Jan. 11: Feast of the Baptism of the Lord
Today is one of my favorite "feast days" commemorating an event in the life of Christ. :)
"He was baptized as man--but he remitted sins as God--not because he needed purifactory rites himself, but that he might sanctify the element of water."
-St. Gregory of Nazianzus, The Theological Orations
The Third Theological Oration: On the Son (c. 380 A.D.)
The Baptism of Christ
Bl. Fra Angelico
"The manner of our salvation owes its efficacy less to instruction by teaching than to what he who entered into fellowship with man actually did. In him, life became a reality, so that by means of the flesh which he assumed and thereby deified, salvation might come to all that was akin to it. Hence, it was necessary to devise some way by which, in baptismal procedure, there might be an affinity and likeness between disciple and master. We must therefore note what characterized the Author of our life, in order that (as the apostle says [Heb. 2:10]) those who follow may pattern themselves after the Pioneer of our salvation."
-St. Gregory of Nyssa, Address on Religious Instruction (c. 383 A.D.)