Baptism from John to now

The Roman Catholic lectionary on the 2nd day of 2010 brings texts which have us encounter John the Baptist. John the Evangelist tells us that the religious authorities of the time were anxious to understand who John the Baptist was and what his mission could be. It seems from their questions that he may have been thought to be the Messiah, *the returned Elijah, or another prophet. He was having an impact on the religious community. John’s Baptism was the action of using water to cleanse the body and the spirit from sins in anticipation of the arrival of Jesus for whom John revealed he was preparing the way. The validity of John’s authority and the meaning of his actions has been a point of religious discussion and dissention since John’s time. The CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA lists 20 sub topics under the topic of Baptism. The effect of Baptism, in Roman Catholic doctrine, is membership in the Body of Christ. The text from 1st John today speaks of the anointing received from the Divine that invites us to abide in the God through the indwelling Spirit which is the “seed” planted in the Sacrament of Baptism. Baptism, it seems, has tensions between the response to the invitation of God which is constant and always present and the formal invocation of the Spirit which is sacramental and liturgical.