Adore the LORD in Holy Attire
Gospel Reflection for January 11, 2026, the Baptism of the Lord - Matthew 3:13-17
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to the Jordan, unto John, to be baptized by him.
But John stayed him, saying: I ought to be baptized by thee, and comest thou to me?
And Jesus answering, said to him: Suffer it to be so now. For so it becometh us to fulfill all justice. Then he suffered him.
And Jesus being baptized, forthwith came out of the water: and lo, the heavens were opened to him: and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon him.
And behold a voice from heaven, saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Matthew 3:13-17 DRA)
The Psalm chosen for today’s readings has an intriguing, twofold connection with the Gospel and with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord which we celebrate today. The specific verse of the Psalm I would like to explore is the one which states, “adore the LORD in holy attire.” This has both a literal meaning and an allegorical, spiritual meaning. The literal highlights the need to dress not only with modesty and propriety, but “in holy attire.” What exactly does this mean? How can our attire be holy?
Contrary to feminism and gender ideology, men and women are not the same or merely interchangeable. While it is common among conservatives to point out the absurdity of men dressing up as women, wearing skirts or dresses, makeup, etc., few are willing to criticize women’s clothing choices in the same way. Many women today are effectively transvestites (just as many men are childish and effeminate), wearing the clothes, hair styles, etc. of men and dissolving practically all distinctions between the sexes. But, since God designed man as male and female from the beginning, everything we do, including our clothing, expresses what John Paul II called the ‘spousal meaning of the body,’ by which our masculinity or femininity shines through in the very composition of our body and in the way we relate to one another on a physical level.
Accordingly, dressing in holy attire varies by the sexes. Holiness means set apart for God, different from the profane, the mundane and the ordinary, just as the altar cloth, the chalices and patens, and the other liturgical implements are not used for any other purpose than the Divine Liturgy. So, to dress in holy attire means to wear clothes that especially signify our baptismal dedication to God through Jesus Christ and our membership in His Body the Church.
Priests dress in holy attire by wearing a cassock and Roman collar ordinarily, to show their total dedication of life to Christ, but also through the vestments they wear to administer the Sacraments. For laypeople, the saints have always recommended that we dress modestly, respectfully, appropriately to our sex and in formal wear – not ‘dressing to impress’ or in finery to show off our wealth. We should avoid clothes or jewelry that are merely casual or everyday, like jeans, shorts, sportswear, etc.; anything immodest, like revealing or overly accentuating clothes; and any confusion of the sexes. Our baptism calls us to this life of holiness.
Despite what many people, including many otherwise devout Catholics, claim today, it really does matter how we dress, most of all to Mass. It expresses our faith in and love for God, our respect for our neighbor and our humble solemnity in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. The saints have always understood this, yet it is something else that has been discarded as a thing of the past by our supposedly ‘updated’ modern Church. One of the clearest examples of this is women wearing veils (or any other kind of head covering). Even though it is commanded by St. Paul in Scripture, was upheld as an apostolic tradition by the Fathers and observed by all Christians, even most Protestants, until the rise of feminism in the 20th century, it was conspicuously left out of the new canon law promulgated by John Paul II (though, oddly enough, men are still prohibited from covering their heads in church), so that Catholics now think that it is suddenly no longer part of our tradition.
In truth, canon law only enforces Tradition, it cannot invent or dissolve it. Veiling remains a valid and necessary aspect of dressing in holy attire for women, as many young Catholic women are rediscovering today. It is an article of clothing unique to the Mass (or other sacraments) and thus set apart for the worship of God. Indeed, women are privileged to have this special gift, a marker of holiness men do not have, due to the particular sacredness and Marian configuration of femininity which they alone possess. For men, we should dress in a dignified, masculine way, not in pajamas, beachwear or sports uniforms, as many men of all ages do even to Mass.
Reading this verse allegorically, we can also apply it more broadly to the Baptism of the Lord and to our own baptisms. When we are baptized, we are given the holy attire described by St. John in his Apocalypse:
And one of the ancients answered, and said to me: These that are clothed in white robes, who are they? and whence came they? And I said to him: My Lord, thou knowest. And he said to me: These are they who are come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple: and he, that sitteth on the throne, shall dwell over them. (Apoc 7:13-15)
By His Baptism, Christ sanctified all the waters of the world, so that, when we descend into them, whether as infants or older, we are not only purified of original and personal sin but participate directly in His death and Resurrection, born again to new life, adopted as children of God and divinized into His perfect likeness. We thus receive the bright robes of white light that Christ wore at the Transfiguration, the visible, bodily sign of sanctifying grace and charity within us. Though concealed in this life, just as Christ’s divinity was before His Ascension, our baptismal grace remains within us, and even if we destroy it through mortal sin, it can be replenished through the Sacrament of Penance.
In this way, the holy attire spoken of by the Psalmist and signified by our material clothing most truly means the robes of pure white worn by the saints in Heaven and invisibly by all the baptized. Our baptisms give us the gift of adoring the Lord in holiness, beyond anything dreamt of by the patriarchs and prophets of Israel, so that we may fulfill Christ’s command to “love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind: and thy neighbour as thyself.” (Lk 10:27)
This is the profound and ineffable mystery we celebrate on today’s great feast, not merely a historical event but a perduring seal given to each of us at our baptisms, a wondrous gift we should celebrate every year and of which this feast happily reminds us.
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