Pastor’s Letter: September 14, 2025

Pastor’s Letter: September 14, 2025

12 Sep 2025 | Posted by: chadmin

Dear St. Philomena Parish Family,

Blessings and peace be upon everyone this weekend!  Thanks so much for your kind words of condolence for my family after the death of my Uncle—it was a grace-filled funeral and a wonderful opportunity to pray together as a family! Last week, I mentioned I was reflecting on the promise we receive in Baptism…and how our unity with Christ gives us a wonderful hope for the promises of Heaven! One of my favorite Bible passages related to this promise is one often chosen for funeral Masses:

“…are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were 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. For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection. We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin. For a dead person has been absolved from sin. If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him” (Romans 6:3-8).

During Baptism preparation classes, I often speak about this passage and say it might seem unusual to think about when we are talking Baptism—especially the Baptism of a young person…but what I also emphasize is St. Paul’s description of the promise. St. Paul is saying that when we are baptized into Christ, it is the whole life of Christ. So, of course, we are talking about all the joys and blessings and gifts! Of course, we are also talking about the suffering and death…and yes, the Resurrection! We believe that united to Christ, we will share in His life—in the fullness of the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the promise first received in our Baptism. When we come to the end of our life on earth and we share in the death of Christ, what remains for us is to share in the Resurrection and the joys of Heaven. This is why the prayers at a funeral Mass will focus on our hope for Heaven!

While we might say that the hope of eternal life is enough for us, joyfully there are also other effects of the Sacrament of Baptism. As we mentioned last week, Baptism is the Sacrament that brings us the grace of the removal of sin and new birth in the Holy Spirit. For those beyond the age of reason who have committed personal sins, Baptism forgives all those sins. For everyone, we say that Baptism forgives Original Sin—the inherited fallen condition we all receive from our first parents, Adam and Eve. This fallen condition wounds us and inclines us to sin…but the joy of knowing Christ is to know He strengthens us to overcome that wound!  Among the graces of Baptism, we are strengthened to believe in God, hope in Him, and love Him.

Another grace of Baptism is a strengthening to grow in goodness and share in the life of Christ.  One of my favorite gifts from Baptism is the imprinting on the soul of what we call the indelible mark. That word indelible means a permanent mark that cannot be removed. So in Baptism, we are saying that the soul is permanently marked as belonging to Christ. You could understand this as a kind of tattoo on the soul that claims us for Christ. That is one of the reasons we say in the Creed that we believe in “one” baptism for the forgiveness of sins. Since Baptism gifts us with this permanent mark on the soul, we don’t ever repeat Baptism—receiving it once is to receive everything the Lord wants to give us!

One last gift to reflect on for this week—Baptism is the foundation of unity among all Christian people. As many of us painfully know, over time we have experienced divisions in Christianity for many reasons. At the Last Supper, Jesus prayed for unity among His followers—“so that they may all be one, as you, Father, and in me and I in you, that they also may be in us…” (John 17:21). It is one of the challenges of faithful Christians to be praying and working for true unity…we can be thankful that Baptism is a common starting point for us!

Let us all be praying for true unity together—know of my blessing for you all this week!

In Christ,
Father Luke