Dear Friends,
During many Christmas visits over the last few weeks, I
heard heartwarming stories of newborns being welcomed into their families. Take
Elena Marie. Not only was she welcomed, but the family arranged her baptism when
the whole family was together because they all wanted to witness and celebrate Elena
Marie’s new place in the church and world.
One proud grandparent relayed to me the anticipation the
family had as they waited to hear her response to the touch of water being
poured over her. If Elena Marie showed no fear, the family would say “Ah! Isn’t
she strong and wonderful!” And if she cried out, they would say “What powerful
lungs she has already!”
In a sense, Elena Marie’s cries are a truer response to
baptism than smiles. At its core, baptism is a frightening event, not just for
babies, but for adults for who baptism was originally intended.
The descent into the water is a symbol of dying. The person
being baptized is dying to the past in order to become, to enter into something
new.
At his own baptism, different from Elena Maries’s, Jesus
went down into the murky waters of the Jordan and submitted to a cleansing by
John. Luke, and only Luke, tells us that Jesus was baptized in the midst of and
after others. He is one of the crowd, part of our humanity. He takes his place
with all who stand, wade, and plunge into the waters of ordinary life. Jesus is not
apart from us.
You and I suffer in varying degrees because the currents of
our minds pull us in one direction and our desires pull us in another.
Sometimes we feel deluged by the waters of our mortality, by the threatening
chaos of sin and death. But we are not alone. Jesus enters the cleansing
waters, greets us in the floods of our lives and emerges with us on the other
side.
At his baptism by John, Jesus leaves his former hidden way
of life and emerges a new creation. As does Elena Marie. As you and I did when
we were baptized. Jesus urges us to discover what is true about ourselves and
face our truth with all its beauty, paradox and difficulty.
Luke also adds that Jesus, after his baptism, prayed.
Through prayer, he opened his life to all the possibilities the Holy Spirit
offered. Jesus held himself ready, then gave himself freely and completely when
the time was right. If Elena Marie’s baptism as well as yours and mine are to
be fruitful, we must take the plunge, and pray to be ready for the next moment.
With Jesus before us, beside us, behind us and within us,
why should we be afraid to take the plunge?
~ Sister Joan Sobala
