Praying the Mysteries of the Rosary with St. Josemaria Escriva - the Baptism of our Lord

In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.

O God, Whose only-begotten Son appeared in the substance of our flesh, grant, we pray You, that we who acknowledge His outward likeness to us may deserve to be inwardly refashioned in His image.  Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

Mal 3:1:1; Par. 29:12
Behold, the Lord and Ruler is come; and the kingdom is in His hand, and power, and dominion.

Ps 71:1
O God, with Your judgment endow the King, and with Your justice, the King’s Son.

 Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.  As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Behold, the Lord and Ruler is come; and the kingdom is in His hand, and power, and dominion.

A Reading from the book of Isaiah
Isa 60:1-6
Rise up in splendor, O Jerusalem! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you. See, darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds cover the peoples; but upon you the Lord shines, and over you appears His glory. Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance. Raise your eyes and look about; they all gather and come to you: your sons come from afar, and your daughters in the arms of their nurses. Then you shall be radiant at what you see, your heart shall throb and overflow, for the riches of the sea shall be emptied out before you, the wealth of nations shall be brought to you. Caravans of camels shall fill you, dromedaries from Madian and Epha; all from Saba shall come bearing gold and frankincense, and proclaiming the praises of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Isa 60:6, 1.
All they from Saba shall come, bringing gold and frankincense, and proclaiming the praises of the Lord.

Rise up in splendor, O Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord shines upon you. Alleluia, alleluia.

Matt 2:2
We have seen His star in the East: and have come with gifts to worship the Lord. Alleluia.

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to John
John 1:29-34
At that time, John saw Jesus coming to him, and he said, Behold, the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of Whom I said, ‘After me there comes One Who has been set above me, because He was before me.’ And I did not know Him. But that He may be known to Israel, for this reason have I come baptizing with water. And John bore witness, saying, I beheld the Spirit descending as a dove from heaven, and it abode upon Him. And I did not know Him. But He Who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He upon Whom you will see the Spirit descending, and abiding upon Him, He it is Who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.

Praise be to Thee, O Christ.

Homily by St Augustine, Bishop of Hippo.
6th Tract on John.
John knew Jesus even before He came to be baptized of him in Jordan, as we perceive by the words I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest Thou to me? Behold, how he knew that He was the Lord, how he knew that He was the Son of God! How do we prove that he knew that He it was Who should baptize with the Holy Ghost? Before the Lord came to the river, when many betook themselves to John to be baptized of him, the Baptist said I indeed baptize you with water but One Mightier than I cometh; the latchet of Whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. (Luke iii. 16.) Behold, John knew this also.

Yet John saith I knew Him Now, how are we to explain this without calling John a liar? and God forbid that we should ever even think anything of the kind. Was it not that when the Dove descended on Christ, John then for the first time knew Him to have that peculiar attribute, that, whosoever should baptize with His Baptism, whether they were themselves just or unjust, the virtue of the Sacrament should proceed, not from them, but from Him on Whom abode the Dove; so that He is the real Baptizer in every Christian Baptism until the end of time, and it is in this sense that it is said of Him the Same is He Which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost Whether it be Peter, or Paul, or Judas, that performeth the ceremony, the real Baptizer and effectual Worker is Christ. For if the holiness of the baptism depended on the holiness of the particular officiator, no two baptisms would be exactly alike, and every one would be supposed to be more or less regenerated according as the minister who baptized him was more or less of a saint.

Now, my brethren, understand me. The saints themselves, those good men who appertain to the Dove, those good men whose portion is in Jerusalem, those good men in the Church, of whom the Apostle saith, the Lord knoweth them that are His, 2 Tim. ii. 19, these good men differ one from another by diversities of graces, and are not all of the same worthiness. Some are holier than others, and some are better than others. Supposing then for the sake of argument that A is baptized by B, a righteous saint, and C is baptized by D who is less worthy in the sight of God, who hath attained only a lower degree in godliness, who is not so chaste, and whose life is not so good as B's yet A and C receive just the same thing. And how is this, unless it be that it is Christ Himself Who is the effectual Baptizer?

From St. Josemaria Escriva

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him ... and lo, a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:13,17).

In Baptism, our Father God has taken possession of our lives. He has made us sharers in Christ ‘s life and sent us the Holy Spirit.

The strength and the power of God light up the face of the earth.

We will set the world ablaze, with the flames of the fire that you came to enkindle on earth! And the light of your truth, our Jesus, will enlighten men ‘s minds in an endless day.

I can hear you crying out, my King, in your strong and ardent voice: ignem veni mittere in terram, et quid volo nisi ut accendatur? I have come to bring fire to the earth, and would that it were already enkindled! And I answer, with my entire being, with all my senses and faculties: ecce ego: quia vocasti me! Here I am, because you have called me!

God has placed an indelible mark on your soul through Baptism: you are a child of God. Child, are you not aflame with the desire to bring all men to love Him?

Pray 5 decades of the Rosary meditating on the Luminous Mysteries