Sunday, May 28, 2017
Ascension Sunday 1st
Reading: Acts 1:1–11 2nd Reading: Eph 1:17–23 Gospel: Mt 28:16–20
As for the Eleven disciples, they went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw Jesus, they bowed before him, although some doubted. Then Jesus approached them and said, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples from all nations. Baptize them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to fulfill all that I have commanded you. I am with you always until the end of this world.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated Life
Experience)
Baptizing the whole world to make the Christian faith global is a gargantuan task. But with this challenging mission comes the assurance that Jesus will always be in our midst to assist us. Before he ascended to heaven, he made this promise: “I am with you always until the end of the world.” We fulfill this mission by promptly submitting our children for baptism and by being faithful to our own baptismal vows.
We baptize children promptly, even as early as infancy, because there are things that cannot wait until the baby can decide. Like feeding that cannot wait until the baby is of age to decide, baptizing the child is even more urgent. Godparents are there, anyway, to help monitor the spiritual growth of the child according to the baptismal promises made. It is very vital then that parents are deeply rooted in faith so they see the value of baptism and choose godparents not on the basis of social, financial or political status but on the basis of spiritual standing. Through constant follow up and giving good examples, godparents fulfill their responsibility of guiding the child as he grows in wisdom and grace.
The second mode of fulfilling Christ’s command to baptize the whole world is faithfulness to our baptismal promises. Faith is handed down from one generation to another. The process is affected by the law of diminishing returns such that the farther generation goes down the line the thinner the faith is transmitted. But we can compensate this law of diminishing returns by empowering families with sound spiritual traditions based on a clear understanding of the baptismal promises made at infancy.
The family then becomes the seedbed of Christianity as parents become hands-on catechists of their children.
By submitting our children to baptism as early as infancy and guiding them well, and by living out our baptismal promises religiously, we fulfill God’s command to have the whole world baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM
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