A Letter From The Pastor

Dear Friends,

December 16^th, 1962!  What’s so important about that date?  It is the date of my baptism!  It is the date I became a Catholic Christian! It is the date that I became a member of the Body of Christ, a member of his Church.  It is one of the most important days of my life, and it should be committed to memory.  I was only a month old, so I don’t remember anything of this sacred event, but, nonetheless, I believe it is important to remember the day, so that it can be celebrated.  What is the date of your baptism?  Do you have it committed to memory?  I really encourage you to do so, because, like me, it is one of the most important dates of your life.  This Sunday, we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord in the Jordan River.  Why did Jesus go to John to be baptized?  What’s the difference between Jesus’ baptism and our own?  Moreover, what are the graces of the Sacrament of Baptism?

In the Book of Acts, a group within earshot of Peter hears the good news that Jesus is the Christ, the long-awaited Messiah, and asks the apostles, “What must we do?” and Peter responds, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (2:37-28).  If baptism has to do with the forgiveness of sins, why would Jesus need to be baptized, as he is without sin?  He does this to “open the door,” so to speak for the rest of us.  The Catechism speaks of the baptism as “the first of the seven sacraments, and the ‘door’ which gives access to the other sacraments” (CCC Glossary “Baptism”).  Jesus, who is sinless, fully enters our condition as a human being among the people he has created, but who have fallen to sin, to show the way to eternal salvation: “He allows himself to be numbered among sinners” (CCC 536).  We have a God who loves us so much that he assumes our condition in order to redeem us, to buy us back from the consequences of sin and brokenness.

We hear in the Gospel of Luke that John came to preach and offer “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (3:3).  His baptism prefigures that of Christian baptism but lacks the efficacy of the latter.  John’s baptism denoted a sign of repentance, a turning away from sin; whereas Christian baptism, established by Christ to give grace, is a sacrament, the doorway that opens to the other sacraments.  John’s purpose was to “prepare the way of the Lord,” and his baptism was to also prepare those who would believe in Jesus for Christian baptism.

The graces available to those who are believers in Jesus conferred at baptism are many.  I once heard a learned theologian, Dr. Owen Cummins, say that grace is, “God transmitting Godself to us.”  God, in his mercy sends his very life to us through the outpouring of his grace so that we may live the Christian life abundantly.  Through the Sacrament of Baptism, God abundantly shares his grace through the remission of our personal and original sin, grafts us onto the body of Christ, and showers down upon us the life of the Holy Spirit.

Friends, can we now see why our baptism is so important?  Indeed, all of us are made in the image and likeness of God, but, through baptism, we are made adopted sons and daughters of the Most High God.  This is the greatest dignity any creature in the universe may bear.  Now, go find the date of your baptism, memorize it, and celebrate it with joy!