Happy (Spiritual) Birthday to Me
29 years ago today I was claimed for Christ Our Lord and was born from above by water and the Holy Spirit. Praise the Lord! Thank God for baptism! As I look at this picture of me and my mom (my dad is taking the picture), I can’t help but notice what a great sign infant baptism is. Look at me…I’m just a little nothing relying completely on my mom for everything. I may not even be awake now that I look at the picture closely. I’m capable of doing just about nothing on my own. It is from this radical state of dependency that God reaches down and claims me as his own and ,without me doing anything to deserve it, pours the fullness of his grace into my little two-month-old soul. The root of the word grace means free…you don’t do anything to earn it. You’re lucky enough to be born into a holy family in the heart of the Holy Catholic Church at whose request God freely bestows his grace. What a mystery! What love!
Each time I receive Our Lord in Holy Communion I like to think of this as renewing the covenant that was begun at my baptism. I renew the promises of my baptism at every Mass as I come forward to receive the Eucharist. The gift of grace that God first gives us in our baptism is only the first installment. He continues to draw us closer and closer to himself. He wants to bring us deeper into his divine life and share in the love of the Trinity. Holy communion is the most intimate sharing in this love. It stirs up the grace of our baptism and strengthens us to carry on with the mission, firm in our commitment to Christ and secure in his love.
Although my parents were not aware of the fact on the day of my baptism, today is of course the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. As I look at the picture of my baptism I not only see God’s free gift, but I also see that at this helpless little state in my early life my mom is there to hold me. On this great feast of Our Lady I pray that she will hold me throughout my life and always bring me to Jesus just as my mom did for me 29 years ago and continues to do today.