By Patrick Schmadeke
Evangelization in the World Today
I have been wondering if we take baptism for granted. Maybe because it’s a sacrament we give to infants. Or maybe because it requires so little effort to receive. That could be the un-Christian American in me talking: the greater the effort, the more valuable the thing. Our daughter Josephine is going to be 15 months old soon. For me, the experience and memory of her baptism last year prompts more questions than answers, more tensions than resolutions and more ponderings than insights. I’ve wanted to sort out some ideas about baptism in light of this and, through on-again-off-again reflection, the following contours have come into focus.
First are the three munera (duty, obligation) of baptism. In baptism we are joined to Christ as priest, prophet, and king. I have wondered with some frequency: “What does it mean for Josephine to be a priest, prophet, and king?” I have never arrived at what felt like an adequate description but I have a sense of when these identities are neglected.
Her priestly identity goes unattended to when she is not invited to participate in prayer, as she is able — when prayer is more complicated than it should be, or when her presence is virtually ignored. Though only able to speak a few words, her prophetic identity is negated when we don’t hear her witness to the fragility of life. Her practical fragility and infinite dignity remind us that there are others her age whom the world treats as burdens or with contempt. When we think of kingship, we often think of leadership. A 15-month-old can center family decision-making around her needs, as we know acutely. But on the level of polity or economy, I can’t help but think that the wider world is more concerned with efficiency than with Josephine’s dignity. Polity and economy will care about Josephine to the degree that she can contribute to their own efficiency. Josephine’s life is an invitation to live in ways that recognize and nourish the baptismal dignity of all.
Second, infant baptism has been a reminder of the depth of God’s mercy. Mercy is freely offered and given; it is unearned and unconditional, inexhaustible and, in a culture governed by values such as merit, largely incomprehensible. I find myself regularly forgetting the scope of God’s mercy and living that out in day-to-day life. If we seriously attend to baptismal dignity, it may help us live out God’s mercy in our own lives, being more ready to forgive and becoming agents of reconciliation.
Third, a great and challenging result of baptism is that we are bound by our baptism to all others who are baptized. We are all family and we have to look out for each other. Through baptism, we are bound to all people and to all of creation because we are bound to God. When we cross ourselves with the baptismal holy water, we can grow in affection for all others. We can let water train us to see with the eyes of God’s mercy. In our polarized world, remembering our baptism may serve as a healing balm.
Fourth, my favorite prayer from the Rite of Baptism for one child is the Ephphetha, or prayer over the ears and mouth. The rite reads, “The Lord Jesus made the deaf hear and the mute speak. May he soon touch your ears to receive his word, and your mouth to proclaim his faith, to the praise and glory of God the Father.” In baptism, we are each given the good news and invited to share it with others. This is the root of our mission of evangelization. Pope Francis shared a similar sentiment in The Joy of the Gospel, “In virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples (cf. Mt 28:19). All the baptized, whatever their position in the Church or their level of instruction in the faith, are agents of evangelization, and it would be insufficient to envisage a plan of evangelization to be carried out by professionals while the rest of the faithful would simply be passive recipients.” We are each called to this according to the gifts God has given us.
To date, Josephine has been a witness to the good news through her joy and growth in relationships with others. This magnetism is at the root of evangelization. Over time, her call will develop and her evangelical life with take on different shapes and points of emphasis but her joy and relationships will hopefully remain. They are the fertile soil in which the seeds of evangelization grow.
(Patrick Schmadeke is director of evangelization for the Diocese of Davenport.)
