I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your great generosity during the Christmas Season. 2020 has been a difficult year for so many people and I am truly thankful for all of you who have addressed the needs of our parish family.
This Sunday, we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. By our baptism, we are all called to be holy. We are called to share our time, talent and treasure to make Christ known, loved and served in our world. Ultimately, we are made by God and for God to know, love and serve him in this life so as to be with God forever in the heavenly kingdom.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us the following about the Sacrament of Baptism:
1276 "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." (Mt 28:19-20).
1277 Baptism is birth into the new life in Christ. In accordance with the Lord's will, it is necessary for salvation, as is the Church herself, which we enter by Baptism.
1278 The essential rite of Baptism consists in immersing the candidate in water or pouring water on his head, while pronouncing the invocation of the Most Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
1279 The fruit of Baptism, or baptismal grace, is a rich reality that includes forgiveness of original sin and all personal sins, birth into the new life by which man becomes an adoptive son of the Father, a member of Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit. By this very fact the person baptized is incorporated into the Church, the Body of Christ, and made a sharer in the priesthood of Christ.
1280 Baptism imprints on the soul an indelible spiritual sign, the character, which consecrates the baptized person for Christian worship. Because of the character Baptism cannot be repeated.
1281 Those who die for the faith, those who are catechumens, and all those who, without knowing of the Church but acting under the inspiration of grace, seek God sincerely and strive to fulfill his will, can be saved even if they have not been baptized.
1282 Since the earliest times, Baptism has been administered to children, for it is a grace and a gift of God that does not presuppose any human merit; children are baptized in the faith of the Church. Entry into Christian life gives access to true freedom.
May we respond wholeheartedly to God’s call to holiness that comes to all of us who are baptized as Christian people.