BAPTISMAL  CERTIFICATE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Easter Sunday  is  "Baptismal Certificate".

One of the key themes for Easter Sunday is Baptism.

Last evening thousands and thousands and thousands of people around the world were baptized  - and became Christians.

How many I don’t know.  I’ll do my homework.

Christians:  meaning the Anointed Ones.

Anointing with sacred oil is part of the ceremony - as well as for those who were confirmed.

Baptized: meaning the Dipped - dipped into  the waters.

Today at all Masses we renew our baptismal vows.

MOM AND DAD’S BAPTISM CERTIFICATES

I’m the youngest of 4 kids.

My sister Mary and I are the last 2.

My sister Mary is sorting out family papers - saving some - getting rid of others.

Who has and where are your family papers?

When couples bring their babies to St. Mary’s for Baptism they are handed a baptismal certificate and I always say, “Do you have a fireproof safety box for your sacred and significant papers?” 

Where are your significant family papers?

For the sake of transparency I have stocks in Office Depot.  Just kidding.

Some files are saved somewhere electronically.

Father John Harrison when he was stationed here put all of St. Mary’s Baptismal, Marriage, Confirmation and other books into our computers. It took him a few years, but he did it.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore have all our books right now and are electronically storing them.

I keep wondering when we are going to get them back.

I have heard that records in some Catholic Churches in Ireland have been lost - through fires.

So when my sister Mary showed me about a month ago two baptismal records - my dad and my mom’s - handwritten - quite fragile and quite beaten up - from 1904 - I knew I was holding something  sacred in hand.

[SHOW AND TELL]

I XEROXED them and put them on my computer and hope to get copies to my nieces and nephew - with the secret agenda for all of them to think and feel the importance of their and their parents and their ancestors baptismal records and then hopefully they will look within and wonder about their baptism.

PAPERWORK - DEGREES - DIPLOMAS - CERTIFICATES

From time to time one hears that we are moving towards a paperless society?

I don’t know.  I still see copies of Doctor’s Degrees and certificates on office walls. Graduations are coming towards us soon.  What will happen to all those diplomas and degrees that people will walk up steps to stages to receive in hand? What about Marriage and Birth and Baptismal certificates?

Do you ever notice inspection papers on elevators?  How about clipboards in turnpike rest stops - that the bathrooms were cleaned 2 hours ago?  Aren’t  there  FDA rules and regulations on paper about food and medicines inspection?

What’s in your glove compartment?   License and registration please?

I remember reading in a newspaper years ago - during the horrible wars - in Bosnia and Herzegovina - how in some places,  the different sides would invade a small town and burn the town records - birth, marriage, what have you.  I remember thinking, “Now that’s a sin!”  I save newspaper clippings that grab me, but I don’t know if I saved that. Next time I have time, I’ll try to find that on computer. Google is great - but so too actual paper copies of our records.

CONCLUSION: EASTER HOMILY

Question: but is this the stuff of an Easter Sermon or Homily?

I wondered about that. A sermon is all words - that disappear pretty fast after it is given. Hot air …. Cold air …. So so words - that slide under benches and out of people’s thoughts.

I’m the only one with a copy of my homily - and I find lots of these old sermons folded in sixes - and then tossed out next week or so.

But I do put them on my blog - along with quotes and reflections - knowing that papers are tossed - but not all. I showed you two baptismal records from 1904.

Why not scan or photo your degrees and certificates - and send them on line to family members?  Maybe someone will save them without knowing it - and then future family researchers will go to your grave and say,  “Thank you” - facing your name and numbers in stone?

And maybe someone will look at their baptismal certificate and reflect upon being certified, “Hey I’m a Christian. Hey I was baptized 33 years ago in Topeka, Kansas.  Hey I got to wake up and really  walk this and really live this way of life. Amen.”