Today we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. It is celebrated on the Sunday or next day after the Epiphany and marks the culmination of the entire cycle of the birth or the manifestation of the Lord. It is also the Sunday that opens the way for Ordinary Time.

The Mystery of the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan is the second Mystery of the Epiphany. Emmanuel manifested himself to the Magi after having shown himself to the shepherds, but this manifestation took place in the smallness of a stable in Bethlehem, and the men of this world did not know it. In the mystery of the Jordan, Christ is manifested with greater splendor. John, the forerunner, announced His coming. The multitudes who hastened to the Baptism in the Jordan River were witnesses of this. Therefore, the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River constitutes for the four evangelists the most important manifestation at the very beginning of Christ's public life. Moreover, this event in the life of Jesus, seen as an essential starting point, is of great fullness because it is also a revelation of the effects of our baptism: Jesus entered the water to sanctify it and make it sanctifying, and, without doubt, to bury in it the old Adam entirely, sanctifying the Jordan for our sake; and thus, the Lord, who was spirit and flesh, consecrates us through the Spirit and the water. Let us glorify Christ for this second manifestation of his divine character, and let us thank him along with his holy Church, for having given us, after the Star of faith which enlightens us, the powerful Water which washes away our guilt.

We have chosen in Neumz the entrance chant Dilexisti justitiam to celebrate this Baptism of the Lord. The text is taken from Psalm 44:8, Dilexisti justitiam, et odisti iniquitatem, you loved justice and hated wickedness is an invitation, in our gratitude, to admire the humility of the Savior, who came down from heaven under the hand of a mortal man to fulfill all justice, as he said: “for, having taken the form of sin, he needed to endure his humiliation to raise us from our lowliness.” Let us thank him for this grace of Baptism, which has opened for us the doors of the Church on earth and of the Church in heaven, and let us renew the commitments we made at the sacred font, which were the condition of this new birth.

Regarding the use of this text, it is worth noting a double interpretation, since this Introit places us before a very curious liturgical reality: The first part of Psalm 44 refers to the Prince or King at his wedding, and the patristic and liturgical use is unanimous in referring to Christ and his Baptism. However, from verse 11, Audi filia et vide, this psalm speaks of the "princess" and the liturgy uses it to refer to the Virgins and Mary. The curious thing we want to point out is that a large part of the pieces that use this psalm to refer to Mary or the virgins use the same verses that speak of the King. Taken in isolation, they can perfectly well be used indistinctly. This Introit belongs to the Common of Virgins and is sung on the feast of St. Scholastica, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Gertrude, St. Clare, St. Teresa of Avila, and St. Lucy, among others. However, behind this use, there is also a theological-liturgical sense. 

In the patristic exegesis, this verse (you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness, therefore the Lord your God has "anointed" you with oil of gladness among all your companions) was considered the text announcing the Baptism and anointing of Christ, by which he began to be called the "Anointed One, Χριστός.” Hence, it is used as an entrance hymn on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

As for the preposition prae and the noun that follows consortibus, which is neutral and means "sharer," they are interpreted by the Fathers as "for your equals," "for your sharers," or "in favor of,” with which the text remains like this: The Lord has anointed you in favor of your partakers (companions). And, in a Christological sense, for the Fathers, it contains the mystery of the participation in the divine nature that humanity receives in Christ. Thus, this verse would signify the anointing and the communication of that anointing from the Anointed One to all those who "are with him" (his consorts, his companions). Moreover, the Anointing of Christ, for the Fathers, is in the function of being transmitted to his brothers, to the members of his Body. Therefore, to whom do we sing "thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity" in this Introit: to Christ or some of his holy virgins? To dedicate it to one or the other, as distinct realities, would be a grave error of liturgical theology. It is sung to Christ and, in Christ, to his holy virgins. Because Christ was anointed and loved justice, and holiness, but in favor of his brothers who would also be anointed, among them, his holy virgins. That is why the memory of a saint is never at the expense of the celebration of the mystery of Christ. It is Christ who is sung in every Eucharist: Christ the head, Christ the Body, Christ in his mystery: his presence in those anointed by Baptism. This is the essence of every Eucharistic celebration: Christ in his Church, in his saints.

As for the melody, it is composed in mode VIII, the "perfect" mode, solemn, opulent, of a great fullness that suits this entrance chant. This piece is animated by a very strong desire to glorify Christ, by his baptism, the second manifestation of his divine character, but also, his brothers who also anointed them, and in particular, his holy virgins, as we said before.

The melody exults from the beginning in the start of the dilexisti, you loved. Agile beginning, in the accent of the word, the intense and firm melodic ascent to the Do the dominant of the mode, from the Sol, the fundamental, tracing a beautiful arc that emphasizes this initial word. In the accent of iustitiam, justice, the melodic movement again follows the same path, Sol-Do, but this time it is a step-by-step ascent, widened, solemnized by the quilismatic movement. The semitonal interval appears for the first time, Si-Do, the loving tenderness and closeness to God of those who love justice is depicted.  In addition, the word justice is crowned by a pes, Do-Re, melodic summit of the piece, which makes this word shine even more. In the following incise, the melody remains in the dominant, et odisti, and you hated, continues the impulse begun in the previous incise. The high Re resounds again as an ornament of the Do in the accent of odisti and a tristropha amplifies that rhythmic-melodic strength that unites these two verbs, dilexisti, and odisti, and contrasts them: the love of holiness and the rejection of wickedness. This first phrase closes with the melody's return to the Sol beautifully embellished with the La and the melodic movement subsides in the cadenza. 

In the second phrase, the framework is established, the framework in which the whole piece unfolds, until the end: the fullness of mode VIII, Sol-Re, with some magnificent leaps of a fourth: from the fundamental to the dominant, back and forth, rise and return to rest (it is often lowered to the Fa as an ornament that reaffirms the Sol). And this is confirmed incise after incise in this second phrase. Thus, in propterea, the melodic movement resumes the agility of the incipit of the piece, in a sort of amplified variation of the initial melodic motif. The word accent shines with a beautiful leap of a fourth, Sol-Do, full of the enthusiasm and joy of the first phrase: there is both a musical and theological resonance, for propterea refers to the "love," with which the piece began dilexisti: because you loved holiness, God has anointed you.

In the following incise, unxit te Deus, God has anointed you, the melody resounds and echoes the accent of iustitiam, utilizing again the quilismatic movement from Sol to Do. The semitonal interval of Si-Do also resounds for the second time, denoting that closeness and intimacy with God, as well as the elegant torculus La-Do-Sol of the accent of dilexisti. The anointing is received for the love of righteousness and holiness. The incise closes with the word Deus, sung with great reverence with the pes subbipunctis, Sol-La-Sol-Fa: because he has loved justice God has anointed him. But the anointing is not before the holiness and, at the same time, its cause?

In the following incise, Deus tuus, your God, there is an apposition to the name of God: your God. This intimacy with the Eternal Father, from whom everything proceeds, is expressed masterfully with another beautiful arc traced this time, Fa-La-Fa, with the ornamentation of the only B-flat of the piece, the semitonal interval conferring that closeness and loving tenderness with the Creator of which we have already spoken previously.

In the circumstantial complement oleo laetitiae, with oil of joy, again from the fundamental the melodic movement ascends three times to the dominant: the bivirga of the accent of laetitiae that confers to the word a special brilliance and continues to illuminate the word until its final syllable where the prayerful one chants with immense joy, and the solemnity of mode VIII shines in its fullness, like a kind of musical unction: Sol-Do-Do-La Do-Sol Sol-Fa.

To the fervor of the musical expression oleo laetitiae, responds now the serenity and the weight of the sense that this anointing has: it is in favor of his own, prae consortibus tuis, last melodic arc, Sol-Do-Sol, very characteristic of this piece, but the melody recovers its serenity, ascends again to the Do but expanding, solemnizing this ascent with the quilismatic movement, similar to unxit, certainly: the Lord has anointed you for your companions, as we pointed out above. The melody is filled with reverence, a peaceful fervor to end the piece: it moves around the Sol that sounds up to 7 times in this last incise, giving to the group a conclusion of firmness and full consummation of what was celebrated: Christ in his saints, Christ in his holy virgins.