You know those word problems on standardized tests where you have to analyze how a word is related to another word?  Bug is to bag as rug is rag. It’s an amazing process because by just changing the central vowel you have a totally different word. English has many words like this:  Bad:bed as fad:fed, fen:fan as ten:tan.  

Now think about the following pairs of words:   Wedding is to Marriage as Ordination is to the Priesthood. A wedding is the sacramental celebration that results in the sacramental state of being married. A deacon, priest, or bishop is ordained in a liturgical, sacramental ceremony but lives out his corresponding vocation according to the enduring grace and character particular to his holy order. 

                If baptism is the sacramental and liturgical celebration, then how do you describe the state of the person who has been baptized? The sacramental celebration happens one and only one time in our lives. From that moment on, we are changed. What is the change that takes place in us? Who do we become after our baptisms? 

                The Church celebrates today a specific moment in the life of Christ:  His Baptism in the Jordan River. The readings, prayers, songs, and images that are presented to us are an invitation to be there, on the banks of the river as witnesses to this remarkable event in the life of Christ. We even go all out in experiencing baptism by having the Sprinkling Rite at Mass; not quite a rushing river, but nevertheless, we really should get wet by a few drops if the priest is doing his job.

                If the sacraments are signs and means of change and transformation, then what does the Baptism of the Lord teach us about the change that happens in our baptism? The answer can be found by recognizing the season of the year when the Baptism of Our Lord is celebrated. The Baptism of the Lord is the culmination of the Christmas season and our celebration of the Incarnation, specifically the time after Epiphany. Christmas celebrates the hidden birth of Christ in the small hill town of Bethlehem. We can barely see him, lying in the manger, in the dark, surrounded by all the figures of the nativity scene.

                The Baptism of the Lord is out in public, in a wide open spot. The heavens themselves open up to make even more room and the world is filled with the voice of God expressing His pleasure at seeing His Beloved Son stepping out of the river and into the world. The early theologians saw in the Baptism of the Lord another epiphany, a continued revelation of the Incarnation. The Baptism is a continuation of the manifestation of God, begun at Christmas when the Word became Flesh and started living among us. Christ had no need of baptism, as John the Baptism pointed out, and yet He was baptized. The Son of God became one like us, so that we could be ones like Him.

                So back to the original question:  what happens to us at our baptism? What is the continuing state of being that is effected by the sacrament?  The Catechism teaches us that the effects of baptism are forgiveness of sins, becoming a new creation, entrance into the Body of Christ, a bond of unity in the Church and the gift of eternal life. We are signed with an indelible spiritual mark that is the permanent character of belonging to Christ. The words of the opening Collect of the Baptism of the Lord remind us that we are adopted sons and daughters of God. We do not need to be re-baptized at a later time, unlike some of the Protestant Churches, because we are already God’s children. Our baptism is a grace for us in this world and in the world to come.

                But our baptism is also a gift given to us for the good of others. The celebration of the Baptism of the Lord teaches us much about who we are as baptized Christians. The first reading today answers the question:  what happened after Christ was baptized?  He began his ministry to heal, to forgive, to feed, to preach the Good News to those whose lives were only bad news. After his baptism, Christ begins his public ministry. He goes out into the world to continue to manifest the presence of God in the Incarnation.

Our baptismal calling is much the same. We have been born from above, we have become a new person, a child of God. And as new people, we have a new calling, a new vocation by God. We are called to share that baptismal grace with others and build up the Kingdom of God. 

The mystery of our life in Christ as it unfolds each day reveals what it means to be children of God. Each day will bring us a new opportunity to extend the mercy of God in Jesus Christ to all the people we meet. The baptism of the Lord was the beginning of his public life. And so should our baptism be. Yes it is an end to sin, but as the rite says, it is a new beginning in Jesus Christ. Let us all renew our faith together then. Let us reject Satan and all his evil, and profess our belief in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.