Important Days

       “Today is the most important day of your life.”  If you have ever heard these words, you were likely already aware that something significant was happening.  For many, this might be a wedding or ordination day.  For others, there may be some other momentous event that changed the course of their lives for years to come.  We properly mark and remember days like this from year to year, and the same is true for us in the Church.  We have been celebrating many special days at lately in the Easter season, and it gives us a chance to reflect.  What is or will be the most important day of my life?  The interesting thing is that it may be a day you do not even remember!

       How could that be?  I am talking about the day of your baptism, and I would posit that it was the most important day of your life, not necessarily because of your experience of it, but because of its effects.  For us as Catholic-Christians, no other day so significantly influences our lives and eternal destinies.  Even if we do not remember it, we recall it every time we enter a church and sign ourselves with holy water.  During the Easter season, we also renew the vows of our baptism and then are sprinkled with water once again.  Finally, the Church long-remembers our baptism, keeping permanent records of it in the parish where it happened.  If a particular parish closes, the baptismal records are even transferred to another parish.

       Some of us possess the grace of being able to remember our baptism, especially those who come into the Church as catechumens through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.  This past Easter Vigil, the most important liturgy of the liturgical year, we welcomed many adults, teens, and children into the baptismal waters, and it was inspiring for all to witness this event.  I teach the children going through the process, and in an effort to instill anticipation and excitement in them for the day of their baptism, I indeed tell each of them, “Today is the most important day of your life.”

       There are, of course, other principal days of our lives, and this reflection is not an effort to diminish them.  But all those days are colored a bit differently because of our baptismal call.  We have, as the People of God, joined in the joyous celebration of other sacraments this Easter season from First Communions to Confirmations, and these also are days worth remembering.  We thank God for the grace of these important days and ask for the clarity to recognize the truly significant moments in our lives.  May this Easter season help us recommit ourselves to the promises of our holy baptism, that we may one day be united with God in the perpetual bliss of heaven.