Saturday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
As we end this week together, I want to end with the beginning. Our life in the Church is nourished and supported by the signs of the Catholic Faith, the Holy Sacraments. The first Sacrament opens the door to faith for each and every believer. When a person is baptized, they take on the faith of the Church, the New Israel. They are incorporated into the same faith tradition to which Abraham and the elders of our faith had. How beautiful this mystery is!
Baptism comes only once in someone’s life. A cradle Catholic will not remember their Baptismal day, usually. This doesn’t mean it is over, “one and done.” Too many brothers and sisters in the faith practice the “hatch, match, and dispatch” method to their faith, they get baptized, get married in the Church, and then do not attend. Now so many don’t even come for Baptism anymore. The challenge then, is really to us to live out our life in faith that carries out our Baptism. Everything we do comes from the graces we received in Baptism and carries into your life right now. Holy matrimony, for example, is the fulfillment of two people’s Baptismal journey as they come to live as one flesh in the sight of God. When someone joins a monastery, for example, it is the blossoming of their Baptism.
So, it can be said, in truth, that our lives begin and finish with Baptism. A Catholic funeral envisages the casket to be blessed at the Baptismal Font and covered with the white vale signifying the departed one’s Baptism. Life and death come full circle in this ritual. Never let this grace escape you, that we are all Baptized into Christ.
Lesson: Jesus tells His disciples that all who acknowledge Him before others will be acknowledged by him and those who reject Him will receive the same. With this admonition at heart, renew your consecration in your own Baptism. Remember the grace you have from it, and take the time to reaffirm your own Baptismal promises. I suggest using the book 33 Days to Morning Glory by Fr. Michael Gaitley, MIC, to guide you on this journey. Amen.
Reflection by Br. Matthew Marie, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections