Daily Reading

First Reading

Isaiah 49:3, 5-6

And he said to me, “You are my servant,
    Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
And now the Lord says,
    who formed me in the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him,
    and that Israel might be gathered to him,
for I am honored in the sight of the Lord,
    and my God has become my strength—
he says,
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
    to raise up the tribes of Jacob
    and to restore the survivors of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,
    that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Psalm

Psalm 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10

He drew me up from the desolate pit,
    out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
    making my steps secure.
Happy are those who make
    the Lord their trust,
who do not turn to the proud,
    to those who go astray after false gods.
Then I said, “Here I am;
    in the scroll of the book it is written of me.
I delight to do your will, O my God;
    your law is within my heart.”
I have told the glad news of deliverance
    in the great congregation;
see, I have not restrained my lips,
    as you know, O Lord.
I have not hidden your saving help within my heart,
    I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;
I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness
    from the great congregation.

Second Reading

1 Corinthians 1:1-3

Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Gospel Reading

John 1:29-34

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

Reflection

Friends, in our Gospel today, John the Baptist gives witness to the role of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’s baptism.

Baptism is the moment when the Holy Spirit draws us out of this fallen world and into a new world. And with this in mind, we can understand the relationship between baptism and the other sacraments. Baptism is birth in the spiritual order, the beginning of a properly spiritual life. The other sacraments represent specifications of that life.

For instance, a living thing needs to be nourished. This is the role that the Eucharist plays. But do you see why only baptized people can receive the Eucharist? If you’re not alive, there is no point in feeding you.