IN CHRIST ALONE!: βάπτισμα

SCRUTATIO SCRIPTURAE

βάπτισμα
(BAPTISMA)

Scrutatio

for the
GREAT FEAST OF THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD

Readings from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer

Isaiah 42:1-9 / Psalm 89:1-29 / Acts 10:34-38 / Mark 1:7-11

Readings for the Pauline/Vatican II Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11 / Psalm 103:1b-2, 3-4, 24-25, 27-30 / Titus 2:11-14 and 3:4-7 / Luke 3:15-16 and 21-22

COMMEMORATION OF THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD

(January 13)

Readings for the Tridentine Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

Introit: Malachi 3:1 and Psalm 72 (71):2
Epistle: Isaiah 60:1-6
Gradual: Isaiah 60:6, 1

Alleluia:
Matthew 2:2

Gospel

John 1:29-34

Offertory:
Psalm 72 (71):10-11

Communion Antiphon: Matthew 2:2

βάπτισμα ... BAPTISMA ... TO BE IMMERSED AND BE IMMACULATELY WASHED FROM ALL IMPURITIES!

This is why OUR BLESSED LORD has IMMERSED HIMSELF into our VERY NATURE, living in the household of THE BLESSED VIRGIN, and JOSEPH, HER MOST CHASTE SPOUSE for 33 years, so that WE MAY BE IMMERSED INTO HIS DIVINE HUMANITY!

Let us meditate on today's GREAT FEASTS through this sermon of Gregory of Nazianzus, the 4th century A.D. Patriarch of Byzantium/Constantinople entitled:

THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST

Christ is bathed in light; let us also be bathed in light. Christ is baptized; let us also go down with him, and rise with him.

John is baptizing when Jesus draws near. Perhaps he comes to sanctify his baptizer; certainly he comes to bury sinful humanity in the waters. He comes to sanctify the Jordan for our sake and in readiness for us; he who is spirit and flesh comes to begin a new creation through the Spirit and water.

The Baptist protests; Jesus insists. Then John says: I ought to be baptized by you. He is the lamp in the presence of the sun, the voice in the presence of the Word, the friend in the presence of the Bridegroom, the greatest of all born of woman in the presence of the firstborn of all creation, the one who leapt in his mother’s womb in the presence of him who was adored in the womb, the forerunner and future forerunner in the presence of him who has already come and is to come again. I ought to be baptized by you: we should also add, “and for you,” for John is to be baptized in blood, washed clean like Peter, not only by the washing of his feet.

Jesus rises from the waters; the world rises with him. The heavens, like Paradise with its flaming sword, closed by Adam for himself and his descendants, are rent open. The Spirit comes to him as to an equal, bearing witness to his Godhead. A voice bears witness to him from heaven, his place of origin. The Spirit descends in bodily form like the dove that so long ago announced the ending of the flood and so gives honour to the body that is one with God.

Today let us do honour to Christ’s baptism and celebrate this feast in holiness. Be cleansed entirely and continue to be cleansed. Nothing gives such pleasure to God as the conversion and salvation of men, for whom his every word and every revelation exist. He wants you to become a living force for all mankind, lights shining in the world. You are to be radiant lights as you stand beside Christ, the great light, bathed in the glory of him who is the light of heaven. You are to enjoy more and more the pure and dazzling light of the Trinity, as now you have received – though not in its fullness – a ray of its splendour, proceeding from the one God, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.

Whether we were Baptized during INFANCY, ADOLESCENCE OR IN OUR ADULTHOOD... WE ARE IMMERSED INTO THE FULLNESS OF HIS IMAGE AND LIKENESS!

AND EVERYDAY, WE ARE CHANGED FROM GLORY TO GLORY UNTO THE FULLNESS OF HIS VERY LIFE IN US!

BAPTISM: IN SACRED SCRIPTURES

ACCORDING TO THE WITNESS OF THE EARLY CHURCH:

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3