“When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leapt in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” Even before birth, John the Baptist recognized she who would bear Jesus, as the spiritual connection was so strong between them. The holy players were assembling, as the heavenly portal was about to open.
John was a special emissary of God, sent to fulfill God’s holy mission. John embodied the spiritual power of God, holding it near and dear within him until the right time. Patiently John waited, but all along he knew that Jesus would appear.
On that blessed day, John sensed the presence of Jesus even before he laid eyes on him. And he stood in awe when Jesus appeared in sight. John knew this marked the moment in time when all he carried within him would be transferred unto Jesus.
Jesus approached John, and they recognized one another. John humbly acknowledged Jesus as the “one who is more powerful than I.” Then Jesus stood in the Jordan, and John anointed him with the holy baptismal waters. And in that sacred pouring of the holy waters, all the spiritual power that John carried within him was transmitted to Jesus, and so the spirit of God entered unto Jesus. And John thus fulfilled his mission, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
The transmission that occurred opened the divine gateway, and as the heavens rumbled, the power of the Holy Spirit was released, brilliant and radiating the pure “Spirit of God,” which descended refulgent and entered Jesus. “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased!” This sacred initiation came directly from God, mediated by John, and from that point on Jesus came into his full powers. The Spirit was now activated and became active within Jesus. Jesus then withdrew to consolidate the Holy Spirit energy within him while in the wilderness, bringing forth its full manifestation and rooting himself so firmly in God that nothing could deter his vision. Then, he was ready to begin his mission.
And so, we pray this day that the Holy Baptism of Jesus inspire and renew our own souls; that the sacred waters of God’s grace fill us with the Spirit of God; and that the transformative power of the Holy Spirit descend into our very beings as the living, palpable presence of God.
