Feast 01/07/2024 (Baptism of Our Lord)

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. As recounted in the third chapter of the Gospel of Matthew (and in parallel passages in Mark, Luke, and John), Christ was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. Although John initially hesitated when asked to baptize Christ, because Christ was without sin and John knew he was in the presence of one greater than he, Christ spoke His first words in Matthew so that John would agree: