Why baptism?

In our modern world, it seems easy to see baptism as some archaic ritual full of symbolism, but devoid of any real meaning or tangible value.  When we look at the reality of the sacrament and the effect of the sacrament on our eternal lives, we start to see the importance and privilege of baptism.

We read in Scripture that the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike.  This is somewhat analogous of the grace of God.  We're all made in the image and likeness of God.  As such, we're all going to be offered the grace of God and have the opportunity to experience the joy of that grace.  However, sin becomes an impediment that blocks our ability to fully receive and respond to the grace God offers everyone.  While an unbaptized person may receive some of God grace and experience a certain level of joy from grace, a baptized person will have the impediments of original sin removed through the sacrament.  This will allow the baptized person to receive more grace and respond to grace more joyfully.

The phrase, “God became man that man might become God,” was credited to Saint Athanasius.  This is referring to our capacity to fully participate in the divine nature of God through the sacraments Christ instituted in the Church, and later in the presence of the beatific vision in heaven.  This mystical union with Christ is the climax of the human experience and the epitome of what true joyfulness can be.

It is baptism that begins the process of divinization in our soul.  It is baptism that indelibly marks us as adopted children of God the Father through Jesus Christ.  It is baptism that anoints us to be priests, prophets, and kings in the new creation.  It is baptism that dedicates our souls to be temples of the Holy Spirit.  As Saint Peter said, "Baptism now saves you."

The Canaanite woman from the Gospel of Matthew understood this well when Jesus said, "It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs."  Her response was "…even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters."  Living an unbaptized life is like living the life of the Canaanite woman.  How inexplicable her joy must have been when her impediments were removed and she heard Jesus say, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish."  

This is the power of our Blessed Lord through baptism!

Holy Senses

We are called to live with blind faith, yet that is something we are not very good at.  We want to be able to see it, feel it, and experience it before we really believe it.  It is fitting, therefore, that God would choose to perform the work of sanctification through the signs of sacramental matter and intent.  Those are the aspects of our faith that jump out to me:  awareness of the prefigurements from the Old Covenant and the use of sacred art, furnishings, sounds, and scents.

One example that I have more recently come to appreciate are the altars that are set up with the tabernacle directly behind it.  Above the tabernacle is the crucifix and on each side are three or four candles.  To me, this imagery helps bring to life the fulfillment of the temple, the menorah, the holy of holies, and other components of the Old Covenant. 

That is what proper art, furnishings, sounds, and scents can do.  It can help enliven the faith in our spirituality.  Conversely, I was recently in a church that kind of felt like it was an old Dollar General, complete with the 1960's drop tile ceiling and florescent bulbs.  It was a very difficult Mass for me to engage in.

I love the Byzantine approach to this topic.  Every icon in a Byzantine church has a specific purpose of helping us to engage in the Divine.  The Divine Liturgy of the Byzantine rite is full of chanting, incense, and other sacramentals that help to engage all our senses in the act of worship.

While I enjoy attending an occasional Byzantine Liturgy as a liturgical treat, I don't need that elaborate of an environment.  However, I think there are some things that we can be mindful of in the Latin Rite.  Is the Eucharist front and center (or at least in a prominent spot)?  Is the rest of the art and furnishings tasteful and engaging on the spiritual level?  Are there opportunities to more properly engage the other sense?  Can we expand the use of incense?  Are we ringing the altar bells appropriately during consecration?  Do we chant the Kyrie Eleison, the Gospel Acclimation, the Agnus Dei, and the Dismissal?  Are we allowing for appropriate reflectiveness and moments of silence through the liturgy?

I believe the more we can enable our parishioners to engage in the Liturgy through all of their senses, the more they will get out of it and the closer they will ultimately grow to the Lord.