Today we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus, the man.
Jesus is, was, and forever will be God, but he was also fully human as well. As loyal and faithful followers of Jewish culture and faith, his parents, on the eight day after his birth, went to the temple and presented him to God, giving him the name of Jesus. This is why Catholics baptize infants. The ritual begins by asking the parents, “What name do you give to your child?”
Thirty years later, Jesus, the man, was baptized. John the Baptist did not fully understand the reason Jesus would ask to be baptized; realizing who He was. His followers would later learn it was as a public act of cleansing before walking into the desert for forty days of fasting, to return a new man, a man ready to embrace His ministerial journey. As He rose out of the river, He heard the voice of His Father, “You are My beloved Son!”
During Catholic baptisms, it ends with the priest, godparents, and parents claiming the child for God by marking the Sign of the Cross on the child’s forehead. The priest also anoints the body with oil in a similar manner. Unlike water, oil is absorbed into the skin. Through this act of anointing, the oil and what it represents, literally becomes part of that person. No matter how old the person becomes, no matter what choices they make as an adult, the anointing cannot be washed off, even if they wanted to. God owns that child from that moment on.
Having personally been anointed with all three of the Church’s holy oils, I can attest to the blessings I have received through these powerful spiritual acts.
Even when I did not deserve God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness, I was shown that I too am God’s beloved Son!
If this is my last post, I want all to know there was only one purpose for all that I have written; to have made a positive difference in the lives of others.
Anthony “Tony” Boquet, the author of “The Bloodline of Wisdom, The Awakening of a Modern Solutionary”
