Icon of Jesus' baptism in Monastery of St. Catherine's at foot of Mt. SinaiTonight we will watch as Rochele Mickey climbs into the font and is baptized. Here are some words for her and the rest of us:
Baptism's knowledge of Christ is not that of the dining room but of the bath house.
It is not a mannered knowledge, for manners, etiquette, and artifice fall away with one's clothes.
It is a knowledge of appalling candor, hearty and intimate,
less intellectual than physical—as when lovers are said to "know" one another.
It is more the inspired wisdom of Solomon's Song than of Paul's letter to the Romans.
God speaks not only in logic but in the aroma and feel of oil and warm water on the skin,
and these too possess their own sort of rigorous logic.
It is not a mannered knowledge, for manners, etiquette, and artifice fall away with one's clothes.
It is a knowledge of appalling candor, hearty and intimate,
less intellectual than physical—as when lovers are said to "know" one another.
It is more the inspired wisdom of Solomon's Song than of Paul's letter to the Romans.
God speaks not only in logic but in the aroma and feel of oil and warm water on the skin,
and these too possess their own sort of rigorous logic.
Aldan Kavanagh
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