Liam Bergin,
‘Baptised in Christ: Reborn for Mission’ in ‘Baptised and Sent’.
See www.synod.ie
St Brigid, Abbess, Secondary Patron of Ireland
1 February 2026 • Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Mass has been central to the Irish Catholic identity and experience. Every small village has a chapel; Mass rocks dot the country from Penal times. Devotion to and the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was central to our cultural and religious self-understanding. Vocations to priesthood abounded to ensure the celebration of this Sacred Mystery and of the other sacraments. Baptism has never formed the Irish Catholic imagination in the same way. Unlike many other European countries, no ancient baptismal sites have been found in our land. The contemporary emphasis on baptism as the foundation of Christian life and mission does not sit easily with Irish Catholicism.
The Second Vatican Council intended to put an end to the pyramidal vision of the Church and to assert that all members of the Church are equal by reason of their baptism, prior to any subsequent differentiation. The term ‘the people’ has often been used to denote ‘the laity’ or ‘the faithful’ besides the pope, bishops, priests and religious. Vatican II intended the term ‘People of God’ to refer to all the baptised, ‘from the bishops to the last of the faithful lay people’.
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Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
8 February 2026 • International Day of Prayer & Awareness against Human Trafficking
‘Baptism is the foundation of Christian life. This is because it introduces everyone to the greatest gift, which is to be children of God, that is, to share in Jesus’ relationship to the Father in the Spirit. There is nothing higher than this baptismal dignity, equally bestowed upon each person, through which we are invited to clothe ourselves with Christ and be grafted onto Him like branches of the one vine.’ These words from the Final Document of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (2023) reaffirm the centrality of baptism in the life and mission of the Church as proposed by Vatican II.
The Final Document also notes: ‘The identity of the People of God flows from Baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This identity is lived out as a call to holiness and a sending out in mission, inviting all peoples to accept the gift of salvation (cf. Mt 28:18-19). The missionary synodal Church springs from Baptism, in which Christ clothes us with Himself (cf. Gal 3:27) and enables us to be reborn of the Spirit (cf. Jn 3:5-6) as children of God’.
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Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
15 February 2026 • Day of Prayer for Temperance
All four gospels record that Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist in the River Jordan, making it one of the most historically certain events in the life of Jesus. John preached a baptism for the forgiveness of sins as he gathered a community to await the coming Messiah. In the fullness of time Jesus, the Sinless One, went down into the waters of the Jordan in solidarity with sinful men and women, ‘to fulfil all righteousness’ (Matt 3:15) and was baptised by John.
The Synoptic Gospels describe the descent of the Holy Spirit and the voice of the Father that declared ‘You are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.’ Emerging from the waters of the baptismal font, every Christian hears again that voice that was once heard on the banks of the Jordan. From this comes the reassurance that one has become a child of adoption (cf. Gal 4:4-7) and a brother or sister of Christ.
Baptism is not a rite of passage into a privileged club. It is the sacrament by which believers, bathed in living water, enter the Spirit-filled community that seeks to manifest the reign of God the Father as Jesus did.
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First Sunday of Lent
22 February 2026
In the New Testament, the Greek word baptizein means to dip or to plunge. The Acts of the Apostles indicates that a laying-on of hands after the water rite was associated with the conferral of the Holy Spirit (8:14-20; 19:6).
In the Old Testament the prophets announced that the Spirit of the Lord would rest on the hoped-for Messiah for his saving mission. Jesus asserts that this promise is now fulfilled in him. The descent of the Holy Spirit on Jesus at his baptism by John was the sign that he is the Messiah, the ‘one who is to come.’ He was conceived by the Holy Spirit; his whole life and mission are carried out in total communion with the Holy Spirit whom the Father gives without measure.
The Hebrew word ‘Messiah’ means ‘anointed one’. It is translated as ‘Christos’ in Greek. Christ means ‘anointed one’ and Christians are the ‘anointed ones’ who share in the messianic mission of Christ. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we who are reborn in the waters of baptism are anointed to proclaim the kingdom of God. The anointing ‘Christifies’ those who receive it as it bestows the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Also on www.synod.ie, see ‘Baptised and Sent in Lent’ – an accessible and easily led prayer resource for groups and families with the Sunday Gospels during Lent.
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