Our Baptism in Christ Through the Spirit

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

As we enter the 3^rd Sunday of Advent, we are reminded of how the people to whom John the Baptist preached, started asking what they should do to be worthy of being baptized. (cfr. Lk 3,10-18)

That’s when John the Baptist told them that while he would baptize them by water, there was someone else, referring to Christ, who would baptize them in the Holy Spirit and with fire. John the Baptist would refer to Christ as the Lamb of God who will be sacrificed for our sake.

We have to understand that the ideal condition for us to have is first to know and love Christ, because only then may we know and love ourselves and others properly. Thus, St. Augustine once said: “Noverim te, noverim me,” Latin for “May I know God, may I know myself.” It is when we know and love God, revealed fully in Christ, that we can know who we really are and ought to be.

God is our Creator and Father, and Christ is the Son of God in the Trinity of God who is the very image and likeness God has of himself. Since we have been created in God’s image and likeness, we can say that we are actually patterned after the Son who became man to offer us “the way, the truth and the life” we need to achieve our true dignity and ultimate identity.

How Christ is should also be how each one of us ought to be. This may be an incredible truth of faith before which we may feel awkward, but as long as we would just be guided by our faith, we know that that truth of faith can truly be applied to us.

Let’s just be like Mary, the Mother of Christ and our Mother, who simply said “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word,” when she was told that incredible piece of news that she was going to be the Mother of the Son of God.

With faith, we can do and achieve the impossible, because it would be God who will make impossible things possible. As mentioned in the Letter to the Hebrews, it was because of faith that those Old Testament characters like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah were able to do great, if not impossible things. (Heb 11)

And let’s remember that the ideal condition we ought to pursue in our relation with Christ is to gain intimacy with him. We have to do everything to have intimacy with Christ all the time.

It’s when we are intimate with Christ that we can really see ourselves and Christ as we truly are, in our rawest and unvarnished selves. Intimacy is where the most fundamental expressions of our humanity are made, where we become aware of our personhood, meant to enter in loving relation with Christ. It’s where we can truly feel we need Christ, and that he is everything to us!

Yes, intimacy is where we can achieve to the highest degree possible our unity and identification with Christ while here on earth. It’s where we can share what he has in the best way—his wisdom, goodness, compassion, patience, etc. etc.

We need to train all our human faculties—our reason, will, emotions, passions, appetites, memory, imagination, etc.—to get intimate with Christ. This, of course, will be lifelong process. But let’s see to it that everyday we are gaining ground in that direction. This should be the constant goal of our daily life.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com