In the celebration of Adult Baptism, the person being baptized is immersed under water three times, symbolizing the three days that Christ was in the tomb! In Baptism, we die with Christ and rise with him to new life. The newly baptized person steps out of the Baptism pool more fully alive! It is like the butterfly emerging from the cocoon, or a newly hatched chick coming out of the egg!
Easter is all about our new life in Jesus Christ. Because Jesus lives, we can enter into an intimate, loving relationship with Jesus. Through this relationship, Jesus becomes a source of life in all of its fullness. Jesus was a fully alive human being, and shares that fullness with us.
Just as Jesus is a source of life for us, we are called to be a source of life for others. Wouldn’t it be great if ever day we could intentionally be a source of life to someone who needs to be uplifted? A kind word, a listening ear, a phone call, a visit, a prayer, a home-cooked meal, a supportive email or text message, can be very life giving to someone who is burdened by sickness, or grief, or simply the demands of daily life. This could be a family member, a co-worker, a neighbor, a fellow parishioner, a grumpy store clerk, a stranger, or a homeless person on the street. It could be just about anybody.
We Christians sometimes call ourselves “An Easter People”. An “Easter Person” allows the life that Jesus pours into them to flow through them to others. One of the paradoxes of the Gospel is that the more life we give away, the bigger our life becomes! In becoming a source of life to someone, my life and my world becomes larger and fuller, and much more beautiful!
Happy Easter!