71 — BAPTISM

Presence of God. — O God, who without any merit of mine didst make me Thy child, grant me to live in a manner worthy of this divine sonship.

Meditation

1 — The Church, the jealous mother of her children’s salvation, ever zealous to snatch them from the slavery of Satan and to make of them living temples of the Most High, does not wait until children are capable of understanding the value of Baptism before conferring it upon them, but hastens to administer it in the very first days of their existence. Baptism is thus the one sacrament received without the concurrence of one’s own will and without the participation of personal dispositions. Nevertheless, the Church, concerned lest the gift of God be lost on account of the unconsciousness of the one who receives it, requires that the godparents take responsibility for the child in his name. When the child arrives at the use of reason, they will have the most sacred duty of making him know, appreciate, and live this great sacrament. And so, those awareness and those dispositions which you could not personally bring to the baptismal font, you are bound to cultivate throughout your whole life — in order to live worthily of the character received, so as not to obstruct the development of baptismal grace, but rather to allow it to flower in its fullness. You must consciously live your Baptism; that is, you must live according to those questions, renunciations, and promises which your godparents made in your name. For you they asked for faith; for you they renounced Satan, all his works, and all his seductions; for you they declared their desire to receive Baptism, so that you might enter the great and holy family of God. God, by means of the Church, freed you from the bonds of sin, received you into His arms, and placed upon you the indelible mark of His child. The passing years, the vicissitudes of life, poor correspondence to grace, and even the gravest sins — should you have had the misfortune of committing them — will never have the power to destroy in you the character of a child of God. Consider what honor, what greatness, what happiness it is to be for eternity a child of God! “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called, and should be the sons of God” (I Jn. 3, 1) — and this, not only without any merit of ours, but anticipating any request or desire on our part, solely by His infinite goodness.

2 — Baptism is the beginning and cause of your entire Christian life, of all the other graces you have received and will receive until death. Indeed, more than this: transcending the limits of this earthly life, Baptism is the cause and beginning of your eternal glory. This was prefigured by the white garment and the lighted candle which the Church bestowed upon you at the sacred font: “Receive this white garment, which thou shalt carry spotless before the tribunal of Our Lord Jesus Christ, so that thou mayest have eternal life. Take this burning lamp and keep thy Baptism blameless... so that, when the Lord shall come to the nuptials, thou mayest meet Him together with all the saints of heaven and live for all eternity” (Rit. Rom.). These words — so profound and significant — ought to be engraved in your mind and heart, to recall to you continually the duty of guarding baptismal grace. As the years have passed, other duties and obligations have accumulated upon your shoulders, claiming your time and attention — sacred obligations, because connected with your state of life and therefore willed by God; yet you must not forget that the primordial duty is always that imposed by holy Baptism: to keep the garment of grace intact. Even if other pressing obligations constrain you — obligations of family, of apostolate, of ministry, or of religious life — remember that before and above all these you have the great commitment of living your Baptism.

Had there been no Baptism at the outset of your Christian life, today you could not nourish yourself on the Body of the Lord, you could not be an apostle, you could not be consecrated to God in religious profession, you could not be His minister: everything derives from that first link of sanctifying grace. And if today you did not concern yourself with living your Baptism according to the perfection demanded by your present state of life, your piety would be vain, your Holy Communions would be vain, your apostolic activity would be vain, vain even your consecration to God, and vain your very ministry.

Remember the words which the Church, on the distant day of your Baptism, pronounced over you: “Depart from him, unclean spirit, and give place to the Holy Spirit the Comforter... And in your conduct be such as to be always a temple of God” (Rit. Rom.).

Colloquy

O Lord, preserve me, I beseech Thee, without stain in the worship of my faith, and grant that until my last breath I may sense the testimony of my conscience. Grant that I, baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, may forever possess what I professed in the symbol of my regeneration: Thee, our Father; grant me to adore Thy Son with Thee and as Thee; to receive as mine Thy Holy Spirit who proceeds from Thee through Thy only Son. Truly I have a trustworthy witness to guarantee what I believe, namely He who said: ‘Father, all that is mine is Thine, and all that is Thine is mine’ — Jesus Christ, my Lord, who dwells in Thee, and with Thee, ever God, comes from Thee and is near Thee and is blessed world without end (St. Hilary).

“I renounce Satan! Behold, O God, the promise of my Baptism: a solemn promise made in the presence of the Church, a promise so categorical that none can dispense me from it, a promise written by the hand of the angels, and by which I shall be judged in the hour of death.

“This promise, my God, I will today renew with the greatest fervor and commitment. And so, with all my heart and all my strength, I renounce thee, O Satan; I renounce thee, O abominable sin; I renounce thee, O detestable world!

“I give myself to Thee, O my Lord Jesus Christ, wholly and forever. I desire to adhere to Thy holy doctrine with faith, to Thy holy promises with hope, to Thy divine commandments and counsels with love and charity. I desire to follow Thee in the exercise of all Thy virtues: I desire to follow Thee as my Head, I desire to follow Thee as a living member of Thy life” (St. John Eudes).