This Sunday, Check Your Baptismal Promises
Tom Hoopes
This Sunday is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (Year C). When the clocks change it is a great time to check the batteries in the smoke alarm, on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord it is a great day to check your baptismal promises.
Baptism is vitally important for us. It isn’t merely the ceremonial entrance into a club, and it isn’t a quaint ancient custom that reminds us of Jesus. It is a radical transformation of our very being. When Christ calls us his body, he means it. In baptism we are incorporated (“put into the body of”) Jesus.
In baptism we make six promises to God. Here is a longer form of them:
1. “Do you reject sin, so as to live in the freedom of God’s children?”
2. “Do you reject the glamour of evil, and refuse to be mastered by sin?”
3. “Do you reject Satan, father of sin and prince of darkness?”
4. “Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth?”
5. “Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died, and was buried, rose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father?”
6. “Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting?”
But we aren’t the only ones making promises at Baptism. God, does, too. According to the Church, baptism does the following things — consider them God’s promises to us.
1. Baptism “bestows the theological virtues”: faith, hope and charity.
2. “Baptism takes away original sin, all personal sins and all punishment due to sin.”
3. “It makes the baptized person a participant in the divine life of the Trinity through sanctifying grace, the grace of justification which incorporates one into Christ and into his Church.”
4. “It bestows the gifts of the Holy Spirit.”
5. “A baptized person belongs forever to Christ. He is marked with the indelible seal of Christ (character). “
6. “It gives one a share in the priesthood of Christ and provides the basis for communion with all Christians.”
Put them together and you can see what is going on.
1. In baptism you promise to keep your heart free … and God promises to fill it with the grace needed for virtue.
2. You promise you won’t be taken in by sin’s false promise … and he promises to take your sin away.
3. You promise to reject the father of lies … and he promises himself as your Father, your brother and your partner.
4. You promise to believe in divine life … and he promises you a share in it by seeing your life from God’s perspective.
5. You promise to hope in Christ … and he promises to fulfill that hope.
6. You promise to love, for the Holy Spirit is Love … and he promises to unite you in love with himself and others in his Church.
Our fundamental vocation as Christians is precisely this: To live our baptismal promises. So it’s worth pondering today just what those are — and making the commitment to live them more fully.
