Once upon a time, there was a baby eaglet who fell from his large nest in a tree and flopped his first flight into a chicken pen. There he befriended the chickens and they welcomed him to eat with them. When the owner of the chickens saw the interloper, he also welcomed him. From that time on, the eagle grew up living with chickens. Years later, the eagle looked up at the sky and saw a beautiful bird soaring high in the clouds. He asked a chicken who it was up there, and the chicken replied that it was an eagle, the king of all winged creatures The one-time baby eagle continued to peck at the ground and eat corn with the chickens since he continued to consider himself one of them.
This story about the eagle who thought he was a chicken, is related to the story of a mom and dad who took their second child to be baptized. On the way home from the ceremony, their 4-year-old was crying in the back seat. Asked why he was crying, the little boy replied: “The priest said he wants us to be brought up in a Christian home—but I want to stay with you guys.”
The eagle in the chicken coop was raised to think it was a chicken—and had no other sense of its identity as one who could soar high in the sky above. It would never ascend to the identity it was created to be. And so it might be the same with us. We might never find the fullness of our identity were it not for baptism and the religious formation that should ensue. That is, we might never become the best version of ourselves if left to see ourselves solely through a secular lens. We are eaglets programmed to soar and not remain grounded.
This week the Church celebrates the feast of the baptism of the Lord. It is not intended to celebrate the historical occurrence of Jesus being baptized by John. Rather, it is a feast that calls us to reflect on what our baptism means for us today.
Referred to as a “sacrament of initiation,” baptism was an experience during the infancy of most of us. It was a day on which our family members brought us to church and welcomed us into a faith community that had preserved the vision of life that Jesus taught. They sorely hoped that His vision would influence our growing-up years. They wanted this because they knew their precious little one from heaven would encounter challenges that would blur their baby’s recollection of the God who sent them here.
Our family intended to give us a sense of belonging and orientation for life that would help us become a person known for our faith, hope, and love. Our family members knew that the sacraments and church practices made us members of the Church—a belonging that would help us hone our unique identity into the gift God intended us to be. It would help us realize that creation was incomplete without us in it. Our family brought us to our baptism because they wanted us to realize that God created us special—and that God doesn’t make junk.
Keep in mind that God did not need sacraments, scripture, prayer, or involvement within a faith community. It was WE who needed these gifts—that would help us face challenges and acquire a vision of why God dreamed our creation into being.
Sadly, we live in an increasingly secular society in which growing numbers of people find involvement with Church to be something they think that they can do without. In “first world” countries that have a high standard of living, people tend to rely on “things” and not the God who made them. Not surprisingly, with cell phones preoccupying the attention of so many people over the past few decades, individuals are feeling more isolated and lonely. Young people find it a challenge to relate conversationally with peers or elders because their socialization occurs via text messaging and eyes fixated on cell phone videos.
Is it any wonder that a commercial played throughout the day on the radio has Ronald Reagan’s son as its pitch-man who states in an arrogant tone of voice: “The fastest growing religious group in America today is the non-religious—especially among the young. Join the Freedom from Religion Foundation for 20 dollars. This is Ron Reagan, lifelong atheist and not afraid of burning in hell.”
As an anthropologist of religion, I see Reagan’s group “evangelizing” a gospel of their own. It is one that is 180 degrees in the opposite direction of the Christian Gospels. Surprising to me is Reagan’s proclamation of having no fear about burning in hell. While he says this in a scoffing tone of voice, I say the same thing. Namely, like him, I also don’t believe in a devil throwing me into hell. That’s not my religion!
Instead, I think of Ron and countless others losing an opportunity to be an even better person than they are. Embracing the Gospel, we can grow, as Luke said of Jesus, “in wisdom and understanding.”
As former president, Jimmy Carter was laid to rest, he was remembered for speaking of his faith influencing him: “I have one life and one chance to make it count for something. I’m free to choose that something. That something—the something that I’ve chosen—is my faith. My faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I can, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have, to try to make a difference.”
This past week, a “pop-up” Internet article appeared that told of celebrities who died in 2024. I was surprised to see photos of faces that were no longer with us. After questioning some comments that were associated with different individuals, I explored the topic further, and discovered that this article was a slickly presented and edited set of lies. Someone, like those who send a “virus” to as many computers as they can invade, was just presenting misinformation. I couldn’t help but ask: “Why do you do this?” All I could think of was the lies that still fill the airwaves that promote the Trump agenda. For example, the Senate hearings on cabinet nominees. Once again, not being “sworn in” to tell the truth, “untruths” pour forth. In such a world, people baptized to be truth-tellers are much-needed.
When I see lies fill the airwaves and behaviors that occur simply because some people wish to cause problems for others, I’m reminded of the prayer of St. Michael. One of its lines refers “to all the evil spirits that prowl around the world seeking the ruin of souls (i.e., people’s lives).” Such is the world—a world in need of us, the baptized.