The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

This is my beloved Son,

with whom I am well pleased.

~Matthew 3:17

His baptism, then, is at the heart of his mission to heal us. He enters even the wounds of our self-rejection, without having made the rejection himself. He accepts full solidarity with us even if it means being seen as sinner. Jesus’ baptism is one of his earliest great transformations of our human condition. The first was that the Word itself could take human flesh. All the further implications would follow: that he would be tempted to reject this mission of transformation; that he would undertake all manner of healing and disarming of devils; that he would announce a kingdom to transmute all blindness, poverty, imprisonment, and darkness; that he would, at last, suffer the very fate of sin in death.

Just as we now baptize our children to announce a new fate for the human body, the baptism of Jesus is the inauguration of that fate. Announced as sinner, wholly one with our condition, Jesus, hovered over by the very spirit of God, is gazed upon by the Father who sent him and who now says to him and all of us who share his flesh—“This is my beloved, in whom I am well pleased.”

John Kavanaugh, S. J. of Saint Louis University

Ave Maria! Dr. He Qi is the artist of the above painting of Christ's baptism by his cousin John. Dr. Qi's vibrant art doesn't just stir me -- it positively jolts me! Visit the He Qi Gallery to see more of his lively creations. And learn more about him here, here, here, here, here, and here. While his art understandably may not appeal to everyone, this explanation of it can help anyone appreciate him. "One can better understand the art of He Qi when it is seen as a reinterpretation of sacred art within an ancient Chinese art idiom. Chinese religious art, being an expression of Buddhism, was historically typified as a tranquil and utopian portrayal of nature, often painted with black ink and water. He Qi is especially influenced by the simple and beautiful artwork of the people in rural China. Within that framework, he seeks to redefine the relationship between people and spirituality with bold colors, embellished shapes and thick strokes. His work is a blend of Chinese folk art and traditional painting technique with the iconography of the Western Middle Ages and Modern Art." One commentator notes that "Every painting of Dr. He Qi could be a stained-glass window." Oh, how I would enjoy having a window like that in my home!