BAPTISM OF THE LORD, B
TURN TO THE FONT
An atheist woman writer, researching on sexual
theme, interviewed many people about their views on sex and relationships. She
talked to Catholics and discovered something unique in their beliefs. She
abandoned the book project, and instead asked to be baptized a Catholic.
The daughter of a ruthless dictator, was filled with
shame and guilt at the number of people her father killed and she was longing
for the solace of faith. She went
to a Catholic church where she saw the transformed faces of people who just
received Communion. She knew she had to enter the church and asked for baptism.
A Protestant woman, a deaconess in her church and
later a woman-priest, desired in her heart to render real service to Christ. In
her prayer and discernment, she left her ministry and now is a nun in
seclusion, after asking to be baptized a Catholic.
What did these 3 women find as they progressed in
their search for meaning? They
found the way home… home to the Father, through the grace of baptism into the
family of the church.
Baptism is, for them, therefore not just a rite, a
tradition, a religious obligation or a social rendezvous of family and friends.
Understanding it deeply, baptism leads us to an encounter with truth, with
peace, with service for the unity of the church.
Through baptism, we belong to God forever, as his
children, as brothers and sister of Jesus, as vessels of the Holy Spirit. this is something we often forget or
take for granted for many of us do not progress well beyond the rudiments of
baptism.
As we grow and mature, let us seek together the real
meaning of our life in God, let us seek together the real meaning of baptism.
Like these three seekers, let us return to the font that transformed the
destiny of our lives; let us discover anew the joy of being a child of God; let
us allow our hearts to bask in the love of God who calls us to himself.
