You are God's beloved!

Feast of the Baptism of the Lord Matthew 3:13-17 Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. John tried to prevent him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” Jesus said to him in reply, “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed him. After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Today we are celebrating the feast of the Baptism of Jesus. Last Sunday we celebrated the feast of the Magi. The two feasts are epiphanies: epiphany means to show, to make something known, to reveal something that had been hidden. Last Sunday Jesus was revealed to the Magi to the Gentiles, and this Sunday Jesus is revealed to the world, to everyone. In today's gospel God the Father is revealing his son Jesus to the world. God is saying that Jesus is His Son, that he loves him, and He is well pleased with Him. It is the same thing that God is saying in today's first reading: "behold my son, my chosen one, in whom I am well pleased." In today's revelation, in the epiphany of baptism God is proclaiming who Jesus is and that he is very pleased with him. As you know, today is the end of the Christmas season, tomorrow we are going to start the ordinary time of the church. Ordinary time does not mean "ordinary" but counted. Starting tomorrow we begin the life and ministry of Jesus. It is very fitting that we end with his baptism and then begin his ministry. The same is true for us. Baptism is the beginning of our time as missionary-Disciples of Jesus. Through baptism we become missionary disciples of Jesus. What does it mean to be a missionary-disciple? A disciple is someone who follows another person. We are not disciples of a president, an actor, or anyone else. No! We are disciples of Jesus. Which means that we are called to follow in his footsteps. To continue his work, to be the presence of Jesus in today's world. If we are disciples, we need to deepen our relationship with Jesus. We have to be people of prayer. That is why we come to Mass, that is why it is so important to have Mass in our language. If we are going to have a relationship with Jesus, we have to speak to him in our language. We need to know that he understands us and that we can express our wants and needs to him. This is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. Now the second part, being a missionary. What is a missionary? A missionary is someone sent to share the message of Jesus with others. It is not enough to simply come to Mass. We are not living our baptism if we are not sharing the message with others. So today it's very fitting that we're going to invite you to commit to a ministry in the church. We're going to hand out some sheets right now and invite you to commit to a ministry in the church and in February we're going to have training for all the ministries. Maybe you're thinking, "I can't! I'm not ready! Well, as I said, we are going to have preparation in February. And maybe they're thinking, "I'm not worthy, I don't have the training. I am only a mother, I am a poor worker, etc. Etc. But we must remember that on the day of our baptism. God was there too. And with the same voice and the same words God proclaimed, "This is my son, this is my beloved daughter in whom I am well pleased."