4/30/2023

Last Sunday we had a beautiful celebration for our First Communion class. I want to thank Megan Johansen, Michele Starke and those who assisted her in the atrium, Kelly Bostwick, Abby Dropinski and the choir, the 1st Grade parents who did the meal on Saturday, and all who made this a special celebration. Lots of work and lots of hands were involved in making this a memorable event. THANK YOU!
As I said in last week’s Bulletin Letter, we are going to concentrate on Christ the Good Shepherd in this Sunday. In doing so, there are a couple of things in the first reading I would like to comment about, but won’t have the time or the opportunity to from the pulpit. So I will do it here. The first reading from Acts (2:14a, 36-41) is the second part of St. Peter’s first sermon – the first part was last week. The result of the sermon was impressive – 3,000 people were baptized! That is definitely a sign of the Holy Spirit anointing the hearers and the preacher. I wonder what we would do if 3,000 people showed up at our doors to be baptized…
What do I want to point out? This passage from Acts gives part of the answer to the question, “Why do Catholics baptize infants?” After all, infants can’t make a choice, which means that they can’t choose to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, so why should they be baptized? But here in this passage it says “repent and be baptized, every one of you.” This along with Acts 13 and 16, where whole households are baptized (parents, grandparents, children, servants, servants’ children, etc.), indicates that infant baptism was practiced by the apostles. It does not say “except those who have not yet reached the age of reason.” The Father would convert, and the whole household would follow suit. Every one. Baptism is for “every one of you.” Can it be that Baptism is for Gentiles, but not babies? Baptism has the power to forgive (wash away) sin just as water has the power to wash away dirt. That is what we call a sacrament when it does spiritually what it signifies physically. But in addition, Baptism is the sign of the New Covenant. The sign of the Old Covenant with Abraham was circumcision. Male babies were circumcised shortly after birth as infants. They did not have to wait until they reached the age of reason to make a choice for themselves. Could the New Covenant be any less inclusive than the Old Covenant? The New Covenant is more effective and more inclusive. It allows us to cross the chasm that the sin of Adam and Eve created between God and us, and enter into the New Creation set up for us by Christ’s death, Resurrection, and Ascension.
Let us continue to thank and praise the Lord in this time of Easter for the salvation He brought us through His Resurrection. The Risen Lord is still with us, especially in the Eucharist.
It is a joy to be your pastor.

Father Albert, O.S.B.