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Today’s feast of the Baptism of the Lord marks the official end of the liturgical season of Christmas, at least in the modern Western calendar. There are many historical nuances as to how this feast came to be where it’s at on the calendar, but for today’s more general discussion, I’d like to look at the importance of the Sacrament of Baptism.
In looking at the “importance” of Baptism, we have to start by talking about the rather sad “lack” of importance that baptism seems to have in our modern culture. Today, an alarming number of once Christian families have a next generation of children who are not baptized. Grandparents are often all too familiar with having raised their kids Catholic and now suffer as they see their grandkids go without this most important sacrament. I think some of this may be related to a lack of understanding what baptism actually does. I take some time in today’s reflection to go over some basic instruction on what we call “original sin” and what that is… and isn’t… and the role of baptism in the life of a Christian.
Secondly, I look at the loss of the importance of baptism in the missionary spirit of the Church. We were commanded by Jesus in his last words before he ascended to heaven to “baptize all nations.” We look at the example missionary martyrs who gave their lives to spread the gospel and bring baptism to newly discovered populations who did not yet know Jesus. Christian missionaries have historically believed that it was worth even giving their lives to bring baptism around the world. So what happened? I look at the role of some teachings of the 1960’s that may have been misinterpreted and the prevalent belief today that “probably everyone goes to heaven.”
Whether you know it or not, the day of your baptism was the most important day of your life. Let’s take today’s feast as an opportunity to learn about this and then go and evangelize the way Jesus asked us to, by baptizing, starting especially in our own families.