Words on Baptism

Well what timing do we have for our discussion on the Sacraments?  Sunday was the celebration of the baptism of Christ. This was wonderfully insightful for me in prep for our meeting.  I happened to be in Pasco, WA for the weekend so I heard a different homily than most of you.  Here are a few of the main points I got from Mass.

This first point can be used for all age groups, but I'm thinking I will use it mostly for the younger kids.  Fr. Luta used the analogy of a "Seed of Grace."  When we're born we're all born with the desire for God's Grace or soil rich for cultivation.  Baptism serves as a way of planting the "Seed of Grace" and the additional sacraments serve to water that seed. I found this to be an easy way of describing it in terms my 5 year old could understand.

The other portion of homily that really struck me was with regards to infant baptism.  This is a good conversation to have teenagers or converts to the faith.  Often times when our teens (I'm writing in general as I don't have teens yet) have discussions with friends regarding faith, their N.D. Christian friends don't understand why we baptize babies.  The example given was that of vaccinations.  We don't wait to vaccinate our children until their old enough to choose to be safe from mumps or diphtheria.  So why would we wait to plant the "Seed of God's Grace" in our children.  Fr. Luta reminded us that during the conversion of early Christians entire families were baptized:  parents, children, babies, grandparents, cousins.  God's Grace was freely given as it should still be today.

As always your experience and wisdom is encouraged and welcomed.