“Holy baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit and the door which gives access to the other sacraments.

“Through baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons (and daughters) of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the church and made sharers in her mission.”

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Jesuit Father J-Glenn Murray posed two questions to the 375 people who attended the Archdiocese of Louisville ministry institute March 24 in Louisville.

First, he asked: “How many of you know the day you were born?” Many hands were raised by people in the audience.

He then asked: “How many of you know the day you were baptized?” Considerably fewer hands were raised.

“The rest of you ... find it out,” Father Murray, who is director of the Office for Pastoral Liturgy for the Cleveland Diocese, told those who did not raise their hands.

He added, “The greatest day of my life, the 25th of June, 1960, was when I was baptized.”

Father Murray’s point was to underscore the significance of baptism and its implications in living as a Christian and follower of Jesus.

“Each of us who is Christian has been washed in these saving waters called baptism,” he explained. “We have been made new; we are a new creation.”

In addition, he said, “in that act of dying and rising with Christ (in baptism), you were not only made new; you were elected, you were chosen ,... your entire life incorporated into the living Body of Christ.”

And what does this imply?

By virtue of baptism, Father Murray said, “sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit and receiving Christ in the Eucharist, “each initiated, signed-up member (of the church) is called to the mission of God made manifest in the ministry of Christ.” Each person is called “to be Christ alive in the world.”

And, he emphasized, this applies to everyone, the ordained and non-ordained. All have been called, all have been chosen, to spread the Gospel of Jesus by carrying on his ministry of service.

Father Murray added, “We are on a mission, exercising a variety of ministries ... according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”

What Father Murray emphasized also was stressed by the Second Vatican Council, which said that “through baptism we are formed in the likeness of Christ.” For the laity, the council noted, being incorporated into the Body of Christ at baptism means that laypeople are “assigned to the apostolate of the Lord ... consecrated into the royal priesthood (of Christ) and a holy people of God” to give witness to Christ throughout the world.

In a 2000 pastoral letter on ministry, Cardinal Roger Mahony and the priests of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles wrote: “With the Second Vatican Council, there is a restoration of the baptismal dignity of the laity, an emerging recognition of baptism as the basis and the foundation of all ministry, and a fuller realization that ministry is not exercised only by the ordained.

“Ministry is rooted in the charisms given by the Spirit at baptism. There are different kinds of gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.”

This Sunday, April 8, is Easter. And part of the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday liturgies is a renewal of our baptismal promises. In introducing this renewal, the priest says:

“Let us renew the promises we made in baptism when we rejected Satan and his works and promised to serve God faithfully in his holy Catholic Church.”

This renewal is an occasion to give thought to the significance of our baptism and what we were chosen and called to be as members of the Body of Christ. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church says, we share in the mission of the church, and it is our responsibility to carry out this mission and continue the ministry of Jesus in our time.