We are commissioned through baptism

June 11, 2006 -- The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

By Fr. Michael Stubbs

	Fr. Mike Stubbs

When seminarians leave the seminary for summer vacation, they often hear the words, "Remember, there's no vacation from your vocation." The idea is that relaxed supervision and greater exposure to temptation should not lessen their commitment. It's a good thought.

We might compare those words to Jesus' parting instructions to the disciples in Sunday's gospel reading. It is the concluding scene in Matthew's gospel. Jesus has gathered the disciples on a mountain in Galilee, for Jesus' ascension up into heaven. Only, in Matthew's gospel, we do not actually see Jesus leave. In fact, he tells the disciples, in contrast to their expectations, "Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."

Even with Jesus apparently absent, the disciples will not be taking a vacation from their vocation. Jesus entrusts them with a commission, to make disciples of people throughout the world, to baptize them, to teach them as Jesus has taught.

Jesus will apparently be absent, but in actuality, he will remain with the disciples, as indicated by his words, "I am with you always." He will remain with the disciples by means of his Spirit and through the force of his teachings, which will shape others yet to come into disciples like the eleven.

The familiar words "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" sum up this new reality. We frequently recite those words to begin a moment of prayer. Those words also lie at the heart of the sacrament of baptism, when we begin our life as members of the Christian community. And significantly, those words lie at the core of the commission that the disciples are receiving.

When we make the sign of the cross, especially with our fingers dipped in holy water, we recall the fact of our baptism, when we were baptized "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." At the same time, we are reminding ourselves of the commission we have received, as did the eleven disciples, to share our faith with others. We are reminding ourselves of our Christian vocation. The words with which we were baptized are also the words Jesus used to send out the eleven to make disciples of all the nations.

We might note that Sunday's gospel reading, unlike other passages in the New Testament, does not associate baptism with the washing away of sin. Instead, the gospel reading views baptism as entrance into the community of believers. It is part of the process of making new disciples. It is how the Christian community will grow from a handful of believers into a world-wide church.

Through baptism, new believers are immersed into the paschal mystery of Jesus' death and rising. They are also invited to shape their lives by their faith in the Triune God; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That community of divine persons serves as the model for the community of believers that the new disciples have joined through. And through baptism they have made a lifelong commitment. There is no vacation from that vocation.

(Fr. Stubbs, a priest of the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas, has a master's degree in theology from Harvard.)