The Baptism of the Lord – A
January 11, 2026 – 8:30am
Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton
“In the name…”
At a baptism, the priest or deacon says: “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
This past week, I got thinking about the words: “In the name.” What do they mean?
What does it mean to baptize someone “in the name” – “of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit”? Here is what I am thinking.
“In the name” means:
I place you under the authority of…
I place you in the image of...
I place you on the mission of…
Those statements express the meaning of the words “in the name.” They tell us a lot about baptism.
“In the name of the Father…”
So, “I baptize you in the name of the Father…”
In other words, I place you under the authority of the Father. We are to live with the understanding that we have come from a heavenly parent.
We have our origin from beyond this earth. And we are to live with the understanding that our goal is to return to God, our heavenly parent, at the end of our journey on earth.
Being placed under the authority of God also means that God has something to say about how we live our life on this earth. It’s not just up to us to decide this.
The Father chose to provide us with some direction for living for what is good and beautiful and true. Because of that, he sent his Son and so we also say…
“In the name of the Son…”
“I baptize you in the name of the Son…”
In other words, I place you in the image of God. Saint Paul tells us in one of his letters that “Jesus is the image of the invisible God.”
Jesus shows us who God is and what God is like. In baptism, we are charged to grow in that image.
And the way to start that is to understand that the words spoken about Jesus at his baptism are also spoken to us. “You are my beloved son” – “You are my beloved daughter.”
We are to live assured that we are loved by God and then make the two great commandments of love that the Son has given us the guiding norms for our life. To help us with that, God or Jesus remains with us and so we also say…
“In the name of the Holy Spirit…”
“I baptize you in the name of the Holy Spirit.”
In other words, I place you on the mission of God. The Son’s mission, Jesus’ mission is now ours.
That’s why he gives us his Spirit, the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will move us to bring the kingdom or the way of God at least to our little corner of the world.
The Spirit will move us to do in our relationships what Paul so beautifully says in one of his letters. “Put on, God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another.”
And the Spirit will guide us in our mission to care for the last and the least and the lost in our society. We will feel peace and fulfillment when we live out this mission and restlessness or guilt when we don’t do that.
“In the name…”
So, with all of this in mind, I recommend one takeaway or one piece of homework for us.
Let’s try to recall what it means to be baptized “in the name of” whenever we make the Sign of the Cross.
I place you under the authority of…the Father
I place you in the image of...the Son
I place you on the mission of…the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
May this understanding help us to appreciate and live our baptism more fully.
