“After all the people had been baptized 

and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, 

heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him

in bodily form like a dove. 

And a voice came from heaven, 

‘You are my beloved Son;

with you I am well pleased.’”

A week after I was born on March 7, 1971, I was baptized at St. Henry’s Church in Erlanger, Kentucky. It is the church where my mom was baptized and where her mom was baptized. Because I was a month premature, my dad was able to be present for my birth and homecoming, but he had to leave for Vietnam before I was baptized. Despite what you might guess, heaven was not opened, the Holy Spirit did not descend upon me in bodily form like a dove, and there was no voice that came from heaven. In some ways, however, like your own baptism, it was no less significant. Baptized as an infant, I am grateful for the faith of my parents, godparents, grandparents, and family that trusted in God for my new birth in Christ and expressed in their actions a great hope for the future and for eternity. God did respond to their faith and the faith of the church. He made me a new creation, adopted me as his son, and washed me clean of original sin. Even as a baby, I died in the waters of baptism and rose again with Jesus to new life. It is the grace of my baptism that has guided my journey of faith and is my only hope of heaven. Baptism was my doorway, the threshold of faith, to the life of God in the other sacraments, to the Spirit active in the church, and to the community of love that is my true family. I can never thank my parents enough and I have no capacity to repay them. I can only pay it forward. 

The story is told among priests of the Archdiocese of Louisville about Bishop Charles Maloney, the longtime auxiliary bishop, who had been ordained as a deacon, a priest, and a bishop, and had the opportunity to participate in the Second Vatican Council in Rome, that when asked about the most important day of his life responded, “The day I was baptized.” It is told as a reminder of God’s undeserved and abundant grace in our lives and the gift of faith handed on to us by our families. As we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord, thank God for the gift of your own baptism and say a small prayer for those whose faith made it possible. Because of them, you are God’s beloved child and with you, he is well pleased.