RBWords

     In most of the parish missions that I preach, I begin with a service that is designed to put people "back in touch" with their baptism!  For most people the event of baptism is something that happened when they were infants.  They think about it only when they need a copy of their baptismal record in order to make First Communion, Confirmation or get married!  They don't even think of their baptism when they touch the holy water font and make the sign of the cross!  Maybe they think of it when attending a baptismal ceremony but it goes only as far as the ceremony!  The whole thrust of the parish mission is to get folks thinking about the implications of their baptism!  St. Paul speaks of those implications on two "levels."  

     The first level is that of being identified with Christ through his death and resurrection. The sacrament of Baptism is meant to emphasize this.   The second and equally important level is the ethical one.  Dying and rising with Christ means that we have to "die" to certain ways of behaving that may be supported by our surrounding culture but not by the teachings of Christ.  In other words, baptism is not simply a ceremony to be undergone and forgotten.  Baptism is a present reality that continually challenges us to conversion that is not only interior but is expressed in the way we live.  How many of us would be more likely to say that we are "American," "Kenyan," "Brazilian," etc. instead of saying, "Baptized Christian?"  St. Paul speaks to that when he writes (at the end of this first reading): "Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all and in all.  

     I once saw a poster that said:  "If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"  One would hope there would be more evidence than a baptismal certificate!   AMEN