For the rest of Lent, look for babies

	Tom Rinkoski

The movie line, "I see dead people" crept immediately up the charts with other famous movie lines; "Play it again Sam" from Casablanca, or Clint Eastwood's "Make my day!" The line, "I see dead people," was uttered by the child actor Haley Joe Osmet in The Sixth Sense indicating that he had an uncanny ability to see the world differently from others. Since the birth of my first grandchild, I have gained the uncanny ability to see the world differently! I see babies.

Lent
• Lent-related articles  • 2003 Lenten Wish List (3/7 issue)  • Lenten rules (2/28 issue)

Sunday, they taught us a new song. One line stood out, "Like a mother in labor, I bring all to birth." A couple with an infant sat next to us. An infant yelled out the best rendition of a Kyrie I have heard since the seminary.

When I was giving a presentation on talking to teens about sex a short while ago a women entered with a baby and said she would sit in the back so as not to bother me. Informing her of my Babu [grandfather] status, I politely but firmly asked her to come to the front. At the Mall I am positive there has been a sudden increase in strollers. I see babies.

It seems wonderfully appropriate to see more babies as we get closer to Easter! What better way to celebrate new life than babies! Our grandson is going to be baptized on Holy Saturday -- a convergence of sacred streams!

Sunday, I was staring across the aisle at a somewhat bored group of teens. They rolled their tongues around in their mouths to wile away the time. Occasionally, the tongue peeked out, and quickly returned as if embarrassed. As I saw it, I recalled how baby Cain, shortly after birth, stuck out his tongue repeatedly, almost like a snake, checking out his new world, tasting life.

Each of us has an inner baby, forever trying to get out. I see a lot more of our inner babies shining forth. I see it in adult men who hunger for attention. I see it in 5-year-olds crying because the world has thrown them another curve ball they still can't figure out. New teens trying to deal with a budding sexuality remind me of the reactions I see in babies when they first discover the toes and fingers they stuff into their mouths are their own. I see babies! I believe this is a part of God's Easter plan.

Get in touch with the baby in you. Maybe that's what God was getting at in the story of the Transfiguration from the Second Sunday of Lent. Peter didn't make a mistake in setting up tents for Moses, Elijah and Jesus -- he just acted too much like an adult. The bright lights, the clean whiteness are all the elemental signs that God was just trying to initiate the simplicity of holy playtime.

Or consider the passage from Isaiah which anticipates the passion narrative, "God has given me a well trained tongue." Most of us like to think of that in terms of professional communication, the ability to clearly enunciate your consonants and vowels. Perhaps we haven't applied the logic of God to the situation. Perhaps the most effective well trained tongue is a baby's? Babies don't yet know what we call language, yet they communicate. Don't they? Ask any mother. Better yet, ask any grandmother. I hear babies, everywhere, a lot more than I ever had. It is the sound of Easter among us!

The way babies feel is glorious isn't it? The first time I touched Cain's baby head, my fingers felt like they were in touch with heaven. Commercials for skin cream call out to the baby in us. Even though the AARP card in my wallet assures me I will never have smooth skin like that again, it is there somewhere, just below the layer I am scratching. Jesus was well aware of the power of touch, and connected that way with each person he healed. My guess is that not only did he heal each person's infirmity, but Jesus' touch was just like being in touch with the softness of a baby. We love touching new life, because being in touch with life is the root of what we are about. We are Easter People. We see babies!

The smell of incense doesn't hold a candle to the smell of a baby. Make it your Lenten practice to smell babies in the air.

In the remaining time of Lent make a special effort to see babies. Begin this discipline by first paying attention to every baby you see. Smile and say a little prayer of "Thanks" each time.

Then slowly but surely advance to seeing the baby in each person you see. If you do it long enough and hard enough, someone will touch the baby in you!

(Rinkoski is the Green Bay Diocese's Family Life director and a professional story-teller. E-mail him at trinkoski@gbdioc.org.)