baptized into the risen christ
"Through baptism into His death we were buried with Him, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live a new life. If we have been united with Him through likeness to His death, so shall we be through a like resurrection." —Romans 6:4-5
Alleluia! Jesus is risen! "Death has no more power over Him" or over us (Rm 6:9). Alleluia forever!
We are "raised up in company with Christ" (Col 3:1) and begin to live a risen life by being baptized into Christ and thereby into His death and Resurrection. Because we entered the life of the risen Christ through Baptism, on this first day of Easter the Lord through His Church challenges us to renew our baptismal promises. Today, we proclaim our faith in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, for we were baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. To live our faith in the Holy Trinity, we must reject Satan completely — all his works and all his promises. To have faith in the Trinity is to believe in the divinity of Jesus. He is the only Way to the Father (Jn 14:6) and the One Who baptizes us in the Spirit (Mk 1:8). To have faith in Jesus' divinity spurs us to love His Body, the Church, serving the members sacrificially (see Eph 5:25), and to obey all that has been revealed by the Lord and taught by His Church.
On this Easter day, make the deepest act of faith you have ever made. Renew your baptismal promises. Live your Baptism fully. Meet the risen Christ. Alleluia!
Prayer: Father, make me grasp the radical newness of my Baptism (see Lay Members of Christ's Faithful People, Pope St. John Paul II, 10).
Promise: "He saw and believed." —Jn 20:8
Praise: Jesus is risen! Alleluia forever!
Rescript: †Most Reverend Joseph R. Binzer, Auxiliary Bishop, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, November 28, 2018
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