by: Sr. Barbara Woeste
During the Season of Lent and Easter, it is always good to reflect on our baptism. Many of us were baptized as infants, some of us have been baptized as adults through the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults. (OCIA, formerly the RCIA)
Our baptism is the first sacrament we receive. In baptism we die to our old self and rise to new life in Christ, symbolized by the water. (Notice the Easter symbolism of dying and rising with Christ.) We are reborn into the life of Christ, we enter the Church, the mystical body of Christ and we live as members of God’s family.
In baptism we receive sanctifying grace, a sharing in the life of God. We are freed from original sin which we have inherited from our first parents. If we were baptized as adults, all our personal sins committed before baptism were forgiven.
The sacrament of baptism can only be received once as can the sacraments of confirmation and holy orders because they produce a “mark” or character on us. In theological terms, it is an ontological change in us.
In baptism we are called to live as Jesus did, as priest, prophet and king. We are called to announce God’s love to others and to proclaim the reign of God as Jesus’ life grows in us. This is symbolized by the anointing with the oil of Chrism at baptism.
At the Easter Vigil, we renew our baptismal commitment as we hold our lit candle and announce to all present our renewed commitment to our faith with the words of the Creed.
Yes! Easter is a time of celebration. Jesus is risen from the dead and we have been reborn into His life and death through all eternity.