Catholic Word of the Month

-
This month's word was chosen in light of the beginning of my son's sacramental life in the Church, which will take place in just over a week.

The Catholic Word of the Month is BAPTISM.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that Baptism is too elementary to discuss. More importantly, don't make the mistake of thinking that Baptism is mundane or unnecessary. One who thinks and believes these things ought to reconsider.

Baptism is the very beginning of our relationship with God. It is the sacrament of primary importance because it allows us access to the rest of the sacraments. Without Baptism, we have no access to sanctifying grace, which helps us fulfill our eternal destiny, eternity with God in Heaven. Finally, Baptism makes the one who receives it a new creation: "We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4). (See also I Peter 3:21)

Fr. Alfred McBride wrote of the subject so much more eloquently:

Baptism is a sacrament that initiates a person into membership in the Church. Baptismal grace forgives original sin and all personal sins. It is the first sacrament that a Christian receives and it unites the candidate to Christ, who died for our sins and rose from the dead fro our salvation.
No one ought to think of his/her Baptism as "an expression of inward faith." On the contrary, Baptism is the sacrament that instills the seeds of Faith within us. Then, as we live from our Baptismal graces, and the grace received from subsequent sacraments, those seeds of Faith bear fruit in our lives.

Let us pray that baptized Christians will recall the mighty power of their baptisms in their daily lives. Let us pray that God will grant an abundance of grace from this precious sacrament so that we may become holy in this life.

God Bless.

Popular posts from this blog

Learning Virtue from St. Martin de Porres

-
Image
[This post appeared originally on my full site, which is now no longer in operation, in November 2012.] It seems that more should be written about a saint from whom we can learn so many lessons in virtue.  Yet that is not the case with St. Martin de Porres, from whom we have much to learn about humility, detachment, fasting, justice, and charity.  The website of the St. Martin de Porres Shrine and Institute (located in my own diocese; a wonderful initiative with a beautiful chapel) offers a mere four paragraphs of biographical information, while other sites ( here , here , and here ) devote no more than 10 sentences to this exemplar of heroic virtue.  Surely, Brother Martin, who was so humble in this life, finds that to be a fitting scenario even after his death. From the very earliest days of his life, he embraced his lowly situation.  He desired to do nothing more than glorify the Creator by serving creatures.  He reached out to slaves, orphan...
Read more

St. Cyril of Jerusalem on the Eucharist

-
Image
Although the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist was not the first thing that convinced me I needed to become Catholic, it was of prime importance in my journey home. Now that I am home, the Eucharist is what sustains and strengthens me on my perpetual search for holiness. Indeed, it is the "source and summit" of my Christian life. Thus, I always enjoy taking time to read what Christians in the first centuries had to say about "the breaking of the bread." My findings are such: there is clear evidence that, from the time Christ instituted the Eucharistic meal on Holy Thursday, Christians believed Christ's body, blood, soul, and divinity to be TRULY present. They never considered that it might be "just a symbol." Only within the last five centuries has the "just a symbol" argument taken form, no doubt to the detriment of the true Faith and otherwise faithful Christians. To prove my argument, I have provided two quotes from St. Cyril of Jer...
Read more

Gratitude: Foundation of Our Spiritual Growth

-
Image
Gratitude is not simply a quaint idea to which we should tip our caps during a few short weeks in November each fall.  It is important that we move beyond a trite understanding and application, and come to understand the real place of gratitude in the spiritual life.  It is nothing less than a virtue and disposition that is at the foundation of our potential spiritual growth.  (In a corresponding way, its absence is at the “foundation” of spiritual stagnation.) Before we ever begin to speak of spiritual realities, gratitude simply helps us to get by more efficiently, effectively, and happily than the opposite alternative.  Grateful people grow and flourish, even in the midst of difficult circumstances, in ways that ungrateful people do not.  Still, we must resist the temptation to deal with gratitude simply on the natural level.  We must bring these principles to the supernatural level and grasp them there. We must come to understand that gratitude...
Read more