Sunday, Jan. 13, is the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Today at 10 a.m. in the Sistine Chapel (2 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time), Pope Benedict XVI will baptize several babies in the Sistine Chapel.

Parish

Epriest.com offers best practices from parishes. One is a good post-confirmation program at Holy Spirit parish in the Diocese of Arlington, Va. The program divides the students into four units. Each “Evangelization Unit” of 10-13 students assigns tasks based on their comfort and skill level.

Family

FamiliaUSA.net offers “Next Sunday” ideas. For the Baptism of the Lord, they offer a project that requires lemon juice, a paint brush, white paper and a hot iron.

An excerpt: “At baptism, the priest marked your forehead with the Sign of the Cross using holy oil. Though you can no longer see that cross on your forehead, it is still there. …

“With a fine paint brush dipped in lemon juice, print your name on a sheet of white paper. Let it dry. Can you see it? Just like the baptismal cross on your forehead, after a while it is no longer visible. Have an adult iron over the paper with a hot iron. Can you see your name now? It was always there. The baptismal cross on our forehead is also invisible to everyone but God.”

Media

The book Pollyanna has a bad reputation. But when we saw the book on tape for sale, used and cheap, we bought it — and found it to be worth far more than we paid. Pollyanna’s glad game is a wonderful representation of how all baptized people should act. We enjoyed the Disney movie as well, but the book is far better.

Readings

Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7; Psalm 29:1-4, 3, 9-10; Acts 10:34-38, Matthew 3:13-17 Epriest.com offers free homily packs.

Our Take

Today, Pope Benedict XVI will baptize babies in the Vatican. It’s ironic that the Catholic Church is sometimes the target of complaints about infant baptism by Christians who want to claim that baptism should be the free choice of the individual.

They do have a point: Being Christian does need to be the free choice of an individual — and baptism doesn’t work automatically. It must be accepted and lived out to be effective.

But it makes no more sense to deny a child baptism than it would for parents to deny their children their love.

Imagine a mother and father who decided they wanted their child to make a free choice before entering into a relationship with them. They would feed and care for the child, but they would not give him their last name, or express their love for him, until he was old enough to decide for himself whether or not he wanted a relationship with his parents.

That would be clearly wrong. The wrongness should be equally clear in the case of baptism. The Church, like a loving mother, wants to embrace her children as soon as she can, giving them her love and acceptance. Sadly, some of those children will stray. But others will be strengthened by this long, intimate relationship and come to live in it eternally.

The Hoopeses are editorial directors of Faith & Family magazine (faithandfamilymag.com).