Making the Water Holy

 BAPTISM OF THE LORD

I have spent several days meditating and pondering (I like that word!) on the Baptism of Jesus by Saint John the Baptist.

I never thought too much about St. John until I visited his birthplace in Israel in Ein Kerem.

Ein Kerem, Israel

Since then, I've had a little niggling in the back of my mind to find out more about him (and you know that is totally the Holy Spirit nudging...) and this week I actually made an effort due to the upcoming Gospel this Sunday.

Luke 3:15-16, 21-22

(and  Matt 3:13-17  and   Mk 1:9-11)
 

This Sunday is the last of the Christmas Season, The Epiphany of the Lord.  ?  Now didn't we just celebrate the Epiphany?  You know, when the Wise Men came to visit Jesus and bring him gifts in the manger?  Hmmmm.

When we were in Israel at the Yardenit Baptism Site for our Baptism Renewal in the River Jordan, everyone was in the most glorious mood following our experience.  (You can see this in our faces in the pictures!).  As a group, we were so happy and everyone was just bubbling!  I was standing with Fr. T & Fr. N discussing the experience and I asked them if they felt like John the Baptist as they immersed each of us under the water of the Jordan - and simultaneously they both immediately responded "I felt like Jesus!"

Well!  That was an un-expected answer!  At least I wasn't expecting them to say that!  Hmmm?

Fr. T was super animated and told me "Jesus did not need to be baptized because he was without sin.  He allowed himself to be baptized to make the water holy!"

To make the water holy? 

He said "This is the very same water that Jesus Christ had stood in, the same water!  He has made it holy!"  He was very excited and animated, practically dancing on the walkway as he spoke!

Fr. N and Fr. T celebrating a baptism in the holy water of the Jordan River

I've thought about that a lot since then.  It is one of those things that will just float up into my mind and first thing you know I'm thinking about it again.

I could imagine the cousins, John and Jesus, in the waters of the Jordan as I looked at my photos and thought about what Fr. T had said.  I can't tell you how often this image and his statement would enter my mind. I thought and thought about it and I finally came to the conclusion that maybe I had misunderstood what Fr. T was saying.

Fr. T is Filipino, and although he has a excellent command of English, I thought maybe there was something in the translation that was different since it wasn't making sense to me?  I was just misunderstanding him.

All I know is that what he said came back to me multiple times.  Jesus was baptized to make the water holy.

Hmmmmm.

Fast forward several months.~~~~>

I'm a 6th grade Religious Education teacher at my church, and I was reviewing the Gospel for the upcoming Sunday in class, which just happened to be the story of St. John the Baptist and Jesus in the River Jordan.   Fr. T randomly pokes his head into my class to visit the kids and see what we are studying, so I tell him.

And he lights up!  He got very excited and says the exact same words he said in Israel that day "Jesus allowed himself to be baptized to make the water holy!".

!!!!  What??

I knew then that I had not heard the words wrong at the Jordan, I was somehow missing his point!

So.  I have made it a point to figure it out.

I have meditated on this, I have prayed about it.  I have read multiple catholic websites and all four Gospel passages regarding this.  You know it must be significant for that reason alone!

Now, sitting here in the Adoration Chapel at my church, it occurs to me that Jesus sanctified the water and the act of baptism with his participation.

Before Jesus, St. John and others might have been cleansing people with water from the river and the nugget of what was to come or what that act was to become, was there.  It was symbolic, a way to make the people understand they were starting spiritually fresh and clean and new.

But with Jesus' act, it brought the Three Persons of God together for the first time!  The heavens opened, the Spirit of God came down upon the Son of God and God the Father spoke!

Wow!

And with that, the act of baptism went from being a ritual to a sacrament!

Jesus made the water holy.

Holy for us all, because he took our sins upon him in the water that day and began the road that would take him to Calvary to die for all those sins.  He purified the water for us, he made a way for us to achieve heaven.

I read that when the heavens opened above him that this was the beginning of our open way to heaven, he initiated the purification of humankind which was soiled when Adam first sinned.  And Jesus most certainly did make the water holy for us all.

Per the catechism, Jesus stood on the bank and allows himself to be numbered with the sinners there.  He accepts, he submits to the will of the Father, he becomes the "Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world".  And the Father is pleased.  The heavens were opened - that Adam's sin had closed - and the waters were sanctified.

Yes, the water was made holy.

Thank you God for Holy Priests who open our minds to you!!!  Most especially, thank you for the one who evangelized to me with one single sentence (even though I did have to hear it twice!).  Bless and protect all our priest and protect their FIRE!!!

2012 Pilgrimage to Israel - Day 5