(Given at the 8:30 am and 10:30 am Sunday Masses at OLP)
According to the early Church Fathers, Jesus entered the waters of baptism to sanctify them. He had no need of baptism, being without sin, but Jesus consecrated the waters of baptism for our salvation. It is the unanimous witness of the early Church that four things happen to us when we are baptized: 1. We are born again and made new. This connects with John 3:5 where Jesus says unless one is born of water and the Spirit, one cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven. 2. Our sins are forgiven. As Ananias says to Paul in Acts 22: rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name. 3. We are given the Holy Spirit and infused with faith, hope, and charity. In Acts 19, we see Paul’s mind immediately go to baptism after he discovers a group of people who haven’t received the Holy Spirit. 4. We are justified and made righteous before God. Titus 3:5 reveals that we were saved by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit. Baptism, by God’s grace, has made us sons and daughters of the kingdom. My brothers and sisters, we are called to live out this baptismal identity and live in this baptismal grace, every single day. If we fall short through deadly or mortal sin, we go to Confession, and Jesus graciously restores that baptismal grace within us. This gift of God to us is so great, that, as Peter says in Acts 2, it is meant for us and for our children. In Colossians, Paul even identifies baptism as the circumcision of Christ, thus for infants, children, and adults alike. Just as we were actually born only once, we are actually baptized only once. Ephesians states that there is one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism. So, no matter what we may be going through, no matter what we may be feeling, we can always rest in the knowledge that Jesus has sealed us as his own with what’s known as the indelible mark of baptism. This mark on our soul marks us forever as a child of God.