- Today’s liturgical feast of the Baptism of the Lord closes the Christmas season, which we observed this year with exceptional fervor and participation. (…) This Christmas season has offered us a new occasion to recall the “fact” that occurred 20 centuries ago and definitively changed the course of history: Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem.In recalling Jesus’ birth, we celebrated the great mystery of Redemption, to which we pay particular attention. The Son of God became man so that man could be raised to the dignity of God’s adoptive son.
- Today’s feast of the Baptism of the Lord reminds us of this intimate union with the divine life. As in past years, today I again had the joy of administering the sacrament of Baptism to a group of children in the Sistine Chapel. (…) All the good we accomplish with God’s help really has its foundation in Baptism which, by imparting divine grace to us, makes us children of God and incorporates us into the community of believers.
- Let us entrust these boys and girls who were baptized today, together with their families, their godparents and their Christian communities, to Blessed Mary, Mother of the Savior. May the Holy Virgin accompany them with her motherly protection as they grow in faith and enable them to share every more deeply in the mystery of salvation which was initiated in them today.
May Our Lady also assist us, so that (…) we can be ever more faithful to our baptismal commitments by nourishing day after day the flame of faith entrusted to us at the beginning of our Christian lives.”
John Paul II – Angelus, January 9, 2000
