Sunday Reflection with Fr Robin Gibbons - Baptism of the Lord

Sunday January 13th

"In truth, I see that God shows no partiality.
Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly
is acceptable to him". (Acts 10:35)

Like many, I don't remember my baptism, but in the family tradition of stories, I was told about it, where I was baptised (the Sacred Heart, Burley Road, Leeds, now long demolished), who my Godparents were (Uncle Joe, Uncle Geoffrey and Aunty Mary Jackson) and the priest who celebrated the sacrament (Canon Flynn). I was aware quite early on that the date was October 4th, the feast of St Francis, and for some reason all my life I have kept that day as special to me, maybe it was the spiritual resonance of the power of that moment, but in doing so I unwittingly touched on something that we really need to address in our Christian lives, especially in our present age, that is to really start celebrating the domestic feasts of our faith, at home, with friends.

I've been struck by how much the 'domestic church' is important to many of our Eastern Catholic Communities, who in the absence of their historic parish churches, often do, as they do at home, make a big deal out of feasts and fasts and live that out in the context of their home life. That picks up a thread of deep baptismal theology, that in the 'home', our parents, family and friends are the first teachers of the faith. What we celebrate and receive in the context of our communal liturgical celebration is reinforced by the celebrations of faith at home, grace before and after meals, morning and night prayers, the images of Our Lady and the saints, the crucifixes on our walls, the Crib at Christmastime and such like. One area that may need attention is our scriptural reading, where are our bibles; do we read them at all?

I am part French so the religious traditions of our part of France run deep in my life, there the faith is still very evident, the sound of the Angelus ringing out three times a day in nearly every village and town, images of Our Lady in the niches above houses even in the towns. The wayside Crosses with flowers beside them. Keeping ones name day as a celebration. It all adds up and becomes part of the simplicity of ritual and prayer.

At every baptism I have celebrated, I ask those involved specially parents and godparents, to do two things, to light the baptismal candle each year on the anniversary of the child's baptism and to say a prayer with him or her, including in it the name of the priest who celebrated the sacrament. For this is indeed our birthday into the family of God, where as the Scriptures tell us all are one, God shows 'no partiality', inclusion is the theological key: we really should make far more of our own baptismal day!

Jesus' baptism was not necessary in one sense, but as the prototype of all baptism in the Church it points out three main things. The humility of God who steps into our lives, into the waters of creation and therefore makes everything on earth holy, a real pointer to the need for Christians to care for ecology and environment. Secondly the acceptance of God who says to us, 'you are my beloved children' and draws us into a life of growing faith together calling us to the vocation of loving God and Neighbour, and thirdly that descending dove, the flames of fire, the breath of the Divine Life, the Holy Spirit who is also given to each of us in the completion of baptism with confirmation, where we are sealed and stamped with this gift always.

Our baptism is not the end of a journey but the beginning of another into ever growing faith; let us celebrate this feast and our anniversaries as a moment of great joy and delight-we are all one family of God!

Lectio Divina

From his poem 'The Epiphany' by Malcolm Guite

The dove descends, the spirit soars and sings
'You are belovèd, you are my delight!'

In that quick light and life, as water spills
And streams around the Man like quickening rain,
The voice that made the universe reveals
The God in Man who makes it new again.
He calls us too, to step into that river
To die and rise and live and love forever.

From Being Christian by Rowan Williams

So it is not surprising that as the Church reflected on what baptism means, it came to view it as a kind of restoration of what it is to be truly human. To be baptized is to recover the humanity that God first intended. What did God intend? He intended that human beings should grow into such love for him and such confidence in him that they could rightly be called God's sons and daughters. Human beings have let go of that identity, abandoned it, forgotten it or corrupted it. And when Jesus arrives on the scene he restores humanity to where it should be. But that in itself means that Jesus, as he restores humanity 'from within' (so to speak), has to come down into the chaos of our human world. Jesus has to come down fully to our level, to where things are shapeless and meaningless, in a state of vulnerability and unprotectedness, if real humanity is to come to birth. (pp. 3-4)

Fr Robin Gibbons is an Eastern Rite Catholic Chaplain for Melkites in the UK. He is also an Ecumenical Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.