The Pope continued his meditations on the Letter to the Galatians.
Newsroom (08/09/2021 19:30, Gaudium Press) Today, at the General Audience and continuing his catechesis on the Letter to the Galatians, Pope Francis insisted on the importance that each of us must give to the moment of our Baptism “in order to live with greater awareness the great gift received.”
Pope Francis said, “‘Who of you knows the date of your baptism?’ I don’t think many hands go up … But it is the date we were saved, the date we became children of God. Now, for you who don’t know, ask your godfather, godmother, father, mother, uncle, aunt: ‘When was I baptized? When was I baptized?’, And remember that date every year: it is the date we were made children of God.”
Having come to faith in Jesus Christ, the Pope pointed out, “a radically new condition has been created that leads to divine sonship,” which is not that of all men as children of the same Creator, but that we become children of God “in Christ,” who by his death and resurrection reconciles us with the Father.
For St. Paul, says the Pope, “to be baptized is equivalent to taking part in an effective and real way in the mystery of Jesus […] Baptism, therefore, is not merely an external rite. Those who receive it are transformed in the depths of their being, in their innermost being, and possess a new life, precisely that which enables them to turn to God and call upon him with the name ‘Abba, Father’ (cf. Gal 4:6).
The new identity acquired through Baptism prevails over ethnic-religious differences: “there is neither Jew nor Greek any more”, and over social differences: “neither slave nor free, neither male nor female”, as the text to the Galatians says. Such is the great dignity conferred by baptism and “it is also decisive for all of us today to rediscover the beauty of being children of God.
With information from Vatican News.
