Fr. Adolph Guy sx
On May 3, the Church celebrates the fourth Sunday of Easter time. This same Easter’s fourth Sunday bears the name of the Good Shepherd Sunday since this is the theme emerging from this Sunday’s readings. My reflection is about the demands of the sacrament of Baptism in the light of today’s readings. In this day, we also pray for vocations in the Church, vocation to the priesthood and religious life. And as we do so, we keep hoping that someday our parish will be able to produce religious men and women, priests and bishops to serve the Church.
Through the sacrament of Baptism, the catechumens are formally received into the Church and start a new life with the Lord Jesus Christ. Upon hearing Peter and the other apostles’ proclamation, in the first reading, people wondered: “what must we do, brothers?” Peter answered: “you must repent and every one of you must be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ…” And the size of the nascent Christian community increased with the number of new members. With the sacrament of Baptism, we profess our faith in Jesus Christ as our “Lord and our God” or like Saint Peter put it, “the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” On that same day, God whispers also secretly and lovingly in our hearts, “you are my son or my daughter, the beloved; with you I am well pleased”
Nowadays, the reception of Baptism –or even of other sacraments such as marriage or ordination – is often accompanied with the feeling to have arrived or achieved something on the side of neophytes. This feeling of having achieved something can turn the sacrament into some kind of graduation ceremony, whereas the commitment to Christ and to the Church dwindles. Consequently, the Mass becomes boring, and others even wonder whether it really matters to belong to the Church; and still others eventually leave the Church. But our faith needs to go through some moments of crisis and strong doubts to be mature and strong.
Many of us have forgotten that the new identity we receive through Baptism begins a new and tougher journey toward Jesus Christ. The second reading captures this well as Saint Peter reminds each of one of us today: “Christ suffered for you and left an example for you to follow the way he took. He had not done anything wrong, and there had been no perjury in his mouth. He was insulted and did not retaliate with insults; when he was tortured he made no threats but he put his trust in the righteous judge. He was bearing our faults in his own body on the cross, so that we might die to our faults and live for holiness; through his wounds you have been healed.” Although this may sound sweet to our ears, it is not quite easy and can be very tough to put into practice.
It is in this tough journey towards him and through perseverance and endurance that we will eventually be jolted like Mary Magdalene early in the morning at the tomb when the Lord Jesus calls us by our respective names and comes to our help (John 20:16). He promised to be with us always until the end of time (Matthew 28:20) because he is the Good Shepherd: “…one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out.” Realizing this confirms us in our conviction to be a Christian and an active member in the Church as we usually repeat it to ourselves through a song that runs like this:
I have decided to follow Jesus
I have decided to follow Jesus
I have decided to follow Jesus
No turning back, no turning back.
On May 3, the Church celebrates the fourth Sunday of Easter time. This same Easter’s fourth Sunday bears the name of the Good Shepherd Sunday since this is the theme emerging from this Sunday’s readings. My reflection is about the demands of the sacrament of Baptism in the light of today’s readings. In this day, we also pray for vocations in the Church, vocation to the priesthood and religious life. And as we do so, we keep hoping that someday our parish will be able to produce religious men and women, priests and bishops to serve the Church.
Through the sacrament of Baptism, the catechumens are formally received into the Church and start a new life with the Lord Jesus Christ. Upon hearing Peter and the other apostles’ proclamation, in the first reading, people wondered: “what must we do, brothers?” Peter answered: “you must repent and every one of you must be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ…” And the size of the nascent Christian community increased with the number of new members. With the sacrament of Baptism, we profess our faith in Jesus Christ as our “Lord and our God” or like Saint Peter put it, “the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” On that same day, God whispers also secretly and lovingly in our hearts, “you are my son or my daughter, the beloved; with you I am well pleased”
Nowadays, the reception of Baptism –or even of other sacraments such as marriage or ordination – is often accompanied with the feeling to have arrived or achieved something on the side of neophytes. This feeling of having achieved something can turn the sacrament into some kind of graduation ceremony, whereas the commitment to Christ and to the Church dwindles. Consequently, the Mass becomes boring, and others even wonder whether it really matters to belong to the Church; and still others eventually leave the Church. But our faith needs to go through some moments of crisis and strong doubts to be mature and strong.
Many of us have forgotten that the new identity we receive through Baptism begins a new and tougher journey toward Jesus Christ. The second reading captures this well as Saint Peter reminds each of one of us today: “Christ suffered for you and left an example for you to follow the way he took. He had not done anything wrong, and there had been no perjury in his mouth. He was insulted and did not retaliate with insults; when he was tortured he made no threats but he put his trust in the righteous judge. He was bearing our faults in his own body on the cross, so that we might die to our faults and live for holiness; through his wounds you have been healed.” Although this may sound sweet to our ears, it is not quite easy and can be very tough to put into practice.
It is in this tough journey towards him and through perseverance and endurance that we will eventually be jolted like Mary Magdalene early in the morning at the tomb when the Lord Jesus calls us by our respective names and comes to our help (John 20:16). He promised to be with us always until the end of time (Matthew 28:20) because he is the Good Shepherd: “…one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out.” Realizing this confirms us in our conviction to be a Christian and an active member in the Church as we usually repeat it to ourselves through a song that runs like this:
I have decided to follow Jesus
I have decided to follow Jesus
I have decided to follow Jesus
No turning back, no turning back.