On this final day of the Christmas season, we celebrate the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. We hear how the Holy Spirit was present to Jesus and how God was "well pleased" with his "beloved Son". The descent of the Holy Spirit and the voice of God from heaven mark the final epiphany of the Christmas season.
Our opening prayer for today recalls the mystery of the Incarnation. It reminds us that the only begotten Son of God has appeared in the flesh, and it asks that we might be inwardly transformed through the One whom we recognize as outwardly like ourselves. It is a great summation of the entire Christmas mystery in which we celebrate the fact that God took on our humanity so that we might come to share in his divine life. This is the great transformation that takes place in our own baptism in Christ.
