Message of Abbot Paul - Sunday 8th January 2023

What a joy it is to see the days lengthening and to observe the longer sunsets. Everything appears to be springing back to life. I hope this isn’t a false alarm and that nature isn’t in for a nasty shock with some unexpected deep-winter week of heavy frosts and penetrating cold before Easter. Our first snowdrops are already nodding their delicate heads and, no doubt, they will soon be joined by a colourful army of varicoloured primroses, the quintessential flower of Spiring, that, unlike the snowdrops, seem to last for months on end.

 

​Today we keep the feast of Our Lord’s Baptism, one of the three theophanies of Jesus as the Messiah, God incarnate, that we celebrate at the Epiphany. Obviously, it’s not just the manifestations at the time of happening that matter, but what they mean for us today in our journey of faith. Let’s look at the Baptism of Jesus and today’s Gospel account from Matthew, (Mt 3: 13-17). Jesus has decided that he wants to be baptised by John the Baptist and, although John tries to dissuade him, he insists. He says, “Leave it like this for the time being; it is fitting that we should, in this way, do all that righteousness demands.” What is the Father’s will? That Jesus, his incarnate and sinless Son, should descend into the waters and thereby sanctify the waters of Baptism for all those who with faith seek to follow Jesus in their lives as the way of salvation. Jesus might even have become a disciple of John for a while. It is once the Baptism has taken place that the Theophany happens, a Theophany of the Holy Trinity.

 

​Matthew tells us, “As soon as Jesus was baptised, he came up from the water, and suddenly the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. And a voice spoke from heaven, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on him.’” What always strikes me when baptising babies or adults, is that what we are told about Jesus is exactly what happens to us at our baptism, in which we become Christians, clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, become temples of the Holy Spirit and children of the God who loves us, as we are conformed to Christ and become members, living stones, of his mystical Body. It would be a good idea to find out the date of your baptism and then celebrate it each year, rather like a second and more important birthday.