CCC 1224

Our Lord voluntarily submitted himself to the baptism of St. John, intended for sinners, in order to "fulfill all righteousness."¹⁹ Mt 3:15. Jesus' gesture is a manifestation of his self-emptying.²⁰ Cf. Phil 2:7. The Spirit who had hovered over the waters of the first creation descended then on the Christ as a prelude of the new creation, and the Father revealed Jesus as his "beloved Son."²¹ Mt 3:16-17.