ON THE HORIZON OF THE MILLENNIUM

"I have a baptism with which to be baptized,
and what stress I am under until it is completed!"
Luke 12:50

Christian baptism is our initiation into the priesthood of believers. This primary sacrament of the Church is the plunging of the baptized into the life, death, and Resurrection of Christ. We are gifted with both the right and the obligation to offer the very sacrifice that Christ offered - our prayers, our works, our very lives. Baptism is not an event in life but a process of life. It is the process of being ordered and conformed to the will of our High Priest.

We are responsible for each other by virtue of our baptism. At baptism, the entire community enters into a relationship with the one being baptized, and all are responsible for that person's spiritual well-being. That is why we speak of baptism's indelible spiritual mark.

Life - Giving Water

Scientists believe that all life can be traced to the waters of the sea. They tell us, too, that water is the main element that makes up living tissue - as much as ninety-nine percent. No wonder our Lord chose water to represent the beginning of the new, Christian life.

But water reminds us of death as well: tragedies at sea, floods, drowning. This is another reason why our Lord chose water to represent the end of the old life and the beginning of the new, Christian life.

God has often used signs of water throughout the Bible. God's Spirit breathed on the waters at the beginning of creation. God parted the waters to lead the Israelites out of slavery and into the promised land. Naaman was cleansed of leprosy by washing in the waters of the Jordan. Water and blood flowed from the side of Christ on the cross.

And Jesus was, himself, baptized with water. It was after his baptism that Jesus began gis public ministry. We are called to be imitators of him. If a sacrament's great potential is to be turned into actuality, we must do our part.

Grace

One of the effects of baptism is grace. Grace has been defined as God sharing the divine life with us. When we receive grace, we experience real change; we move toward oneness with God. Such radical change is accompanied by forgiveness of actual sins.

The Christian call is rooted in a foundation that is the direct work of grace. One of its effects is an insertion into the mystery of hope. By virtue of our baptism, we are ordered into a life of eternal hope. Our call is to change the world, and the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love provide a key to our job description.

The theological virtues are difficult to pursue today. The stakes are high, the need is great, and the critics are quick. But when we use them, we are a people of faith; and when we act in faith, we do inspire hope; and wherever the two work together, there is love.

"And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three;
and the greatest of these is love."
1 Corinthians 13:13