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Reflection by Fr James Fernandez, As the Christmas season ends and we pack away the decorations and crib, we are reminded that God-with-us never ceases to reach out to humanity with His love. This is powerfully demonstrated in the feast we celebrate today: the Baptism of our Lord.
One of the most iconic works of art in the Sistine Chapel is Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam. In this masterpiece, God the Father stretches His hand toward Adam, His creation, while Adam reaches back. Their fingers almost touch, but a small, unbridgeable gap remains—a poignant symbol of the distance between God and humanity. By contrast, medieval depictions of Jesus' Baptism offer a deeply Christian perspective. They show the gap between the Father and Jesus, the Second Adam, bridged by the Holy Spirit, often symbolized as a dove. This imagery reflects connection and unity rather than separation.
When Jesus entered the waters of death in solidarity with the sinful humanity, he emerges sanctifying the same waters into life giving one. While the first Adam’s relationship with God was marked by separation, Jesus, the New Adam, brings us into the closest, most intimate relationship with the Father—a bond of divine sonship. And the dignity that is conferred by the Father in the voice, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” that dignity does not end with Jesus.
Through the sacrament of Baptism, we too become beloved sons and daughters of God. We are welcomed into a community—a community that, though imperfect and sinful, is constantly striving to grow in love and grace. For all the ways the world may feel marked by the absence of God, we as Christians can rejoice in this new identity with Christ.
Each time we bless ourselves with holy water upon entering the Church or when it is sprinkled upon us, let us recall our Baptism. Let it remind us that we are God's beloved children, journeying with Him as pilgrims of hope, in building a community of faith and love.
