Today the Church in the US celebrates the Feast of the
Baptism of the Lord, in 2012, the day after the Solemnity of the Epiphany. In
other places, like Rome, the Church observed the Baptism of the Lord yesterday
as the Epiphany was celebrated on the traditional 12th day of Christmas,
January 6. Today's feast reminds us that being a Christian is the joy of being
"children of God." During his noontime Angelus Address Pope Benedict said that "God
is the origin of the existence of every creature and the Father in a unique way
of every human being: He has a unique, personal relationship with him or her."
At Mass in Rome earlier in the morning the Pope had baptized 16 newborn infants,
children of Vatican employees in the Sistine Chapel.
The Church prays
Almighty ever-living God, who, when Christ had been baptized in the River Jordan and as the Holy Spirit descended upon him, solemnly declare him your beloved Son, grant that your children by adoption, reborn of water and the Holy Spirit, may always be well pleasing to you.
This magnificent prayer tells us that what Jesus was by nature, we become by grace through the sacraments.
Some segments of the Catholic world are very excited about the Pope's 12th Day of Christmas gift to 22 bishops and priests: being created a cardinal of the Holy Roman Church. The US gets two new cardinals with Archbishops O'Brien and Dolan receiving the papal nod. 
Today the Church in the US celebrates the Feast of the
Baptism of the Lord, in 2012, the day after the Solemnity of the Epiphany. In
other places, like Rome, the Church observed the Baptism of the Lord yesterday
as the Epiphany was celebrated on the traditional 12th day of Christmas,
January 6. Today's feast reminds us that being a Christian is the joy of being
"children of God." During his noontime Angelus Address Pope Benedict said that "God
is the origin of the existence of every creature and the Father in a unique way
of every human being: He has a unique, personal relationship with him or her."
At Mass in Rome earlier in the morning the Pope had baptized 16 newborn infants,
children of Vatican employees in the Sistine Chapel.
