“It is good for us to contemplate this: Jesus prays. But why? He, the Lord, the Son of God, prays like us? Yes, Jesus – the Gospels repeat this many times — spends a lot of time in prayer: at the beginning of every day, often at night, before making important decisions… His prayer is a living dialogue, an intimate relationship with the Father.”
He said that Jesus’ baptism showed a twofold “movement” in Christ’s life: his descent into the Jordan River and his raising of his heart in prayer.
“It is a tremendous lesson for us: we are all immersed in the problems of life and in many complicated situations, called upon to face difficult moments and choices that get us down,” the pope said.
“But, if we do not want to be crushed, we need to raise everything upwards. And this is exactly what prayer does; it is not an escape route, it is not a magic ritual or a repetition of memorized jingles.”
“No, prayer is the way we allow God to act in us, to understand what he wants to communicate to us even in the most difficult situations, praying to have the strength to go forward.”
Referring to the text of the day’s Gospel, the pope said that prayer “opens the heavens.”
“Above all, it enables us to have the same experience of Jesus by the Jordan River: it makes us feel like beloved children of the Father. When we pray, the Father says to us too, as he does to Jesus in the Gospel: ‘You are my beloved child,’” he said.
He encouraged Catholics to review their prayer lives.
“Do I pray out of habit, unwillingly, just reciting formulas, or is my prayer an encounter with God?” he asked.
“Am I a sinner, always among God’s people, never isolated? Do I cultivate intimacy with God, dialogue with Him, listen to His Word?”
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“Among the many things we do, let us not neglect prayer: let us dedicate time to it, let us use short invocations to be repeated often, let us read the Gospel every day.”
After reciting the Angelus, Pope Francis greeted pilgrims gathered in a rainswept St. Peter’s Square.
He noted that earlier on Sunday he had baptized 16 babies in the Sistine Chapel.
Today’s Gospel shows us the #BaptismOfJesus. He who is the Son of God, the Messiah goes to the Jordan River to be baptized. He lines up with the sinners, He shares our plight, He goes down into the river and at the same time into the wounded history of humanity to heal it.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) January 9, 2022
“This morning, as is customary on the Sunday of the Baptism of the Lord, I baptized a number of babies, children of Vatican employees,” he said.
“I now wish to extend my prayer and blessing to all the infants who have received or will receive baptism during this time. May the Lord bless them and may Our Lady protect them.”
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