He Has Anointed Me
Gospel Commentary for the Baptism of the Lord

By Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap

ROME, JAN. 11, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Jesus himself gives an explanation of what happens to him in the baptism in the Jordan. Returned from the Jordan, in the synagogue at Nazareth he applies to himself the words of Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me ..." Peter uses the term "anointed" in the second reading, speaking about Jesus' baptism. He says: "God has anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power."

What we have here is a fundamental concept of the Christian faith. The name "Messiah" in Hebrew and "Christos" in Greek mean "anointed." We ourselves, the ancient Fathers said, call ourselves Christians because we are anointed in imitation of Christ, the Anointed par excellence. In our language, the word "anointed" has many meanings and not all of them are positive. In antiquity, annointing was an important element in life. Athletes were anointed with oil so that they could be quick and agile in races and men and women were anointed with perfumed oil so that their faces were beautiful and resplendent. Today, for the same purposes, there is an infinity of products available and many of them are derived from various types of oils.

In Israel the rite had a religious significance. The kings, the priests and the prophets were anointed with perfumed oil and this was the sign that they were consecrated for divine service. In Christ all of these symbolic anointings become reality. In the baptism in the Jordan he is consecrated king, prophet and eternal priest by God the Father. This did not happen through the use of material oil but through spiritual oil, that is, through the Holy Spirit, "the oil of joy," as a Psalm says. This explains why the Church highlights so much the annointing with sacred chrism. There is a rite of annointing in baptism, in confirmation, in the ordination of priests and there is the annointing of the sick (which was once called "extreme unction"). An annointing is administered in these rites because through them we participate in the annointing of Christ, that is, the fullness of the Holy Spirit. We literally become "Christians," that is, anointed, consecrated, and people who are called, as Paul says, "to spread the sweet perfume of Christ in the world."

Let us try to see what all of this says to us men of today. Today so-called aromatherapy is very much in fashion. It uses essential oils that emit a perfume to maintain health and as therapy for certain disturbances. The Internet is full of advertising about aromatherapy. There are perfumes for physical maladies, like stress; there are also "perfumes for the soul"; one of these is supposed to help us achieve "interior peace."

It is not my place to make a judgment about this alternative medicine. However, I see that physicians discourage this practice, which is not scientifically confirmed and which in fact, in some cases, provokes counterindications. But what I would like to say is that there is a sure, infallible aromatherapy that does not provoke counterindications: that one made up of a special aroma, the perfumed ointment that is the Holy Spirit!

This aromatherapy of the Holy Spirit heals all the ills of the soul and sometimes, if God wills it, the ills of the body too. There is an African-American spiritual in which the following words are continually repeated: "There is a balm in Gilead / to make the wounded whole." (In the Old Testament Gilead was a place famous for its perfumed ointments. Cf. Jeremiah 8:22.) The song continues: "Sometimes I feel discouraged / and think my work's in vain / but then the Holy Spirit / revives my soul again." For us, Gilead is the Church and the balm that heals is the Holy Spirit. He is the scent that Jesus has left behind, passing through this world.

The Holy Spirit is a specialist in the illnesses of marriage. Marriage consists in giving oneself to another; it is the sacrament of making of oneself a gift. Now, the Holy Spirit is the gift made person; he is the giving of the Father to the Son and the Son to the Father. Where he comes there is renewed the capacity to make a gift of oneself and with this the joy and the beauty of living together.

The philosopher Heidegger made an alarmed judgment about the future of human society: "Only a god can save us," he said. I say that this God who can save us exists; it is the Holy Spirit. Our society has need of massive doses of the Holy Spirit.

[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]

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Father Raniero Cantalamessa is the Pontifical Household preacher. The readings for this Sunday are Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7; Acts10:34-38; Matthew 3:13-17.

When I saw the title of this thread I thought you were going to say you've been baptised in the Spirit and pray in tongues now.. Shucks..

j/k, another sweet article! Fr. Cantalamessa is basically awesome. One of the coolest Franciscans around IMHO.
Hmm.. I get the impression that he's also pretty charismatic from the writings of his that I've finished (charismatic in the sense of a spirituality, hehe).

The Baptism of Jesus is a big event. There are a lot of things that come together in Jesus' baptism. There are a lot of things that come together in our Baptisms.
First, let us consider John the Baptist. John is a certifiable wild man. He came from the wilderness. He dressed in what was likely the shedding from a camel. What ever it was it wasn't an elegant camel's hair coat type of fabric. He ate locusts and wild honey. This is hardly a conventional diet, either then or now. His sermon or at least what we have recorded said, "you den of poisonous snakes, who warmed you to flee from the wrath to come?" This was not an approach designed to gently convince people that they should come to a conclusion about God in their life.

The people who came to John for baptism were desperate to change their lives. The crowd is identified as a mix of tax collectors prostitutes, soldiers there were also some religious people like the Scribes and Pharisees. The Pharisees may have been there to spy. They may have been there to determine whether or not John was the Messiah. Most likely, they were desperate to know the move and peace of God just like the obvious sinners. John said he wasn't the Messiah when he was asked if her were. John said "Jesus is."

Jesus came to be baptized by John. John's baptism was a washing for repentance. Jesus didn't need to repent. So, Jesus' baptism changed the meaning of baptism.

Three things happened in Jesus' baptism. As Jesus was praying after the immersion, the heavens opened. The Holy Spirit came down on him in bodily form, like a Dove.

Imagine if you will, something physical, visible, swirling and swooping down and coming onto Jesus. This is a strange event. Something outside of normal reality is happening.
Then a voice, a thunderous voice said, "you are my son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased."

Everything we know about God and Israel prior to this time is focused in this saying. This is God's anointed. God is well pleased, God loves him. He is even identified as God's son.

Presumably, Jesus then looked out and saw the gathered tax collectors, prostitutes and other sinners who had been baptized with him.

These are the things that happened to Jesus in baptism.
o He was given an identity...God's son.
o He was identified as the focus of God's love.
o He was identified as being very pleasing to God.
o He was physically given God's Holy Spirit.
o He was joined into a new group, those who were baptized by John.

But Jesus changed what baptism means for us. We receive the same gifts when we are baptized. We receive the gift of water. Water is life. Without water there is no life. We are given an identity. The meaning of our name is transformed. It is now name given by God. Some of us have had the experience of being a sponsor, God parent or parent at a baptism. When the name is pronounced and the words "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of The Holy Spirit” are joined to the gift of water a new creature is proclaimed, a child of God, life, Spirit and power is held up. A new creature, with the identity, child of God, is in our midst.

We are named as beloved by God. In the same way that God announces that Jesus is beloved, we are announced as beloved. We are given the gift of God's spirit. There is the expectation that God's spirit in us will lead us to lives of holiness and true joy.
We are given a community. We join with the people present at our baptism who are baptized and with everyone who was ever baptized. And, yes there are still tax collectors and prostitutes in that community. In fact, one of the ways we know that God loves and accepts us just as we are is because God loves accepts other people who are as messed up and sinful as we are.

Baptism is a big deal. It is a chance for people who are desperate to change their lives to gain the same identity, in God's eyes, that Jesus has. It is the way, the event, that leads to salvation The gift is the unconditional love and presence of God in our lives.