Discovering the Riches of Baptism
By Father Brendan Williams
As we prepare for the Feast of Pentecost during this Year of the Holy Spirit, we continue our reflection on the central role that the Spirit plays in the life and growth of the Church and in our individual spiritual walk. We will explore some spiritual and psychological parallels in an effort to highlight the fundamental role our baptismal gifts play in our spiritual health and growth.
Today, as the Church is experiencing a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we are witnessing conversions that are life-changing, and radically redirecting people in life journeys and ministries that they would never have previously envisioned. This life changing experience begins with Baptism in the Holy Spirit.
In this spiritual phenomenon, that has touched the hearts of up to a hundred million Catholics over the last thirty years, we find a common thread: It begins with an experience of unconditional love flowing from our Heavenly Father. Here is a typical testimony as related by Father Michael Scanlon: "I immediately knelt down in the middle of the discussion group and said, I want to be baptized in the Holy Spirit…The Spirit fell. It was primarily an experience of prayer, but prayer unlike any other I had experienced of studied. I was lost in God, one with the fullness of life. I wanted nothing more than to know God the way I knew him at that moment intimately united to him" (Let the Fire Fall, p. 81). In this experience we are discovering the awesome truth of what it means to be baptized into Christ.
A clarification is in order at this point. When I speak to some people who have not experienced the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, they say, I already have the Holy Spirit in Baptism, Confirmation and - as the case may be - Ordination. My response to that is a question: You undoubtedly have the Holy Spirit, but does the Holy Spirit have you? It is very possible to have received all the sacraments and to be a practical atheist at the same time. The sacramental gifts will lay dormant until they are activated by an act of self-surrender to the Lordship of Jesus who in turn will release the Holy Spirit's gifts within us.
For the first time many are realizing that God loves them with a most tender and steadfast love. They are now coming to know in a warm and personal way, the God who to this point was distant and impersonal - they deity they only knew about. This is the starting point for a lifelong journey of spiritual growth. The experience of divine love opens the human soul as a sunflower responds to the warmth and light of the sun. We can therefore say without hesitation that the degree to which we experience our Baptismal anointing will determine the quality and health of our entire spiritual journey. Let me explain by giving a parallel in our psychological development.
In the course of my studies in psychology, I had to do a book report on Erik Erikson's, Identity and the Life Cycle. In this book, Erikson charts eight stages of personality development that are interconnected and follow the epigenetic principle. He explains: "Somehow generalized, this principle states that anything that grows has a ground plan, and that out of this ground plan the parts arise, each part having its time of special ascendancy, until all parts have arisen to form a functioning whole" (p. 53).
The development of personality in the extra uterine stage begins with a sense of basic trust. This sense grows out of the parents' (primarily the mother's) day-to-day nurturing in all its facets. It is in this environment of unconditional love that the child develops a sense of self worth?? If the primitive thinking of the infant were to be verbalized, it would go something like this: "I am good and I am loveable because I am loved." Basic trust then becomes the bedrock of all personality development. It is this sense of wellbeing that will move the infant to the next stage, autonomy, which develops in sync with the sphincter muscles. Control over bowel and bladder brings a new sense of wellbeing to the infant that begins the journey of mastering one's environment. It is this crucial development during the "terrible two's" that will in turn pave the way for the next stage, initiative, age four - five. Thus the process continues, stage building upon stage, till the final stage of integrity is reached in adult maturity.
When there is neglect and or abuse in the first year of life - despite the most loving care and attention in the years that follow - the results can be devastating. In a recent TV documentary of sisters adopted after abuse and neglect in infancy, the tragic tale of pain and heartbreak was graphically told. We saw the years of heroic efforts, of loving adoptive parents, rendered void by children who seemed to have been set on a course of self-destruction. No matter how much love and attention these wonderful parents showered on them, the results were always the same. These children would not accept their love: They could not. The damage of abuse and neglect in that first year of life left an indelible impression on those children's psyches. They were unlovable and no good, and nothing - no matter how heroic and unconditional the love, attention and self-sacrifice of their adoptive parents - would change that deeply imbedded sense of self. One of the sisters became a prostitute while the other finally settled down to some form of a normal life.
In the healing ministry, however, I have witnessed the power of God touch deep-seated wounds of early childhood abuse and neglect. In what we call the healing of memories, the Lord in His love can go back in life to these wounds that are deeply buried in the unconscious, and heal them. Only divine love can do this.
After one such healing experience, I received this note: "..After all my years on professional counseling, I've never felt the peace or total renewal as I felt when I left your office. Since I've seen you my attitude has completely changed, and I feel that the overbearing feelings of depression, anxiety and guilt are all but gone." What this person experienced was the unconditional love of God the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit. The warmth of healing light and love now filled the dark hole of depression, left by rejection and neglect in infancy.
What does all this have to do with spiritual growth? The epigenetic principle that governs biological and psychological development can equally be applied here. We can conclude: Growth in the spiritual life has its foundation in the experience of Our Father's unconditional love. It is this experience of divine love that sets the stage for childlike trust in God. Trust is therefore the fruit of a constant and steadfast love. Trust in God in the result of a loving encounter with God, our Father, through the presence of the Holy Spirit.
In his wonderful book on St. Therese of Lisieux, Father Bernard Bro, O.P. speaks of the roots of her spiritual journey: "She had discovered the true face of the God of Jesus, offering himself to us in weakness and, like a beggar, waiting for our trust. And she knew that the time for total trust had come. Never to achieve anything worthwhile again, but only to accept being exceeded - forever - by the excess of love confronting her. Then for her, as for the Good Thief, as for St. Peter, as for the Samaritan woman, as for all the poor and sinful, the impossible step became possible: trust, making what in the end seemed too far away suddenly within reach" (The Little Way: p. 43).
We have discovered in our day once again that this grace of encountering "the excess of love" comes to us through the Holy Spirit. This gift is given at Baptism and somehow, somewhere, in our spiritual journey it needs to be unlocked if we are to begin an intimate walk with God. Should this not happen we will spend a life in spiritual struggle, never getting to first base. As with the adopted sisters, a dark hole of spiritual emptiness will persist despite personal efforts to live a virtuous life.
The Good News is that God, our Father wants each one of us to receive His overflowing life and love in the person of the Holy Spirit. Jesus assures of this: "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"(Lk. 11:12).
The first stage in spiritual growth is the infusion of sanctifying grace at the moment of Baptism that gives us a new life and a new nature. By one awesome touch of God we are transformed internally and become sharers in the Divine Nature. Speaking of this extraordinary mystery, St. Gregory of Nazianzus declares: "Baptism is God's most beautiful and magnificent gift…We call it gift, grace, anointing, enlightenment, garment of immortality, bath of rebirth, seal, and most precious gift. It is called gift because it is conferred on those who bring nothing of their own; grace since it is given even to the guilty; Baptism because sin is buried in the water; anointing for it is priestly and royal as are those who are anointed; enlightenment because it radiates light; clothing since it veils our shame; bath because it washes; and seal as it is our guard and the sign of God's lordship" (c.f. Catechism: par. 1213ff).
To see the Sacrament of Baptism in terms of a loving encounter with the Holy Trinity, we might describe is thus. God our Father calls us by name to come to Him. Through the arms of Jesus He reaches out and draws us to Himself. Through the anointing of the Holy Spirit He breathes a new life into us that intimately unites us to the Godhead. It is through the Holy Spirit that our Father speaks those words of paternal affection that He addressed to His Son at the Baptism at the Jordan: "You are my child, my beloved; with you I am well pleased" (c.f. Mark 1:11). Jesus draws us close to His Sacred Heart and unites us in intimate love with all the baptized who persevere in grace. He prepares a place at His table for us and guarantees a permanent place in His heavenly home (Jn. 14:2).
For those who have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, this newfound intimacy with God has led some wonderful discoveries. There is a wholesome sense of belonging to God and rejoicing in this belonging. There is a unity with and loyalty to the Church. There is a deep desire to grow in holiness and a longing to share this experience with others. In our experiences with evangelization, over 90% of those attending the schools were already baptized in the Holy Spirit. Their lively faith and ardent love of God enrich all our parish ministries.
Discovery of our Father's unconditional love through the Holy Spirit in Baptism sets the stage for discovering the power of God's love in the other Sacraments. Many have told me that they now have been drawn to a deeper love of Christ in the Eucharist. They are now discovering the consolation of his mercy in Reconciliation. Renewed couples witness to a healing and deepening of their love in the Sacrament of Matrimony. Priests have been empowered tremendously in their life and ministry. I am certain that vocations to priesthood and religious life will flourish when we introduce our young people to the anointing of the Holy Spirit. I believe that many vocations that are on the rocks will be healed and renewed when they discover the joy and consolation of their Baptism.
May this year of the Holy Spirit bring abundance of life to all the faithful so that the Church will be enriched and empowered to undertake the noble task of bringing the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
This article may be reprinted for personal use.