Dear St. Philomena Parish Family,<\/p>\n
Blessings to you all this day!\u00a0 As some of you know, I shared about my Uncle Bernie in my homily intro last weekend. Uncle Bernie was a hard working farmer, a great man of faith, and a great model of kindness and generosity to me and my siblings. (He ended up passing away early in the morning on Labor Day). As I have been preparing for his funeral Mass, I have been thinking about something I often share during funeral homilies:\u00a0 how we are looking forward now to the fulfillment of the promise first given in Baptism. The beginnings of the funeral prayers include sprinkling holy water on the casket and the placing of the white funeral pall (large white cloth that covers the casket)\u2026all done in front of the Easter Candle. These symbols remind us of the day of Baptism\u2014when we were brought into the life of the family of God, cleansed of sin (original and\/or actual sins if a person is old enough to have any), and given new life in Christ. For a follower of Christ, this is the beginning of being united with Jesus and looking forward to the promises of that unity\u2014life in Heaven!<\/p>\n
As our Catechism<\/em> teaches (CCC 1213-1284), Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life\u2014it is our gateway to life in the Spirit. By Baptism, we become sons and daughters of God and members of God\u2019s family the Church. Baptism unites us to Christ and brings us the gift of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, a gift that will later be deepened in the Sacrament of Confirmation. By Baptism and our membership in the Church, we also become sharers in the mission of the Church\u2014to share the Gospel and to live the love of Jesus in the world.<\/p>\n St. Gregory Nazianzus (AD 329-389) gives a great summary and description of the graces of Baptism: \u201cBaptism is God\u2019s most beautiful and magnificent gift\u2026We call it gift, grace, anointing, enlightenment, garment of immortality, bath of rebirth, seal, and most precious gift. It is called gift because it is conferred on those who bring nothing of their own; grace since it is given even to the guilty; Baptism because sin is buried in water; anointing for it is priestly and royal as are those who are anointed; enlightenment because it radiates light; clothing since it veils our shame; bath because it washes; and seal as it is our guard and the sign of God\u2019s Lordship.\u201d<\/p>\n Where does the name Baptism come from? It actually comes from the Greek word baptizein<\/em> which means to \u201cplunge\u201d or \u201cimmerse.\u201d We will come back to this later on, but for now we\u2019ll just say that we can understand plunge\/immerse as referring to the person (the person is immersed in baptismal water) or to the sin (sin is plunged away).<\/p>\n What are some of the Scriptures that we use to understand the power of Baptism? From the Old Testament up until the time of St. John the Baptist, there are many references to cleansing, new beginning, and new life. Just a few highlights among many possibilities:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Of course, our Bible passage that gives us directly the form (the words said in the Sacrament) comes from Jesus at the end of St. Matthew\u2019s Gospel:<\/p>\n We call this passage the \u201cGreat Commission,\u201d where we see Jesus giving the Apostles the instruction to go forth and bring people of all nations into God\u2019s family\u2026to make disciples\u2026to baptize\u2026and to teach. In the weeks ahead, we\u2019ll continue our reflection on the graces and blessings of Baptism and the other great Sacraments. Know of my prayers and blessing for you all this week!<\/p>\n In Christ,<\/p>\n Father Luke<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n
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