One after another the people made up their minds to change their evil
lives and bad habits. They made their good resolutions and as a proof of
their sorrow for the past and firm purpose of amendment for the future,
they went into the Jordan confessing their sins, and John baptized them.
He told them then that He Who was coming was mightier than himself, and
that He would baptize them with the Holy Ghost and fire. "Then cometh
JESUS from Galilee to the Jordan unto John to be baptized by him!" Where
had He come from? Straight from His home, from Nazareth, from His
Mother. He had come to fulfil John's prophecy, to begin His public
ministry to the people, and He would begin it by identifying Himself
with them. They were sinners, coming to confess their sins and He would
be numbered with the transgressors (Isaias III. 12). "But John stayed
Him, saying: I ought to be baptized by Thee, and comest Thou to me?"
(St. Matt. III. 14). Though they were cousins it is probable that they
had not met since their early childhood. One had lived in the seclusion
of Nazareth and the other in the seclusion of the desert. "I knew Him
not," (St. John I. 31, 33) John said. It was probably the fact of
someone coming for the baptism of penance who had no sins to confess
that made John suspect and then protest; but he could not resist the
gentle, authoritative words: "Suffer it to be so now, for so it becometh
Us to fulfil all justice." Then when He had gone out of the water John
saw a wonderful sight--he described it himself: "I saw the Spirit coming
down as a dove from Heaven and He remained upon Him; and I knew Him not,
but He Who sent me to baptize with water said to me: He upon Whom thou
shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, He it is That
baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw; and I gave testimony, that
this is the Son of God." (St. John I. 32-34). He knew Him now--there was
no longer any doubt, no more time of waiting and preparation, He Who
should come had come. God Himself pointed Him out to the faithful
Precursor--a voice from Heaven said: "This is My beloved Son in Whom I
am well pleased" (St. Matt. III. 17). What a reward for John after his
life of solitude and penance and mortification--to be in close contact
with the Son of God, to see the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, and
to hear the Voice of God the Father, and thus have the seal set to his
mission! "And I saw; and I gave testimony."
And what have the waters of Jordan to say? That He, over Whose Sacred
Head they closed, has, by the contact of His precious Body, sanctified
them and all other waters and given them power, when they are in contact
with His mystical Body to wash away sin. JESUS went down to John in the
Jordan not to _receive_ a gift, but to _impart_ one. From henceforth the
waters will bring forth abundantly and God will say of His new creation,
as He did in the beginning, that it is good. All three Persons of the
Blessed Trinity were present at this new creation, the Holy Spirit
brooded over the face of the waters for this new baptism was the Baptism
of the Holy Ghost, the Voice of the Lord was upon the waters (Ps.
XXVIII. 3), the Voice, that is, of the Father proclaiming that He was
well pleased, not only with His "Beloved Son" but with this first act of
His public ministry; for in Him He saw a countless multitude coming out
of the sanctified water, and of each one He will say: "_This_ is My
beloved son, in whom I am well pleased."
"O Almighty Eternal God, preside over the mysteries of Thy great mercy,
preside over Thy sacraments and send forth the Spirit of adoption to
regenerate the new people, whom the font of Baptism brings forth to
Thee" (Prayer for the Blessing of the Font on Holy Saturday).
_Colloquy._ "Grant we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that Thy servants may
walk in the way of salvation; and by following the exhortation of
Blessed John the Precursor may securely attain the possession of Him
Whom He foretold, Our Lord JESUS Christ." (Collect for the Vigil of St.
John the Baptist).
_Resolution._ To "prepare His ways" to-day.
_Spiritual Bouquet._ "Blessed John the Baptist ... pray to the Lord our
God for us."