The beloved son and the adopted sons. Feast of the Baptism of Christ

It seems that all the feasts of the Christmas season are feasts of revelation: from the birth of Christ, to the encounter of the Holy Family with the shepherds and the Magi, through the Epiphany, and now with the Baptism of the Lord. Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which marks the end of the liturgical season of Christmas. Today we fix our gaze on Jesus as he approaches to be baptized by John in the Jordan River.

This feast is an extension of Epiphany: another moment of manifestation, another revelation of Christ. The Epiphany we recently celebrated showed Christ to the nations and cultures of the world. However, the Baptism of the Lord reveals something even deeper: the truth of his identity as the beloved Son of the Father. By revealing who Christ is, this feast also reveals who we are called to be.

Today's opening prayer speaks of Christ as the beloved Son and of us as adopted children, reborn through water and the Holy Spirit. We are children in the Son. Christ's baptism invites us to be like Him: the one in whom the Father is well pleased. It reminds us of our deepest identity as children of God. It reminds us that we are eternally loved, that the waters of Baptism have given us new birth, and that Heaven has been opened for us as well. After Jesus was baptized, the heavens opened above Him. This sign of the open heavens reveals that we now have continuous access to the Father; the channel of communication is open. Pope Benedict XVI writes: “Heaven is open above Jesus. His communion with the Father's will, the “all righteousness” that he fulfills, opens Heaven, which by its very essence is precisely where God's will is fulfilled.."

A second significant aspect of this feast is the Father's proclamation of Jesus' identity. This proclamation does not interpret what Jesus does, but who he is: the beloved Son in whom God is well pleased.

The Gospel tells us what the voice of Heaven declares: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”This is the heart of today's feast, the most important aspect that reveals the essence of Christ's baptism as revelation. The Father's voice reveals the deepest truth about Jesus and, by extension, about ourselves. Benedict XVI explains how we can identify with this truth: “The man in whom he is well pleased is Jesus. He is so because he lives totally oriented toward the Father, living with his gaze fixed on him and in communion of will with him. People of complacency are therefore those who have the attitude of the Son, people configured to Christ.".

Conforming to Christ: this is the great desire and vocation of all God's adopted children. In this, our divine filiation finds its fullest meaning and joy.