The Catholic Calendar for Sunday, January 11, 2004
The Baptism of the Lord

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Isaiah 42:1-4,6-7
Psalm 29:1-4,9-10
Acts 10:34-38
Luke 3:15-16,21-22

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

God Shows No Partiality

Woman or man. Jew or gentile. Black or White. Weak or strong. Rich or poor. Educated or uneducated. It doesn't matter.

We who proclaim Christ as Lord are all seen as the same in the eyes of the Almighty, together forming the body of Christ. Sure, we all have different gifts and therefore different functions within the body. But He shows no partiality. He welcomes us all and rewards us all the same.

With eternal life.

We all began in this world the same - as sinners. Through the miraculous gift of baptism we went down into the water imperfect and came up a new creation, clean of sin and equal to all the others who proudly proclaim themselves "Christian."

Today we celebrate the baptism of our Lord. Take a moment and reflect on how this simple act in water ties us all together into one body, how it cleansed us before, and how we are in constant need of renewing our own baptisms to wash away our many imperfections.

- Don Claunch, sfo

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posted by joachim at 4:24 AM