Baptism Is A Wonderful (And Noisy) Event

A couple months ago my wife and I had the honor of being the godparents for little M.J., the grandson of our best friends. The Baptism ceremony was delightful. We were in an old church in Massachusetts, which had wonderful gothic architecture, beautiful stained glass windows, and lots of statues. Now, I’m not saying modern church architecture since Vatican II is bad. Jesus is still really present during Mass, even when the church building looks more like a Walmart or a Boy Scouts campground pavilion. I’m just saying once in a while it’s nice to be in a church where the very structure itself cries out: “This is a sacred space filled with awe and wonder.”

We were assured by little M.J.’s parents that he hardly ever cried, and on those rare occasions when he did, it was a soft and gentle whimper. My wife and I smiled reassuringly, but then glanced at each other with worried “Well, let’s hope so” expressions on our faces. However, M.J.’s great-grandmother, Betty-the-All-Knowing, wasn’t quite as optimistic. She blurted out, “He’s gonna scream during the whole ceremony.”

As you may have already guessed, Betty-the-All-Knowing was correct once again. A total of three babies were getting baptized that day, and just before the ceremony began, little M.J. started fidgeting in his mother’s arms. Then the priest said, “Welcome to this — ” and no one heard another word the priest said because little M.J. proceeded to do a spot-on impression of a fire truck siren, and he didn’t stop until the last “Amen” of the ceremony thirty minutes later. It was an impressive display of lung function. During the ceremony two firemen burst into the church with confused expressions. Okay, I exaggerate. It was only one fireman. No, I’m still kidding, but the little tyke did wail pretty impressively through most of the ceremony. His mom did everything she could to quiet him down, to no avail, while Betty-the-All-Knowing just sat in the front row pew and smiled.

I suspect a lot of people think of Baptism as a traditional ritual we do because, well, because we’ve always done it. On the surface it may seem like Baptism is no big deal. Sometimes during the ceremony hardly anyone is paying attention, focused instead on either trying to keep the baby quiet or to get in position to take pictures. And, of course, the infant being baptized has no idea what’s going on.

So for a lot of folks, Baptism is simply a traditional thing we do—just because. But Baptism is far more than just an old-fashioned ritual. Baptism is, as the Catholic Catechism explains, “the gateway to life in the Spirit….Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as [children] of God” (CCC 1213).

When a person is baptized two things happen. First, he or she is cleansed of original sin, the sin we all have, which we inherited within our selfish human nature. Second, Baptism infuses our souls with the Holy Spirit. Obviously as a person grows and matures, he or she can choose to ignore the Spirit, since faith is a lifelong journey not a one-time event. But the journey of faith needs to begin with Baptism. And don’t take my word for it; Jesus said so. In John’s gospel the Lord said, “No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5). Throughout 2,000 years of Christian history, there is only one activity or ritual that involves both water and the Spirit: the sacrament of Baptism.

During Baptism, the baby receives true supernatural grace. This happens even if everyone is distracted by the baby’s impersonation of a fire truck. So, welcome into the family of faith, little M.J.!