Feast of the Baptism of the Lord 2021

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
January 10, 2021

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,¹

As I was saying, we continue to pray for our country in this difficult time. Especially during this transition. We also pray for those who were killed and injured this week in our nation’s capital. And we pray that God grants wisdom to our elected officials and the grace of a true patriotism and love of country to all of us. 

Today as I was saying, we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. And in the passage of the Gospel today, we hear those beautiful words from God:

And a voice came from the heavens, 
“You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

This is who Jesus is. He is the Beloved, the Son of God. 

But my dear brothers and sisters, this is also who we are. We are, each one of us — as we just prayed in the opening prayer of today’s Mass — beloved sons and beloved daughters of God our Father. 

So this feast day, the Baptism of the Lord, it is obviously a celebration of the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan as we were listening in the passage of the Gospel. But it is also a day of celebration of our identity and responsibility as Christians, the mission that we are given in baptism, the new life that we have in Jesus Christ. 

We are born once through the love of our mother and father. But we are born a second time, of water and the Spirit, through the love of God. 

So on the day of our Baptism, the Spirit came down upon us and God the Father declared: “You are my beloved son. You are my beloved daughter.” Sons and daughters by adoption as we just prayed. And God said “I am pleased with you! I’m happy that you are here!” 

So that’s why we can say that our baptism is the most important day of our life. But obviously most of us cannot remember that day because our “second birth” took place when we were tiny infants. And baptism was a beautiful gift that we received from God through  our parents. 

Baptism has an extraordinary significance and it is a moment of personal destiny for each of us, a day when our life story is joined to the history of salvation, the great story of God’s love for his people. 

I like to always remind all of us that Pope Francis says we should all know the date when we were baptized and we should celebrate our baptism day like we celebrate our birthdays.²

For us it is difficult for us to celebrate every single day — we can celebrate the date of our baptism, when we were born, and first Holy Communion, and on and on. 

But Pope Francis is trying to help us to understand how important baptism is in our lives. I’m sure that you know the day of your baptism. If not, as I always say, please check it out because I think that it’s very important. 

Mine is January 5th, so I know it was a blessing for me because it was 10 days after my birth. So my parents were really nice to me and they were obviously good Catholics. 

So why is it so important? Why does Pope Francis insist that it is important?

Because, as I was saying, it is an extraordinary moment when we receive the blessing of becoming sons and daughters of God. 

But also because through the gift of baptism, we also receive the duty to serve God with all our lives, to share in the mission of salvation.  

In the first reading of today’s Mass, the prophet Isaiah reveals the identity of Jesus. But he is also talking about those who follow Jesus. 

God has put his spirit in us at baptism. He has made us to be his servants. He speaks to us today in the voice of the prophet Isaiah. These are the words from the prophet Isaiah: 

I, the Lord, have called you… 
I have grasped you by the hand;
I formed you.

My dear brothers and sisters, God gives us a mission. Because as we know, baptism is not the end. It is the beginning. Baptism is a consecration, a calling, a vocation! 

As we heard in the second reading of today’s Mass: 

In this way we know that we love the children of God
when we love God and obey his commandments.
For the love of God is this,
that we keep his commandments.

So God is calling us, each in our own way, to believe in Jesus Christ and follow him. To live just like Jesus lived. To live as sons and daughters of God, to live by his law of love.

And love, as we know, is not just a feeling, love is something practical. Love means living according to God’s commandments. 

And following God’s commandments means we are called to a service of love in the simplicity of our daily lives. 

So today let us ask for the grace to realize that in everything we do, we are joined with Jesus Christ in this mission of working for the world’s salvation, for the coming of his Kingdom and for his will to be done on earth as in heaven. 

As Jesus did, we need to have a true “fire” in our hearts for the salvation of others, beginning with those who are closest to us. We need to love Jesus with a love that longs to bring every person to love him, too. 

We need to pray for people, and work to make this world better for the poor and vulnerable; we need to try to free people from sin and injustice, to remove every obstacle that keeps them from meeting Jesus and opening their hearts to his mercy and love.  

So, at the beginning of this new year, let us try to renew our awareness of the meaning of our baptism, our identity as children of God. And let us renew our awareness that we are called by our baptism to share in the beautiful mission of salvation, that we are called to be missionary disciples. 

And let us ask our Blessed Mother, our Lady of the Angels, to watch over us and to help us to follow Jesus and to become the people we are made to be — faithful sons and daughters of God.

And let us continue to pray for our country during this challenging time of the coronavirus pandemic, and for peace and unity and love and respect for one another.

1. Readings: Isa. 42:1-4, 6-7; Isa. 12:2-6; 1 John 5:1-9; Mark 1:7-11.

2. General Audience (January 8, 2014).