Saturday will be a very special day in the life of my family. God will give me the privilege of baptizing my own grandson, Tristan Alexander Pérez, born two months ago on Holy Thursday.
In the course of my Hispanic Ministry, there have been many baptisms, several of which have been for the children of the members of our home-based church. So, outside of the novelty of doing this baptism in English, (yes, it is the first time!) I thought, what could I possibly say at this baptism that hasn’t been said or heard before amongst our group?
As I prepared and read John’s Gospel (John 3:1-6) where Jesus explained to Nicodemus about a physical and spiritual birth, he clearly made the distinction that within us we have a personality that is both human and spiritual, “What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit.” True enough. The thought that came to mind is the similarity of the two births. A human child is born when the placenta breaks and the amniotic fluid that the child has lived in for the past nine months, spills from the mother signaling the beginning of the birth process. The newborn then gasps for air, for a breath, sometimes assisted by a light tap by the attending nurse or doctor. Fully born and with air the lungs, the child begins the human journey of growth, maturity and death.
So it is with baptism. Water is spilled onto the child, the beginning of the spiritual birth. He or she then oftentimes lets out a cry, a result from the shock of the water. The child’s cry allows air into the body, the Spirit, the breath of God, to enter.
A child enters into our world, the planet Earth via a physical birth but he or she enters God’s world, the Kingdom of God, via the spiritual birth. It is the responsibility of the parents, Godparents and Christian community in general, to nurture the child to develop and integrate those personalities to form the whole person. This united personality will be more likely to follow in the footsteps and example of Christ and to live life as a true son or daughter of the Creator and be a loving universal brother or sister to everyone. Best of all, because of the Spirit within, this united personality will supersede the physical boundary of this world upon death, and continue into everlasting life, the ultimate will of the Father for all his children.
In the course of my Hispanic Ministry, there have been many baptisms, several of which have been for the children of the members of our home-based church. So, outside of the novelty of doing this baptism in English, (yes, it is the first time!) I thought, what could I possibly say at this baptism that hasn’t been said or heard before amongst our group?
As I prepared and read John’s Gospel (John 3:1-6) where Jesus explained to Nicodemus about a physical and spiritual birth, he clearly made the distinction that within us we have a personality that is both human and spiritual, “What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit.” True enough. The thought that came to mind is the similarity of the two births. A human child is born when the placenta breaks and the amniotic fluid that the child has lived in for the past nine months, spills from the mother signaling the beginning of the birth process. The newborn then gasps for air, for a breath, sometimes assisted by a light tap by the attending nurse or doctor. Fully born and with air the lungs, the child begins the human journey of growth, maturity and death.
So it is with baptism. Water is spilled onto the child, the beginning of the spiritual birth. He or she then oftentimes lets out a cry, a result from the shock of the water. The child’s cry allows air into the body, the Spirit, the breath of God, to enter.
A child enters into our world, the planet Earth via a physical birth but he or she enters God’s world, the Kingdom of God, via the spiritual birth. It is the responsibility of the parents, Godparents and Christian community in general, to nurture the child to develop and integrate those personalities to form the whole person. This united personality will be more likely to follow in the footsteps and example of Christ and to live life as a true son or daughter of the Creator and be a loving universal brother or sister to everyone. Best of all, because of the Spirit within, this united personality will supersede the physical boundary of this world upon death, and continue into everlasting life, the ultimate will of the Father for all his children.