By Fr. Christopher Foeckler, MJ • St. Josaphat Formation Center • Phoenix, AZ
All the gifts of the Sacrament of Baptism including Sanctifying Grace itself by which we are enabled to participate in the very Life of God while here on earth are “created” gifts. But the Unsurpassable Gift of Baptism is an “Uncreated” gift. It is nothing other than God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit Themselves Who come to dwell in the soul of the baptized person. It is the Gift of God Himself!
How do we know of or even dare to suggest such a thing? Our Lord Himself says so at the Last Supper as recorded in chapter 14 of St. John’s gospel. First in verses 15 and 16: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments, and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always.” Then in verse 23: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.”
An assurance of the abiding presence of God Himself in the soul should give us a peace that the world cannot offer. St. John Paul II comments that this abiding of God in the soul establishes a “reciprocity” – an interchange between the person and God Himself which is “the very substance and soul of Christianity” and “is the secret of a truly vital Christianity, which has no reason to fear the future, because it returns continually to the sources and finds in them new life.” The three Persons of the Trinity are these “Sources” from whom we find new life.
St. John of the Cross affirms that this abiding of God in the baptized soul is not lost even if the person should commit mortal sin! Awareness of this gratuitous and unconditional presence of God the Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier in the soul should foster a loving familiarity with the Divine Persons and a continual recollection of Their presence, not to mention great hope for eternal happiness.
The Unsurpassable Gift of God Himself to us is the greatest proof of His love for each of us personally and unconditionally. It is also an irrevocable call to love in Him return by keeping His commands and His doing His will to share these gifts with every “creature.” Baptism is the vehicle for this indwelling, and so I was very happy indeed to be able to share this with the lady who longed for baptism before she died.
Additional Reading
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