Dear Friends,
I thought I was having a pleasant conversation recently about the expectations the church had of parents if they wanted to have their children baptized, it was not the parent who called but a grandparent. I could tell things were not going well when she was surprised that the parents were expected to go to church, to pray, to teach their children the ways of Jesus Christ. She could not understand what any of that had to do with baptism. She just wanted a ritual, nothing more. But I told her that during the ritual I would be asking the parents some questions about the promise they were making to God. She ended the conversation thinking that I was asking too much.
In the ritual, the priest or deacon asks, “Parents, you have asked to have your children baptized. In doing so you are accepting the responsibility of training them in the practice of the faith. It will be your duty to bring them up to keep God’s commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God and our neighbor. Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking?” Later, before the profession of faith, they are asked again, “On your part, you must make it your constant care to bring them up in the practice of the faith. See that the divine life which God gives them is kept safe from the poison of sin, to grow always stronger in their hearts. If your faith makes you ready to accept this responsibility, renew now the vows of your own baptism…”
Since the children are not old enough to understand the teachings of Jesus, the parents make the promises for them. And they promise to teach them and practice with them so that when they are old enough they can carry on the promises. The expectation is to help them develop into spiritually mature disciples of Jesus Christ.
Every disciple has some minimum expectations put on them by the teachings of Jesus and his church. Some of those are: that they will spend time reading scripture and learning about God’s ways (pretty hard to be a follower if you know nothing of whom you are following), they will take time each day to pray (pretty hard to say you are in a relationship with someone if you never talk to them), they will be a part of the Body of Christ – his Church (almost impossible to be a Christian by yourself unless you are monastic hermit and even there they get support from the wider community), that they will work to tell others about Jesus (hiding our relationship with Jesus means it will probably die, if we want to grow in love with Jesus tell others about him), be generous in support of the work of the church and of those in need (Christians know they have been deeply blessed and they share those blessings with others).
Those are just a few and they are very general. But if we are going to be followers of Jesus then we need to work at it. It does not just happen. I suggest that every year in September and October we take a look at our relationship with God and make a plan for the upcoming year. I know it follows a school calendar rather than the calendar year, but I think this is a better time of year to make resolutions about our relationship with God. I will make some suggestions over the next few Sundays about possible commitments in the areas of prayer, service and financial generosity. I am also preparing the annual report so that you will know how we used your tithing this past year for the service of the Gospel. You should receive that in October.
Today’s gospel makes very clear that we need to be wise about the things of God, just as wise as we are about the things of the world. The first step is asking God to help us evaluate where we are now. So, this week, ask God to send his wisdom down upon you so that you might look honestly about how you are doing in the varied aspects of your relationship with God and his church.
Peace,
Fr. Damian