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Friday, 29 March 2024
Feast of the Baptism of the Lord PDF Print E-mail

Through baptism we are reborn in Christ

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On the Sunday when the Church commemorates the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Holy Mass in the Sistine Chapel and administered baptism to fourteen children.

To their parents and godparents, the Holy Father renewed their commitment to being the first witnesses of faith for the children, and reiterated their role as educators. The Pope said that with Baptism these children begin the joyful and inspirational life of disciples, which the liturgy presents as an experience of light, symbolized by the candles lighted from the Easter candle.

He added that in this light the children who are being baptized will walk for life, aided by the words and example of their parents and godparents. They must commit themselves to contribute -- in words and in the testimony of their life -- the light of the faith to their children so that they may shine for the world, which is often groping in the darkness of doubt, and bring the light of the Gospel that is life and hope. Only then, as adults, can they say with full awareness of the formula placed at the end of the profession of faith in the baptismal ritual: This is our faith. This is the faith of the Church. And we are proud to profess it in Jesus Christ our Lord.