Do you know the date of your Baptism? Mine was April 4, 1949—a long, long time ago. But as I look back through ancient b/w pictures, there is a happiness on the faces of my parents, God-parents and other family members present. They know something special has happened.
Yet it is also true that for many of us the sacrament of baptism that we received is just another historical action or theoretical expression of our faith. We do not live this out in our lives.
Barbara Taylor (An Altar in the World) provides a public confession for us all on this topic.
“I have an easier time loving humankind than … loving particular human beings. Particular human beings hug my bumper in rush hour …. Particular human beings drop my carefully selected portabella mushrooms into the bottom of my grocery bag and toss cans of beans on top of them. Particular human beings talk on their cell phones when I am having a quiet lunch … talk on their cell phones when I am waiting to pay them for my gas, and talk on their cell phones when I am trying to step past them on the sidewalk.”
For all of us who have forgotten the gift and challenge we have received at Baptism and find that our lives lack meaning, it is time to rediscover the clarity and meaning of who we became and our response on the day we were baptized.