Sunday, February 22, 2009

Lily's Baptism and other exciting news

Is 43:25

It is I, I, who wipe out, for my own sake, your offenses; your sins I remember no more.

2 Cor 1:21-22

But the one who gives us security with you in Christ and who anointed us is God; he has also put his seal upon us and given the Spirit in our hearts as a first installment.

Today was the big day! Liliana Noelle Juarez was cleansed of original sin and given her "first installment" of the Holy Spirit, which will give her "security in Christ". Of course she will receive further "installments" in whatever other Sacraments she receives (and practices) in the future--Eucharist, Penance, Confirmation, Marriage (or Holy Orders!) and much, much later, Last Rites. The great thing about receiving the Holy Spirit is that once you have Him within you, He never leaves. One may "tune Him out" at times, but He remains very close to us to lead us back to Christ if we will just pay attention to Him.

I have been thinking about Alicia's baptism today. It was pretty much the same then as it is today. We had to have a "pre-baptism" class, followed by the Baptism. We were asked to write down why we wanted our child baptized. I was (and remain) so overwhelmed by the blessing that is Alicia, that I felt I had to thank God by "putting the seal of Christ" on her. I wrote that God blessed us with the gift of a child that we may call our own, but the child really belongs to the One who created her. As her parents, Marilyn and I were given the responsibility to see that she learned to know and love the Father of us all. The only way I knew was to teach her by my own faith, hope and love of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

I will take Lily's birth and today's baptism as a sign that God is pleased with how Alicia turned out.

And in case any of you have been wondering, we went to Sonoma yesterday for Alicia's birthday. She wanted to visit some wineries and have a picnic lunch. While we were at the last winery, Lorenzo called Marilyn, Sarah and myself over to the bar where he and Alicia were tasting and he proposed to Alicia and gave her a beautiful ring. No date has been set yet. We'll let you know.

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"I demand from you deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse or absolve yourself from it.

I am giving you three ways of exercising mercy toward your neighbor:
the first — by deed, the second — by word, the third — by prayer. In these three degrees is contained the fullness of mercy, and it is an unquestionable proof of love for Me. By this means a soul glorifies and pays reverence to My mercy.

Many souls ... are often worried because they do not have the material means with which to carry out an act of mercy. Yet spiritual mercy, which requires neither permissions nor storehouses, is much more meritorious and is within the grasp of every soul.

If a soul does not exercise mercy somehow or other, it will not obtain My mercy on the day of judgment. Oh, if only souls knew how to gather eternal treasure for themselves, they would not be judged, for they would forestall My judgment with their mercy".