And there in front of them was the star they had seen rising; it went forward and halted over the place where the child was. The sight of the star filled them with delight, and going into the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and falling to their knees they did him homage.

Dear friends,

This year, because of Christmas Day falling on a Sunday, we won’t celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord on a Sunday. We will celebrate it tomorrow. As we embark on a new year, it is always good for us to contemplate the meaning of our own baptism. We are baptised people — but what does that mean? At our baptism, something happen to us. As believers, we say that baptism does something to us. We say this even about those who have forgotten their baptism. That is not to say that the baptised are somehow better or superior to those who aren’t baptised – who certainly know that isn’t the case – but it is to say that the “God-like seed” that exists in every person is somehow watered or ignited in a particular way. In truth we say, if we weren’t baptised, we would be different people. But nothing magical happens in baptism. Baptism is not just one day in our life; real baptism takes a lifetime.

At Jesus’ baptism, he heard a voice that claimed him as “the Beloved”. May we hear the same voice who spoke to Jesus at his baptism. May we hear the same words which were first whispered to us on the day of baptism. Let us take the words that were said to Jesus and make them our own: “(Insert your own name), you are my son/daughter, my Beloved. My favour rests on you.” Take a moment to say it to yourselves – and take time to hear it.

Our personal story begins at birth, but we are bathed in the immense ocean of a much larger story at our baptism. This story does not drag us down into the depths, but raises us to the heights. Even if we forget, the God of our baptism never forgets us. Let us take this thought into the year ahead.

Fr. Anthony