Sunday Homily, 11 January 2026 - Fr Paul Rowse, OP

In a few moments’ time, you will see me put a drop of water into the chalice of wine.  The chalice and the wine come from us: the metalworker made a beautiful piece from raw materials for our ceremonial; the winemaker patiently turned his cultivated grapes into drink.  The chalice of wine is the best we can do by ourselves: it is the result of human industry and endeavour.  In it we find aspiration and ambition.  We can admire the chalice of wine as something noble which our race produced, but it won’t save us, that is, until a drop of water is added and the prayer of thanksgiving is said.

When I put a drop of water into the chalice, I shall say quietly: “By the mystery of this water and wine, may we come to share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity.”  The preparation of the chalice symbolises Christ’s incarnation and life among us: the chalice and wine symbolise human nature; the water, the divine nature.  Just as the water practically disappears into the wine to become one in the chalice, so too does Christ empty himself of his heavenly glory to take up life among us.  Just as the water tempers the wine it is added to, so too does the Son of God perfect all those who come to him with humble sincerity.

To our eyes, the chalice of wine has not changed; it appears to be just as it was before the water was added.  Such is Christ among us.  Could anyone tell that Jesus of Nazareth is Son of God just by looking at him?  A couple of people could and did, but they had special knowledge given them.  The Blessed Virgin and her husband St Joseph, and St John the Baptist and his family too, were in the know.  To all others, the Lord appears merely as one of us, no more than what is in the chalice appears to be anything more than what we can produce ourselves.  But the co-eternal Son of God joined us here.  Taking on human nature, he, God, lived as man among men and women.

The chalice on the altar speaks to Christ’s presence among us.  Even before the consecration, it conveys the story of the incarnation: in all humility and service, the Son of God hid his glory for our sake, so that we would approach him.  God in all his heavenly splendour would terrify mere mortals.  But in the humanity of Christ, we see God in a way we can accept and approach and befriend and love.  Just as the water and wine together in the chalice cannot be unmixed, Jesus’ two natures cannot now be separated: he is ever God-with-us.  Just as we shall “drink the cup” of Christ's suffering, we shall also partake of his triumphing: we are made one with him.

Over the Christmas season, we have been celebrating that God is with us in Christ.  But the Lord’s baptism says that it is not enough that Jesus is one of us, that he is God-with-us; he must also be known to us as one of us.  For if the Son of God is among us but otherwise unknown, then there is no new hope, only the same aspiration and natural ambition.  We labour under the misapprehension that nothing has changed: Christ appears to be no more than one of us, perhaps the best of us, but no more than us.  That is simply not true.

We need to know that God is among us.  If we know that God is among us in Christ, we can learn from him how to live a fully human life.  If we know that God is among us in Christ, we can follow him into a sinless existence and so into eternal life.  If we know that God is among us in Christ, he who needs no baptism, we can follow him from baptism back into his heaven.  And so, we follow him who is God-with-us: we take to heart what he teaches; we adore him as he heals minds and bodies; we can imitate what he permits.  And if we follow Christ and make the example of his life our own, then we can be saved.

The Baptism of the Lord is our enlightenment.  We come to know who the Child of Bethlehem and the Man of the Workshop truly is.  The mystery of the divine sonship of this man is now made known to those who will benefit from it.  He humbled himself to share in our humanity so that we may come to share in his divinity.

Fr Paul Rowse, OP Parish Priest