Baptism of the Lord: the Holy Trinity longs to cleanse us spiritually through mercy

“When Jesus also had been baptised and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.'” (Luke 2:21-22) In today’s Gospel for the Baptism of Jesus, Luke uses The post Baptism of the Lord: the Holy Trinity longs to cleanse us spiritually through mercy first appeared on Catholic Herald. The post Baptism of the Lord: the Holy Trinity longs to cleanse us spiritually through mercy appeared first on Catholic Herald.

Jan 13, 2025 - 04:00

Baptism of the Lord: the Holy Trinity longs to cleanse us spiritually through mercy

“When Jesus also had been baptised and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.'” (Luke 2:21-22)

In today’s Gospel for the Baptism of Jesus, Luke uses the same phrase as Matthew and Mark to introduce the revelation of Father, Son and Spirit: “the heavens were opened”.

This would have echoed in Jewish ears: “the windows of heaven were opened” when Noah’s flood began (Genesis 7:11) and when Isaiah described a time of turmoil (24:18). But the “opened heavens” also meant blessings: rain for crops (Deuteronomy 28:12), manna to eat (Psalm 78:23) and visions from above (Ezekiel 1:1).

Yet the text that most resonates with our Gospel appears elsewhere, in Isaiah: “Oh that you would tear open the heavens and come down” (64:1). At the Baptism of Jesus, God himself – not just his gifts – really did come down to us, revealing His identity as the Trinity: Father, Son and Spirit.

He chose this ritual of cleansing as the moment to show Himself so we could see that the Trinity longs to cleanse us spiritually through mercy.

The baptismal ritual involved total immersion, symbolising the drowning of sinful self and rebirth in grace. Christians receive the living water of the Holy Spirit and are bathed in the healing blood of Jesus; wholly immersed in God himself, they may rest in the eternal love that exists between Father, Son and Spirit.

Nothing changed in Jesus at His baptism, but His identity was revealed as the Second Person of the Trinity. Nothing is revealed in our baptism – we only see water being poured – but we are invisibly changed into children of God by it. Each one of us can hear the Father say to us “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

As the dove indicated dry ground to Noah, the Holy Spirit, symbolised by a dove, shows us where our refuge is: the body of Jesus. He is where we can rebuild our lives and begin again.