Called And Gifted Through Baptism

I have a memory from long ago of being next to my mother in the water at the beach on the south shore of Boston. The mothers would stand together knee-deep discussing whatever it is that mothers discuss in the early years of motherhood. I had an inflatable swimming ring on and suddenly found myself under the water and turning over and over.  I was very young, probably around six, and I remember being afraid and thinking that my mother was right there but that I was in trouble.  All of a sudden she picked me up and hugged me. I don’t think she even knew what was going on.  I have never forgotten that sense of being deep in the water, struggling for air and then rising out of the water gasping for breath with overwhelming relief, joy and security in being able to breathe in the arms of my mother.

Since then, whenever there is a Baptism of an adult or a child I find myself recalling this memory of struggling for breath and the joy of being raised up to new life.  It is the baptismal experience.  The Easter season reminds us vividly in symbol, song and story that we are immersed in the life of God and God’s unconditional love.  God invites us into relationship and we respond in faith.  Baptism celebrates this immersion and it is from baptism that our call to follow Jesus in discipleship begins.  

Each time we enter or leave the church we recall our Baptism, dipping our hands into the holy water and making the sign of the cross.  In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit we bless ourselves in the name of God who is community.  God is relational.  The dynamic energy between Father, Son and Spirit reflects the mystery of God.

Richard of St. Victor, a 12th century Monk and great Trinitarian theologian expresses his understanding of God in terms of relationship. He writes that for God to be good, God can be one. For God to be loving he has to be two because love is always a relationship.  And then he goes even further in stating that for God to be joy or happiness God has to be three.  Relationship moves the two toward another in joy.  God cannot be loving if solitary. God is relationship itself.

It is no wonder that as Catholics we reverence communion and unity and becoming one with God.  Through Baptism we are called and gifted.   Each one of us is called to holiness.  God’s grace wraps us inside and out in an invitation to becoming one with God.  The Trinity is modeled in marriage and family, sacred friendship and community.  The very being of God pulses with love that cannot be contained.

The challenge of our Baptism is our response to this great love.   First we must recognize and celebrate that we are called and gifted like no other.  The grace of Baptism enables the baptized to believe, hope and love God.  This grace gives the power of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  We receive these gifts at Baptism and they are sealed in the sacrament of Confirmation.  Baptism also allows growth in goodness through the moral virtues.  The Catechism states that the “whole organism of the Christian’s supernatural life has its roots in Baptism” (CCC  1266).