What is to prevent my being baptized? Reflection for Thursday, May 8, 2025

What is to prevent my being baptized? What a great question. The enthusiasm of the Ethiopian for the faith is edifying. Do we share the same enthusiasm for the faith? Readings for Today.

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What is to prevent my being baptized?

It is so wonderful when we can witness someone filled with enthusiasm for the faith. It can often be witnessed in those adults who are baptized at the Easter Vigil. The faith is new. The power of the Holy Spirit is real. And they look forward with excitement to the next phases of their spiritual life.

Unfortunately, sometimes this excitement and enthusiasm can wear off if it is not nurtured by prayer. For those baptized as infants, the excitement of the faith can be something that is not seen as real. Baptism is taken for granted. It is something that was always there, but not always something that leads us to follow Jesus.

Today’s reading provides some context to how it is that we can grow in our faith. Though the Ethiopian is reading the Bible, he cannot understand it. He needs that wise believer to help him to see how it is the Church views the Bible generally, and the prophet Isaiah specifically.

This means that we too must seek out the wise and learned holy people to help us to understand the Bible too. We need to do the same thing with the faith in general. We need to seek out wise and learned people. Holy people.

Once the Ethiopian eunuch understands the Bible, he is ready to act. Notice that it is God who takes the initiative. God the Holy Spirit leads Philip to this very spot, to this very person. God is the one who sends Philip and calls the eunuch to baptism.

Do we consider the power of our own baptism? Do we seek to discern what God was trying to accomplish when we were baptized? Do we celebrate the day of our baptism? Do we even know when it is? For our baptism is a birth that should be celebrated just as our birthdays are celebrated.

Consider who it is that God is sending into your life to help you to grow in your faith. Consider who it is that God is sending into your life to help you to live out your baptism. And where is it that God is sending you? How is it that God will use you (or is using you) to share your faith with others?

Our baptism is not a passive event. Rather, it is a dynamic event where we are called to go forth. We are called to share the gospel. We are called to nurture the enthusiasm of new believers, especially during this time of Easter. We must work to build the type of faith community, with the grace of the Hoy Spirit so that everyone may grow in faith.

The key to eternal life, as Jesus tells us, is to believe. We heard earlier we must believe in the one God sent. We must believe in Jesus. Therein lies the way to eternal life. And this faith, then, is something that pours forth from us in the way we live. For if we can cooperate with this grace, we too can both inspire others to grow in faith, and to believe more deeply in Jesus ourselves.

What is to prevent my being baptized? — Photo by Luis Quintero on Pexels.com

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