Around this time five years ago, our first granddaughter was baptized. Public gatherings were troublesome in pandemic days. Events that should have brought great rejoicing were muted by the fear of disease. Our pastor offered a private ceremony in which ten masked family members could attend. We stressed over who the ten should be. Our immediate family was six. Add the priest, the baby, her father, a non-family member godparent, and my parents, and that was twelve. It left no room for aunts, uncles, cousins, significant others, or the father\u2019s devout Baptist family.<\/p>\n
Worry over hurt feelings and directives from our diocese that no group baptisms should be held clouded my joy over the pending baptism. I felt a lot of responsibility for making sure she was baptized in the Church and lamented my concerns to the sacristan at another church where I was an organist. He and I, a cantor, a lector, and a priest were the only ones allowed to be present while the Mass was being live-streamed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour granddaughter\u2019s baptism is not only for her, but for her parents and the rest of your family to receive that grace,\u201d he said. That statement interrupted my drive into pious control and reminded me that the grace extended at baptism would help cover my sins too. Rather than concerning myself with the reception of a sacrament, I had been worrying about a ceremony and a celebration.<\/p>\n
Our diligence encourages the dissipation of the deceptive voice of the devil, who continually dares us to abandon our deliberate confidence in a loving God. Yet today\u2019s first reading from Acts and the Responsorial Psalm remind us to persevere and not allow the concerns of the day to waver our faith. \u201cI set the Lord ever before me; with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed,\u201d the psalmist says.<\/p>\n
On the road to Emmaus, Cleopas says to Jesus, whom he does not recognize, \u201cIt is now the third day since this took place. Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jesus expresses disappointment in their initial lack of faith. \u201cOh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!\u201d It wasn\u2019t until he broke the bread for them that \u201ctheir eyes were opened and they recognized him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sacristan\u2019s words opened my eyes to the importance of spiritual-diligence – doing everything needed for the salvation of my soul and the souls around me. Despite masks and a small \u201caudience,\u201d my granddaughter\u2019s baptism brought great joy, and when a few extra people showed up our priest welcomed them.<\/p>\n
\u2014\u00a0Beth Casteel<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Reflection provided by diocesan.com. Reprinted with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Diligent Faith Around this time five years ago, our first granddaughter was baptized. Public gatherings were troublesome in pandemic days. Events that should have brought great rejoicing were muted by the fear of disease. Our pastor offered a private ceremony in which ten masked family members could attend. We stressed over who the ten should be. Our immediate family was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-reflections"],"yoast_head":"\n