Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

~ This week and next, I’d like to offer a few practical observations about the
Sacrament of Baptism. We celebrate the Sacrament of Baptism frequently here at St. Margaret. In 2024, 52 persons were baptized here! Baptism is always such a joyful occasion to celebrate with members of our parish family! These families have rejoiced in the new life that God has given to them by the birth of a baby, and in the Sacrament of Baptism, God’s family, the Church, rejoices in the new life that God gives to us. Our Coordinator of Faith Formation, Ruth Pera, works with new and expectant parents to coordinate the Sacrament. A number of married couples in the parish assist with our Baptism Preparation Ministry, meeting with new and expectant parents to discuss the Sacrament and what it means. And Fr. Patrick, Deacon Dominick, and I are privileged to be the Ministers of Baptism here at St. Margaret of Scotland. After presiding and preaching at Mass, Baptism is my favorite thing to do as a priest!

In my thirty-plus years as a priest, I’ve noticed an increasingly longer space of time between a child’s birth and their baptism. There are certainly some good reasons for this: the recuperation of the mother after a difficult delivery, the availability of family out of town to be present for the ceremony, or the formal closure of an adoption process. But I give pause when I hear parents explain that an early baptism would conflict with their social calendar or that they prefer to have the baptism in a more agreeable season like summer or that they want to wait until the holidays when all the family will already gather.

I could respond to these choices with Canon Law: “Parents are obliged to see to it that infants are baptized within the first weeks after birth; as soon as possible after the birth or even before it parents are to go to the pastor to request the sacrament for their child and to be prepared for it properly.” (867.1) And add from the Catechism: “The Church and parents would deny a child the priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer baptism shortly after birth.” (1250) Clearly, the Church teaches a preference for early infant baptism.

Rather than being legalistic, I prefer to encourage parents to be motivated by a joyful desire to share their Catholic faith with their child as soon as possible. Such action reflects the value of naming their son or daughter as a child of God and the excitement to begin raising this life in the household of Christ’s Church. Sometimes parents will say that they “just haven’t gotten around to it,” and others will explain, “We’ve been busy.” So it becomes difficult to convey to such parents that baptism is more than a ceremony or another family event. Baptism must be appreciated as the most important day in a person’s life. Why would one delay this?

I was baptized 9 days after I was born. All my brothers and sisters were baptized the Sunday after my mom came home from the hospital. While this might seem so soon in our own day, I would like to offer this invitation and challenge to expectant parents and those working toward adoption: desire a life of faith for your child and be eager to introduce him or her to the larger community of Christ’s Body, the Church! Make preparations and plan to baptize your child within a few weeks or months of their birth. If you are expecting a child, please call the parish office as soon as you can so that we can work with you to prepare for this beautiful Sacrament. May all new parents eagerly desire to give their new child the gift of faith and the promise of eternal life!