Celebrating the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus leads us to reflect on the importance of this sacrament in our Christian life.

Celebrating the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus each year in January leads us to reflect on the importance of this sacrament in our Christian life. Jesus, without having any sin, desired to be baptized; in this act, he gives us an example of humility. “After Jesus was baptized…the heavens were opened [for him], and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove [and] coming upon him.” (Matthew 3:16-17)

From his baptism, Jesus begins a new mission in his life, his pilgrimage to announce the arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven. Baptism brings us new life! Reborn by water and the Holy Spirit as God’s beloved children, we are also called to the mission of witnessing and announcing to everyone the unlimited love of the Father. Strengthened by the Holy Spirit in our baptism, we assume the mission of proclaiming the Kingdom of God.

Not everyone, however, can work exclusively as apostles and missionaries. But we all can and must do it as disciples, through prayer and the daily offering of our actions. As baptized members of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, we are called in a very special way to take on the mission of missionary disciples of Jesus Christ, through the daily offering of our lives, united to the Pope, in prayer for the Church and its challenges.

– Maria Angélica Silvestre
Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network (Brazil)