That’s a good question. The word baptize means “to wash.” Peter, however, tells us that baptism isn’t the washing of dirt from the body, but rather a cleansing of the conscience (1 Peter 3:21).

The Baptism of the Lord closes the Christmas season. The next day begins the First Week of Ordinary Time, Lent following in five weeks on Feb. 17. The Christmas season is full of theophanies, i.e., ...

Search the Scriptures, and except for the Holy Family, no person is more favored by God than St. John the Baptist. All four Gospels acclaim this holy man and set him apart from others. From before his ...

Today we celebrate the baptism of Jesus. Mark describes the event with a few key details—Jesus is baptized by John in the Jordan River; the heavens part; the Spirit descends like a dove and a voice in ...

Our knowledge of the figure of John the Baptist is very limited. We have only those references to him in the Christian gospels, where he stands alongside of Jesus. We also have references to him in ...

Remember the day of your baptism? It's highly unlikely, but your parents and godparents and an assortment of relatives probably do. Perhaps they remember the event itself, or the party, or something ...

After Jesus spoke about John the Baptist, he issued warnings to specific communities. In Matthew 11:20, we read that Jesus ...

Along with yesterday’s feast of the Epiphany and the wedding at Cana, today’s feast, the Baptism of the Lord, is one of the three epiphanies of Jesus’ humanity, according to the early Church Fathers.

QASR AL-YAHUD BAPTISM SITE, West Bank — One by one, the pilgrims plunged under the cool, khaki-toned waters of the Jordan River, wading in from the Israeli-controlled western bank to rededicate their ...

Bethany Beyond the Jordan was a spiritual experience my lapsed Catholic self was not expecting. It reminded me that whatever your religious constructs, the teachings of Jesus are of kindness, ...

The Bible repeatedly and undeniably connects baptism to redemption and salvation. It also closely identifies baptism and justification. Recently, I realized this all the more, in answering a ...