To protect and serve

Recently I was speaking with a friend regarding baptism. She was expressing her confusion regarding her religious views and her dismay that her child is not baptized, if she even wants it, she is not sure how she  feels.... I sat wondering  about Our Lord's baptism  in the Jordan river, about my own and then finally about a friend of mine who was received into the church at 30 yrs of age. As I thought about the differences and similarities of all these baptisms I heard my friend warning her child about the dangers of the light socket, the danger of the staircase, the knifes in the dishwasher he managed to get open and start unloading. I thought to myself , to her , with  unclear beliefs that a baptism is no different than the loving warnings she was providing for her son right then. She would be protecting him spiritually, if in the end Christianity is right and if not, then no harm no foul, right? Well no, not really. Yes on paper fine, to the unsure  " spiritual not religious" person  a baptism is a safe bet, a net , a 401K of sorts. Yet to a Christian Catholic, a baptism is so much more. The Catholic Catechism says ;
ARTICLE 1 - THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM

1213 Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae spiritualis ianua),[4] and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission: "Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word."[5]



In my heart when I read that it is something I desperately want to be apart of. Baptism is the door way, it leads me to be able to receive the other sacraments which will lead me to learn about my faith and then to practice it and continue to learn and grow. It will lead me to Jesus, somewhere I desperately want to be. I have heard the same old story a million times, I don't want to choose for my child , I want them to be free and figure it out for themselves. This argument annoys me. We protect our children from electric shock, falling down stairs, cutting themselves but we do not want to protect them  from the spiritual. It just doesn't  makes sense to me. What do you think friends?

The hated

This past Sunday morning was filled with sun, warmth for a change and good feelings. We were coming off of my boyfriends birthday , a wonderful night out with his family . We drove to St. Paul's church in Burlington, not our home parish but a good one at that. The readings referred to service, to evangelizing no matter what. The homily was beautiful, the priest told us how we need to pray for our brothers and sisters in the middle east. He informed us of some accounts that have happened in the past few months, men coming into a parish and opening fire on the priest and congregation ,simple bc they are Catholic ,killing many. He told us how hard these people are fighting for their faith, the same faith we share, he asked us to pray for them as well as do something if we are able. Then it was time for the consecration, the spirits of the faithful were high and we were all feeling very thankful for our lives here in America. The Communion hymn began to play, "Be not afraid " , then things changed. A man walked into the church, he made a direct line for the priest, marching up the altar and yelling at Father. Father kept his composure, as well as his senses and held Jesus in the Eucharist tightly to him. He did not stop Mass, the man yelled and screamed at the congregation how he hated all of us with a few choices words added in, then stormed out of the church. Father came down from the altar and we all stood in line, a little shell shocked , and went to receive Our Lord in Holy Communion. Thankfully the man did not return with any more hateful words or worse. But the whole experience left me shaking. Here we are not even 30 minutes after listening to Father tell us about our brothers and sisters who are being hated, attacked even killed an ocean away then suddenly we are feeling the hate right here in our sleepy little church on a side street in Burlington NJ. Our situation is nothing like what is happening in the middle east but it is startling, it is the kind of situation that calls us to live our faith even more and to learn our faith even more. My plea to all of you who read this is to please, hug your loved ones a little closer tonight, reach into that drawer and bring out those rosary's, clean off the dust and start to pray. Pray not only for our brothers and sisters around the world but for us right here at home. The priest who put their lives on the line to preach the truth and the people who live it everyday.