Culturally, January is the month of transition. The past is put behind us, as historians chronicle major events of the past year, celebrities are memorialized and record books are closed. At the same time, we begin the first days of a new year by making resolutions and predictions, inaugurating new leadership, and opening new accounting procedures to measure investments and assess taxes. This is the world we live in as we start a new year. Yet, the Christian community in these first days turns its attention to a different point of reference as it considers what the start of a new year means. We begin a new year by celebrating the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan, for, as Peter recounts in the Acts of the Apostles, that is where the story of our salvation, won by Jesus on the cross and the raising of him to new life, begins. That is our story, which also began with our baptism. Let’s be clear. We are not baptized just because Jesus was baptized. No, our baptism is not the baptism Jesus received by John in the Jordan for the forgiveness of sins. Rather, as St. Paul observes in Romans 6, we are baptized not into the baptism of Jesus but baptized into his death: “We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.” In other words, our baptism is more than a cleansing of sin. It sets us on a different trajectory in life, as it now is defined by being united to Christ’s saving death on the cross. Perhaps the over-emphasis of baptism as a washing away of the sin we inherited by the fall of Adam and Eve has limited our understanding of this very profound and original meaning of this initiation sacrament. While it is true, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church (405) reminds us, that the sacrament of baptism erases original sin, it does so “by imparting the life of Christ’s grace … turn(ing) us back to God.” In other words, we are not just freed from sin, we are given a new life with a new destiny and direction because we are joined to Christ’s work of bringing about the salvation of the world. Baptism gives us a new identity, purpose and dignity. Taking up that identity and purpose and respecting our dignity is the invitation we are given as we start a new year and celebrate the feast of the Baptism of Jesus. The story of Jesus begins, as recounted by Peter, “with the anointing of the Holy Spirit (when) he went about doing good and healing to all those oppressed by the devil for God was with him.” That is our story too, and how we should think about beginning a new year as we reflect on our baptismal call to participate in Christ’s saving work in our world. Yes, the world begins a new year with calculations, resolutions and predictions about what may come. In many ways that leaves us passive observers and maybe even victims of things yet to be. Our baptism, however, calls us to be agents, or, as Pope Francis urges us in this jubilee year, to be pilgrims of hope as we begin 2025 — pilgrims of hope who join the crucified and risen Lord in bringing about the salvation of the world by doing good and healing the oppressed, confident that just as God was with Jesus, God is with us.