DAILY MEDITATION: “Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”

Liturgical day: Christmas Weekday: January 3rd

Gospel text (Jn 1,29-34): John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one of whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’ I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel.” John testified further, saying, “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain upon him. I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”

“Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”

Fr. Higinio Rafael ROSOLEN IVE
(Cobourg, Ontario, Canada)

Today, Saint John the Baptist bears witness to the Baptism of Jesus. Pope Francis reminded us that "Baptism is the Sacrament on which our very faith is founded and which grafts us as a living member onto Christ and his Church"; and he added: "It is not a formality! It is an act that touches the depths of our existence. A baptized child and an unbaptized child are not the same. A person who is baptized and a person who is not baptized are not the same. We, by Baptism, are immersed in that inexhaustible source of life which is the death of Jesus, the greatest act of love in all of history; and thanks to this love we can live a new life, no longer at the mercy of evil, of sin and of death, but in communion with God and with our brothers and sisters."

We have heard the two main effects of Baptism as taught in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (n. 1262-1266):

1st "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (Jn 1, 29). One effect of Baptism is the purification of sins, meaning all sins are forgiven, original sin and all personal sins, as well as all the penalties of sin.

2nd "The Spirit come down," "baptizes with the Holy Spirit" (Jn 1, 34): Baptism makes us become "a new creation," adopted children of God and partakers of the divine nature, members of Christ, co-heirs with Him, and temples of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Trinity —Father, Son, and Holy Spirit— gives us sanctifying grace, which enables us to believe in God, to hope in Him, and to love Him; to live and act under the influence of the Holy Spirit through His gifts; to grow in goodness through moral virtues.

Let us ask, as Pope Francis exhorts us, to "reawaken the memory of our Baptism… to live out our Baptism every day as the present reality of our lives."

Source: evangeli.net