CELEBRATE SUNDAY
WITH ST. MARY'S
THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD
Salvation begins with water.
THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD
Most Catholic churches throughout history were built in the cruciform shape, with a long central area and two shorter recesses on the left and right. Clearly, the architecture of such churches reflect a theology that the church building is a gathering of the Mystical Body of Christ, just as the cross held the actual body of Christ when the Church came into existence at his sacrifice. At the same time, the location of liturgical elements corresponded to their counterparts in the body of Christ: the altar was located where the heart would be, the tabernacle was where the head would be, the congregation was where the body would be, etc. While churches have diversified in architectural styles over the centuries, some elements remain unchanged: when we enter into a church, we will find holy water either in a baptismal font or a stoup where the feet would be on a body.
READ THIS SUNDAY'S MESSAGE
When we enter into a church, often the first liturgical act we perform is to bless ourselves with the holy water found at the entrance. This is a reminder of our baptism and the promises we, or those to whom we were entrusted, made. Whether it is in the physical act of entering into a church or the mystical act of entering into the body of Christ at our baptism, we unite our earthly bodies to the Mystical Body of Christ through water. The theology goes deeper: there are eighteen years of Christ’s life that are unaccounted for in the Gospels because his mission was not yet ready to commence. When the time came for him to begin his work, he approached the greatest of the prophets, John the Baptist, to baptize him. Even in the life of Christ, he also did not begin his work for his Father until he underwent this action of being ritually washed in water. Since the beginning of our Church, theologians have asked the question - why did Christ, who was sinless, undergo a baptism, which we know is necessary for us to begin our journey towards Heaven? On a practical level, John’s baptisms did not impart the graces of a Christian baptism and therefore were purely symbolic of one’s desire to leave a life of sin behind in preparation for the coming of the savior. On a theological level, Christ underwent a baptism out of solidarity for his sinful people. But on an earthly level, Christ was indicating to us that the journey towards Heaven begins with this encounter with cleansing water, and he leads the way for us. Our first act before participating in everyday church life is to bless ourselves with this water as a reminder. Our first act in the Church was being baptized in this water. The Church was founded at the pouring of blood and water from the side of Christ. And all of this, precipitated by his public ministry, began with his own encounter with water.
On this Sunday, we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord. We remind ourselves of the cleansing property of water, the same element that washed the world of wickedness in the flood, that washed the scribes as they wrote the Scriptures and performed the sacrifices of the Temple, that Christ himself used to prepare for his mission, and that we use to enter into his Church. We are the Mystical Body of Christ; our faith is one that corresponds to the true and earthly body of our Lord, and where the feet are, there we will find some water to remind ourselves of both the physical reality of our faith and the cleansing we underwent to become a part of it. In Christ’s time, a basin of water was always at the ready for travelers to wash their feet after a long journey. Our faith journeys are long and filled with missteps and suffering; whenever we enter into a church, though, we will find that basin of water to remind ourselves of that first ritual cleansing, that first act, that initiated the events that led to our salvation.
© 2025 All Rights Reserved
Site by 