Dear brothers and sisters,

When the Lord enters history, he comes with an open and humble heart to meet each person. He seeks our gaze with his own, full of love, and enters into dialogue with us, revealing the Word of salvation. By becoming man, the Son of God opens a surprising possibility for everyone, inaugurating a new and unexpected time – one that even the prophets had not fully foreseen.

John the Baptist immediately perceives this and asks Jesus: “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” (Mt 3:14). Like light in the darkness, the Lord is found where we do not expect him. He is the Holy One among sinners, choosing to dwell in our midst without keeping his distance. Indeed, he fully takes upon himself all that is human. “Let it be so now,” Jesus replies to John, “for it is proper for us in this way to fulfil all righteousness” (v. 15). What righteousness is this? It is God’s righteousness, which in the Baptism of Jesus brings about our justification. In his infinite mercy, the Father makes us righteous through his Christ, the one Savior of all. How does this happen? Jesus turns his baptism in the Jordan by John into a new sign of death and resurrection, of forgiveness and communion. This is the sacrament we celebrate today for these children: because God loves them, they become Christians – our brothers and sisters.

The children you now hold in your arms are transformed into new creatures. Just as they have received life from you, their parents, so now they receive the grace by which to live it: faith. When we know that something is essential, we immediately seek it for those we love. Indeed, who among us would leave newborn infants without clothing or nourishment, waiting until they are grown to choose how to dress and what to eat? Dear brothers and sisters, if food and clothing are necessary for life, faith is even more vital, because in God, life finds salvation.

God’s providential love is made present on earth through you, the mothers and fathers who ask for faith for your children. Certainly, the day will come when they will be too heavy to carry in your arms; and the day will also come when they will be the ones to support you. May Baptism, which unites us in the one family of the Church, sanctify your families at every moment, granting strength and steadfastness to the love that binds you together.

The gestures we are about to perform are beautiful signs of this: the water of the font is the washing in the Spirit that cleanses from all sin; the white garment is the new robe that God the Father gives us for the eternal feast of his Kingdom; the candle lit from the Paschal candle is the light of the risen Christ, which illumines our path. I wish for you to continue along this path with joy throughout the year that has just begun and for all of your lives, confident that the Lord will always accompany your steps.