Salvation Has Come

Salvation has, once again, come to my household this day. My three-week-old son, Chastan, was baptised at the Anticipatory (Sunset) Mass this evening at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Johor Bahru.

It was an extremely historic moment in the life of my family. It was in this very parish that I first witnessed the Liturgy of the Catholic Church in 1993, this being my first ever exposure to the public worship of the Catholic Church which was largely unknown to me then. And today, in this place, my offspring was baptised into this One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church with his grandparents being his godparents (sponsors).

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Watching my boy immersed into the transparent tub filled with warm clear water, I'm unsure if it was my role as a father that drove me into a deeply mystical reawakening towards my own baptismal promises, or if I would have felt the same way if it had been anyone else's child. But I think many people present were touched in the same way, to once again participate in the saving act of Christ in the sacrament of baptism.

Salvation has come to my household. Not because we deserved it. But because Christ has acted, called and gathered us unto himself. And at each communal act of baptism, what we see taking place before our eyes beckons us once again to renew that which we had promised when Christ first saved us.

Many people choose names of greatness for themselves; names of apostles, popes, bishops and kings. My wife and I have chosen the name of Saint Chastan for our son, partially because he was born on the Feast of Saints Imbert and Chastan. But more so, we decided to give him this noble name because Saint Chastan was a simple, humble priest who obeyed his bishop to his death for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Nothing more.

And that's our hope for this little infant, that he will be the simple, humble man who would say a simple and sincere "yes" in his lifetime at the bidding of his Maker. He need not be a great man; but his Saviour must be great in his life.