Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Baptism

          A difficult part for me in writing this blog is knowing that it is easier for me to live these lessons because I am no longer in the throes of a young family.  I realize that it is hard to be in a loving state of mind when there is chaos and constant needs to address all around you.  It's hard enough to love everyone when there's peace and quiet and time for much prayer!  But the temptation to get depressed, to feel overwhelmed and all alone is always lurking, no matter what stage of our life's vocation we are in.

          Once I learned about the power of our Baptismal graces, it has forever helped me to fight temptations, at least when I remember to call upon them.  When Blessed Virgin Mary said, Yes to being the Mother of God, she was plunged into a death of life as she knew it and began a new life with Christ.  In our Baptism, we are plunged into the water as a sign of dying to sin, and coming forth from the water into new and resurrected life with Christ.  At the Incarnation, Blessed Virgin Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and Jesus was conceived in her womb.  At Baptism, we are overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and become one with the Holy Trinity.  As members of the holy family of God, we are adopted children of the Father, sisters and brothers to the only begotten Son of God, and filled with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

          Whether we were just a baby when our parents decided for us to be baptized, or if baptism took place later in life, it can never be undone, or redone.  There is an indelible mark on our soul and we are branded to return to the Father in Heaven.  We renew our baptismal vows every Easter and profess our faith that we belong to God and we reject Satan and all of his empty promises.  Our supernatural life, the life of grace, which makes us holy, begins at Baptism.  All baptized Christians have the same mission:   die to sin with Christ in order to resurrect to eternal life with Christ.

          Here's a beautiful story of the power of our Baptism graces that is told by Sr. Briege McKenna in her book, The Power of the Sacraments.   

"I recall a beautiful testimony of a mother in Florida whose son had renounced the Church.  He had turned away, and for years she never heard from him.  One day a priest asked this mother, "Is your son baptized?"
She said, "Yes, certainly he's baptized."
"So do you know what I want you to do?"  He told her, "Get the formula of Baptism, the whole baptismal ceremony.  Go through it, and renew the baptismal promises in your son's name.  Renew the promises to renounce Satan and all his evil works.  Do that for your son every time you pray for him.  Claim the power of the Sacrament of his Baptism.  Ask Christ, who sees your son wherever he is in the world, to stir up within him the grace of his Baptism."
Three weeks later, in the middle of the night, this boy phoned his mother.  He sobbed, "Mum, I don't know how to describe what has happened to me."  Then he related that he had met someone in a store who had invited him to a prayer meeting.  In that atmosphere he had rediscovered his faith.  She realized that this had happened at the time that she claimed him into the family of God again."
Too often we abort God's life in us for the things of this world.  This makes it easy to abort children in the womb, or other human beings from our heart because we don't "need" them and their potential problems/demands.  But God never abandons us or leaves us orphaned.  He always upholds His promise He made to us at our Baptism, that He will be our God and Father.  It is up to us to keep our vow to Him, to be His children and heirs to the Kingdom.  Whenever we are tempted to separate from God and His commandments, let's call upon our Baptism graces!  But when we give in to sin, it is never too late while we are in this world to reconcile with God and let His life of grace flow anew within us.

          Today we celebrate the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and it happens to be my Baptism anniversary.  We always celebrated birthdays, of course, in our home, but didn't pay any attention to the day we were reborn into God's life of grace, our Baptismal day.  My husband and I do now, and our oldest son was baptized on the feast day of St. Francis deSales who is the patron saint of writers, and our son is a writer.  It is all very interesting when we are open to the life of grace that begins at Baptism, and it should be celebrated.  I pray that all families make this a tradition in their homes.  Check out the date you and your loved ones were baptized and celebrate it.

          Another very difficult thing for me in writing this blog is keeping it short because there is so much to say about each topic.  But I would be remiss if I did not say more about this feast day.  I renewed my consecration to Our Blessed Mother today.  She is full of grace and has been given to us to be our spiritual mother; to nourish us with Jesus.  She was taken up into Heaven and I believe she will be our mid-wife when our time comes to be born into eternal life, just as she helped Elizabeth birth St. John the Baptist into this life.  And just as St. John the Baptist proclaimed about Jesus, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30), no one is more humble and constant in pointing to Jesus and away from herself than Our Blessed Mother.  Everyone should want an intimate relationship with this loving mother full of grace who will help us live our Baptismal vows and be born into Heaven.  Amen.


"Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Brethren, what shall we do?' And Peter said to them, '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.  For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him.'  And he testified with many other words and exhorted them, saying, 'Save yourselves from this crooked generation.'  So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.  And they held steadfastly to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers."  (Acts 2:37-42)

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