The First Sunday After The Epiphany – Baptism of our Lord - January 12, 2025

SummaryMother Suzanne explores Jesus' baptism as a profound "epiphany" where God is made manifest through His Son, emphasizing that our own baptism connects us directly to Christ's. Through baptism, we receive the certainty of divine love and proximity to God, becoming His beloved as Jesus is beloved, not through our own merit but as a transformative gift that brings us into God's family.THE GOSPEL                                                                                                             Luke 3:15-17, 21-22As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased. " Artwork:  The Baptism of Jesus, by James Tissot (1836-1902)