A Teaching on Baptism
This past week I was talking with two men who have served for a good number of years now with the youth of our parish in the Lifeteen program. In the course of our discussion one of the men said to me that, in his opinion, the only time a typical Catholic ever really has a chance, or more likely, makes the time, to learn about the faith, is at Mass on Sundays. “Because of this,” he said, “when I come to Mass I don’t want or need to hear homily after homily week after week merely telling me to be good; I want to learn something about my faith.” I couldn’t agree more.
Despite the fact that increasing numbers of people are making use of things like Catholic radio (990 AM on your local dial), podcasts (we have over 200 or so on our web page alone that you can listen to for free), talks like our “Catholicism for Cradle Catholics” series (which will start back up again in the fall), a large percentage of Catholics are really exposed to the faith for an hour a week (at most!) at Mass. And you can’t learn anything, not well, anyway, for an hour once a week. At least I know this was true for me when I was in my teens and twenties, I rarely knew what the Church taught, or what the Bible said, about a whole host of topics, and perhaps even more importantly, I didn’t know the reasons why things were taught.
Given all this it seems to me that today is an ideal day to address several things that are of great importance for us as Catholics, and perhaps especially for those of us who are parents of children who still live at home. It’s an ideal day because in just a few minutes we’re going to baptize little Jocelyn, who is right here with her parents, Brent and Tiffany. Baptisms are incredible opportunities to remind us all of the great gifts that God has given to us, and of the corresponding tasks entrusted to us, both as the ones being baptized and as the mother and father of the child.
Baptisms are not mere rituals, let alone empty ceremonies that we simply continue to do because the Church has done them for 20 centuries now. Nor are baptisms simply occasions whereby a person makes some sort of public statement that he or she wishes to live as a disciple of Jesus. While that may be true, especially in the case of an adult being baptized, baptisms are much more than that.
Baptism, according both to Scripture and to the constant teaching of the Church going back to the Apostles, is a sacramental sharing in both the death and resurrection of Jesus. When little Jocelyn has this water poured over her, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, she will, sacramentally speaking, go into the tomb with Jesus and also, somehow, sacramentally share in His rising from the dead. She’s going to die – die to the power and the influence of sin, and be filled with God’s own power – the very power of the resurrection, so that she can find the happiness and the fullness of life God made us for and that sin keeps us from. She’s going to become an adopted child of God the Father. She’s going to become a priest, a prophet and a king. In becoming a priest she’s going to be entrusted with the task of offering the sacrifice of her life back to God, that is, recognizing that all she has is a gift from Him and is given to her to glorify Him and to help build up in love the world in which she lives. In becoming a prophet she’s entrusted with the task of speaking to others on God’s behalf, that is, of sharing her faith with others, of telling others of the astounding things that Jesus has done for us all – in the words of the Gospel today, she’s entrusted with the task of acknowledging Jesus before others. And in becoming a king, or better, by sharing in Jesus’ kingship, she’s entrusted with the task of looking out and caring for those who are helpless and most in need, whether the unborn, the poor, the lonely, or the sick, for these are the things that true kingship is all about.
These gifts and tasks, though, aren’t merely true for Jocelyn; they’re true for each and every one of us who’ve been baptized. We all have within us, because of this sacrament, the power of Jesus’ resurrection, which enables us to turn away from sin and slavery and towards true freedom and life. We all have received the gift of adoption as God’s children; this comes with the responsibility of living like His children, which means striving every day to grow in resemblance to Jesus, the only Son of God. We all are called to offer to God our very lives in gratitude; to speak to others about our faith; to have a preferential option for those who are defenseless and most in need. These are the basics of our faith.
And there is a special task entrusted to parents. In just a moment I’m going to ask Brent and Tiffany the same question that was asked of those of you who are also mothers and fathers. That question goes like this: “In asking to have your child baptized you are accepting the responsibility of training her in the practice of the faith. Therefore it will be your duty to bring her up to keep God’s Commandments as Christ taught us by loving God and our neighbor.” And then I will ask you, “Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking?” The answer you give to that question is an act of integrity on your part. Only you can answer it, and you must answer it freely. But before you say “Yes!” realize what you’re saying. In saying “Yes!” to this question, you’re telling me and this parish family that you will be at Mass every week, whether on vacation or at home, for the Eucharist is the center of our live as Catholics, since it really is the Body and Blood of Jesus; you’re telling us that you will model your lives on the Gospel; you’re telling us that you will strive to make your home the domestic Church, that is a place where God truly reigns and where His presence is experienced; you’re telling us that you will teach Jocelyn that the commandments are not restrictions on freedom but rather the way that truly leads to freedom; you’re telling us that you will not only yourselves do all you can to come into a greater relationship with God, but that you will seek to hand on that same relationship to your daughter, helping her to understand and to know that she is loved infinitely more than she can ever imagine, and that the proof of this, the indisputable proof of this, is to be seen on the crucifix, that act of love by Jesus that once and for all proves how much each of us by name is loved by God and the reason we have to live a life full of hope, no matter how difficult and challenging it will be at times. And this, ultimately, is the reason why Jesus tells us in the Gospel, not only today but over and over again, never to be afraid.
So, let us then thank the Lord again today for the great gifts we have received in baptism, and let us strive to live our lives as Catholics with ever greater integrity, responding to these gifts as we should.
12th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Year A
June 22, 2008