I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with all my heart
…your right hand saves me.
Imagine Paul, Silas and the other prisoners in today’s reading from Acts (16:22-34) praying these words upon finding themselves unharmed after the earthquake which demolished the prison. And surely the jailer is thanking the gods that his charges are still in place in the earthquake-ridden jail. That saved his head! But then a conversation changes his perceptions about who really saved them, and his whole life is transformed into more than he ever imagined possible through Baptism, quite a different sort of “earthquake!”
Baptism is unimaginable grace, newness that can’t fully be expressed or understood. The grace of God comes with urgency to hearts open and ready; a free gift which really frees, liberating and opening the person to fullness of life in Christ.
Sixty-nine years ago today this baptismal grace flooded my soul and, like the jailer and his family, my life has never been the same because of God’s love and the faith of my parents who brought me to these saving waters. Perhaps today you might reflect on the day of your Baptism and the graces and blessings that have been yours since then…simply because of those waters, those who brought you to them, and God’s gracious gift. Then, together with Paul, Silas, the other prisoners and the jailer and his family, we might make the words of Psalm 138 our own.
Sr. Toni Longo, ASC
