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I met a man in the Park. He was at a
football game with five little children. To his little girl he said....That
is the priest who baptised you. She asked ‘What’s that ...Baptism?’The
father was flummoxed. I stuttered that You were a beautiful new baby. Your
mam and dad were very happy and they brought you to the church to say
Thanks to God and have a celebration.
When Jesus says today that He has to go
through a baptism, his apostles also wonder - what’s that?
The good parent was living ‘Baptism’, I
felt, without realising it. Baptism is not something that happened in the
past, but something that is happening everyday in the service we give to
each other, to the world and to life.
Baptism is submitting to the inconveniences
of life that often are not of our making, the disappointments, the pain,
the everyday challenge. Baptism is trusting in the help of Jesus Christ,
who travelled the journey and road of life before us, and promises the help
of His Spirit. Often life does not make sense. Jesus asked The Father
...Why have You forsaken me?
The little girl was honest, searching the
mystery of Baptism. It is a mystery of love that can only make ultimate
sense in the Family of Father, Son and Holy Spirit in The Heavenly Banquet.
Liam
Hickey St. Ciarans Hartstown Dublin 15.
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