baptism and allowing His own rebirth. The act that I choose to do is __________. Amen!" And God the Father says of you: "This is my son/daughter, whom I love; with him/her I am well pleased!" See this for yourself at: http://gnm.org/RandomQuotes/inspire003.htm -------------------------- © 2001 by Terry A. Modica This meditation has been provided by Good News Ministries Online http://gnm.org For permission to copy this reflection, go to: http://gnm.org/DailyReflections/copyrights-DR.htm

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