Beloved Children

Gospel: Mark 1: 7-11

At his baptism, Jesus hears the words of God addressed to him: this is my beloved son on whom my favor rests.  These are are words spoken to us as well at our baptism.  We too are called by name as children of God, receiving God's favor that comes to rest on us.  It is for this reason - that we might hear these words spoken to us - that Jesus himself was baptized.

But it is not the ritual of baptism that makes it so! Baptism, like all the other sacraments, are not magic acts.  They are the outward expression of what is already real and present within us.  God has already made every human being his child, made everyone favorable just in calling us into existence.  Once we become conscious of that reality we come to express it outwardly in the ritual of baptism.  What is already real invisibly now becomes manifest outwardly.  

So, in accepting baptism we accept the love God has extended to us in calling us his children.  In turn, we now take on the responsibility of extending that love outward to other people, to help others be aware that they too are children of God, favored by God and invited to accept that love and share it with others in their lives.