Salesian Sunday Reflection
Baptism of the Lord
January 7, 2024
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. The Baptism of Jesus marks the beginning of his ministry. St. Francis de Sales notes that from time to time we need to reenergize the resolution we made in baptism to be children of God.
The first Christians celebrated the anniversary of their Baptism, the day that they dedicated themselves to becoming children of God. We also ought to renew our commitment to the service of the Divine Goodness. In celebrating our baptismal vows, we strengthen our fervor, renew our promises and reaffirm our good resolutions.
A good lute player has the habit of testing the strings of his instrument to see if they need tightening or loosening to sound harmonious. Likewise, it is necessary for us to examine our affections that are not in balance, and our neglected resolutions. We need to see what we must do to recover what, by our weakness or negligence, we have lost. We must not be surprised at this because it seems that even the sun needs to start its course anew once a year to repair in spring the losses the earth suffered in winter. Just by renewing our commitment we can start to repair our faults.
We can also regain lost time by fervor and diligence in totally uniting ourselves again to Our Lord. During our journey on this earth, Our Lord leads us by the hand, causing us to walk in virtue, or He carries us in the arms of His Divine Providence. His goodness is willing to lead us and to carry us, but He also wants us to take our little steps alone, doing on our part all that we can, helped by His holy love. Happy are the souls, who travel through life doing what they can in the practice of virtue and good works, and still holding on to the hand of our Lord! They are the children who sing the canticle of the glory of God because they dedicate themselves to the service of Divine Goodness as Jesus did at his baptism.
(Adapted from L. Fiorelli, ed., Sermons of St. Francis de Sales, V. 2)
