Baptism is the sacrament of Easter.
Our Lenten journey of penance, purification, and conversion leads all of us to the baptismal font at the Easter Vigil.
This is true in a literal way for the “elect,” who will be baptized that night. But it is also true for the “candidates” — those already baptized in other Christian traditions — who will be received into full communion with the Church on one of the Sundays during the Easter season.
Baptism is also the meaning of this season for baptized Catholics, as we will renew our baptismal promises on Easter.
This year, the family of God in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles is blessed to welcome more than 8,500 new Catholics — 2,452 elect and 6,146 candidates.
We thank God for this grace and pray for the souls of these men and women who will become our brothers and sisters in this beautiful mystery, the sacrament that brings them into full communion with his Catholic Church.
During Lent, we prepare for Easter as our ancestors did, following the traditions established by the apostles in the years after Our Lord’s resurrection.
The Church intends the Sunday Gospels during Lent to be a kind of “baptismal itinerary,” leading us on a journey of faith and conversion to Jesus.
The journey begins in the desert, where Jesus is revealed as the “new Adam,” the true Son of God who overcomes the devil’s temptations, and by his obedience overturns the first Adam’s original sin.
The following Sunday, in his transfiguration, Jesus is revealed as the fulfillment of all that God promised through Moses and Elijah and the prophets. The Father speaks from a bright cloud, declaring that Jesus is his own beloved Son, and commanding us to listen to him.
In the Transfiguration, we see the “end game,” the promise of our faith. If we listen to Jesus, follow his way for our life, we will be transfigured into his likeness, and one day we will see the living God in glory, face-to-face.
The first two Sundays reveal Jesus, who he is, and what he promises. The next three Sundays are the spiritual heart of Lent. From St. John’s Gospel, we hear three stories of the encounter with Jesus that leads to conversion and the gift of faith.
These stories — of the Samaritan woman, the man born blind, and Martha, Lazarus’ sister — are beautiful and rich in baptismal imagery.
These are stories of the human search for God — the woman’s thirst for living waters, the blind man’s desire for the light of the world, Martha’s longing for the resurrection and life.
And in these figures, we are meant to see the journey of our own lives. The questions that Jesus puts to them, he also puts to us, calling us to a series of “scrutinies,” in which we open our hearts to his searching gaze.
The heart of the matter for us, as it was for them: do we believe that Jesus is the living God — the Son of God, the Son of Man, the Savior of the world, the Christ who was promised?
Through this encounter, Jesus is inviting us to make our own profession of faith, or to renew the profession of faith we made in our Baptism. He wants us to say with the blind man: “I do believe, Lord!” And with Martha: “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe!”
Of course, if Jesus is who we believe him to be, if in him we truly meet the living God, then our lives can never stay the same. We need to change, to repent, to immerse our lives in his. We need to ask him, like the woman at the well: “Give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty.”
We are ready after this for Passion Sunday and Holy Week, where we will follow him on the final path that leads to his suffering and death for us on the cross on Good Friday.
Finally, on Easter, we put off our old lives and give ourselves to Jesus. We become a new creation in the waters of baptism, plunging ourselves into the mystery of his life, death, and resurrection for us.
Baptism makes our lives a beautiful adventure.
There is nothing more beautiful than to know Jesus and his love. Now, like those figures in the Gospel, like countless Catholics down through the centuries, he is sending us out into the world.
Baptism is a mission. Jesus wants us to use our lives to speak to people of his love and friendship. He wants us to invite others to meet him, to listen to him, and to wash in the living waters.
Happy Easter! Pray for me and I will pray for you.
May holy Mary be a mother to all of us. And may she help us to enter more deeply into the love of her Son, and the gift of our baptism.
