Saturday, January 8 : Homily attributed to Saint Hippolytus of Rome

Christ, the creator of all things, descended like the rain, made himself known as a spring, poured himself out like a river (Hos 6,3; Jn 4,14; 7,38) and yet see him being baptized in the Jordan… That unquenchable Spring, which causes life to spring up for all mankind and has no end, was concealed beneath mere transient waters. He who is everywhere present, who is nowhere absent, he whom the angels cannot grasp and who is invisible to mortals, came by his own will to be baptized… “And behold the heavens opened and a voice said: ‘This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased’.” The Beloved one brings forth love and the immaterial light brings forth “inaccessible light” (1Tm 6,16). “This is my beloved Son”… As in Noah’s ark a dove revealed God’s love for the human race, so now it was in the form of a dove, as though with an olive branch in its beak, that the Spirit descended and rested on him to whom the Father would bear witness. He did so to make sure that the Father’s voice would be recognized…: “The Lord’s voice resounded over the waters. The God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders across many waters” (Ps 29[28],3). And what does he say? “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”… This is he who is called ‘son of Joseph’ and he is my only Son according to his divine being. “This is my beloved Son”: he is hungry but he feeds great crowds, he is weary but he comforts the weary. He has nowhere to lay his head but he bears all things in his hand; he suffers but he heals suffering. He is struck yet he grants liberty to the world; his side is wounded yet he restores Adam’s side.

maronite readings – rosary,team