Baptism of the Lord

The Glories of Baptism

The more we contemplate in the light of faith the great gifts of baptism, the more we are astounded by the munificence of God’s bounty. Moreover, it would be a mistake to regard the effects of this initial grace as passing phenomena. The Trinity of baptism is with us all the days of our life. The Father is always present, providentially watching day and night over his adopted children. The Word is always present, keeping them from all evil. The Holy Spirit is always present, guiding them through the cares and hardships of this life, toward their eternal destiny. All three divine Persons of the Trinity unceasingly watch over us with their all-powerful protection.

Here, in the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity, lies a truth that ought never to be overlooked. Perhaps we are too much accustomed to weighing only the personal efforts of the soul in the quest for perfection. Such personal effort is certainly necessary, but we should not forget the unceasing impulse and direction of the Holy Spirit, or the primordial and precursive action on the part of God. Jesus has said: If anyone love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him. It is clear, then, that not only the Word comes to the soul. How, as a matter of fact, could the Father and the Son be separated from their Spirit of love? And if all the Trinity come to dwell in the Christian soul, it is not to abide inactive. My Father, said Jesus, works even until now, and I work. This continuous action of the Trinity is what keeps the physical world from falling into nothingness, and it operates all the more in the supernatural world of souls. The course of divine life which proceeds from the Father to the Son and binds them together in the Holy Spirit, is continued externally in those ­mysterious and invisible missions that transform souls to the image of the Trinity. All holiness is but allowing oneself to be made Godlike. It is God that leads to God.

Father M.M. Philipon, o.p.