Baptism testimony

 What should I say in my baptism testimony?

A testimony can include three basic points: Life before knowing Christ • How you came to know Christ (be specific) • Life after you received Christ (changes He has made – what He has done for you.) When giving a brief testimony, DO: Pray that God will give you wisdom and clarity of thought.

When we were baptized, we entered into a covenant with God. We promised to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ, always remember Him, keep His commandments, and serve Him to the end. Heavenly Father promised us a remission of sins and, through the ordinance of confirmation, the gift of the  Holy Spirit. "Holy Ghost."

The five realities for the Christian that are celebrated in Baptism are (1) being welcomed into the community of Jesus, the church; (2) beginning 

a lifelong conversion, turning away from sin to embrace the Christian way of life; (3) being reborn to a new identity as a son or daughter of God; 

(4)sharing in the mission of Jesus and adopting it as one's own life purpose; (5) receiving the gift of the Spirit of Jesus that enables the 

Christian to share in God's life of love.

How does the Catholic church's understanding of the phrase "born again" differ from some other Christians' interpretation of that phrase?

When Christians use the phrase "born again," they are referring to a one-time only, supposedly life-changing event in which a person accepts 

Jesus as lord and savior. It is obvious that this notion differs significantly from the Catholic understanding of rebirth. Baptism itself celebrates a process of dying 

and rising to new life within a community, a process that happens over and over again in a person's lifetime.

The Catholic church teaches that Baptism is necessary for salvation and is the fullest means of salvation. Jesus himself taught, "No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit" (3:5). To non-Christians, however, the church teaches that because Christ died for all humankind, all are offered salvation through the paschal mystery, in ways that are known to God.

At the core of the sacrament of Baptism are the action and words of the water rite. This essential rite consists of the minister's pouring water over the person's 

head or immersing the person in water, while pronouncing the Trinitarian Formula, "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

 

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May 15, 2015

Newly baptized adults share stories of their journey to embrace the Catholic faith

Father Johnathan Meyer, pastor of All Saints Parish in Dearborn County, baptizes Evan Fischer during the parish’s Easter Vigil Mass at St. Martin Church in Yorkville on April 4, while Holly Lattire, Evan’s sponsor, places her hand on his shoulder. (Submitted photo)Father Johnathan Meyer, pastor of All Saints Parish in Dearborn County, baptizes Evan Fischer during the parish’s Easter Vigil Mass at St. Martin Church in Yorkville on April 4, while Holly Lattire, Evan’s sponsor, places her hand on his shoulder. (Submitted photo)

By Natalie Hoefer

As the Church marks the resurrection of Christ at Easter, it also welcomes new members who enter into their own new life as Catholics.

The Archdiocese of Indianapolis welcomed 1,052 souls into full communion with the Church on Easter weekend through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) in parishes throughout central and southern Indiana. (Related: See a list of all new Catholics in the archdiocese)

Each new member brings a rich story of their call to Catholicism. Each bears the touch of God calling them closer to him in union with the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church founded by Christ.

Here are four of those special stories.

‘I knew that everything would change’

When Evan Fischer started having late-night religious discussions with his best friend—a Catholic—the summer before his freshman year in high 

school, he never imagined he would profess the Catholic faith before he headed off to college.

“I was filled with all the stereotypes about Catholics, that they were strict, traditional and even hateful,” said Evan, 17, the son of Christian parents.

The discussions continued throughout his high school years at East Central High School in St. Leon. Then during the summer before Evan’s senior year, the same friend invited him to attend a eucharistic conference at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Steubenville, Ohio.

“I knew that after that trip, everything would change—I just had this gut feeling,” he said.

He was right.

His first change of heart and mind during the conference involved the truth of the sacrament of reconciliation.

“They taught us that the priest is interceding for God, that you’re speaking to God. I thought, ‘That makes so much sense.’ My stereotypical views started to 

change because I started learning.”

The next change came during the second night of the conference, during eucharistic adoration.

“I was exposed to the Eucharist for the first time,” Evan recalled. “I cannot even explain it now. When they carried the monstrance by me, I was in tears.”

He started attending religious education classes at St. Nicholas Parish in Ripley County.

“They started teaching me about the Catholic Church, and about how to have a personal connection with God,” said Evan. “I never saw the Catholic Church as supporting a personal relationship with God. But when you look at it, confession, baptism, the Eucharist—they’re all about you and God.”

Before long, Evan started going to RCIA at All Saints Parish in Dearborn County, with his best friend serving as his sponsor.

“I wanted to learn more, and Father [Jonathan] Meyer rocked it,” Evan said.

Evan said participating in RCIA and becoming Catholic “changed my life forever.”

“My baptism to me personally was me being born again in the most spiritual way possible,” he explained of the first of three sacraments of 

initiation he received at All Saints Church during the Easter Vigil on April 4. “It was like a breath of fresh air. It felt like anything I ever worried about was gone. 

I buried my face in my towel when I got back to the pew. It was so emotional.”

As for the best friend who was with him throughout the journey, they’ve been dating for a year now.

“Holly [Lattire] was a big inspiration,” Evan admits. “But I didn’t join the Church for her.

“I learned that God has to be at the center of your life. He wants you to experience the life he has planned for you, because he has so many great things planned.

“I’m a new person. Being Catholic is my entire life now.”

93-year-old learns it’s never too late for baptism

In July of 2014, John T. Newlin lost his wife of 72 years.

“We had a perfect marriage,” said Newlin. “Marjorie had been a good mother and a wonderful wife.”

She had also been a good Catholic, he said.

Newlin, whose parents were not churchgoers, supported his wife’s faith.

“We raised our children Catholic,” he said. “I was a scout master at St. Patrick [Parish in Terre Haute].

“I didn’t go [with them to church] on a regular basis, but I would go on holidays or if we were on vacation. Marjorie, bless her heart, never got on me to join.”

But after Marjorie died last year, Newlin decided to enroll in RCIA at St. Patrick.

“I felt like I would be better if I joined,” he said. “I felt like it was something I probably needed. I didn’t want to lose connection with the only Church I’d known all through my whole married life.”

Professing the Catholic faith was not a stretch for Newlin.

“The principles of the Church conform to the principles I’ve always had about trying to help other people and to not be selfish. That’s how we raised our children,” said the father of three and grandfather of five.

While Newlin had been to Mass before, he was struck by the Easter Vigil.

“I was impressed with the tradition it involved, and the dedication of everyone involved,” he said. “And I’ve been impressed with how welcoming they’ve been. It was a pleasure to see the joy of my friends and acquaintances that have been in the Church for so long.”

After 72 years of being exposed to Church teaching, the biggest change for Newlin was simply going to Mass every Sunday. His son, Tom, has been taking him, and even served as his sponsor.

The irony is not lost on Newlin.

“I never thought my own son would be my godfather,” he said.

A ‘feeling of community and friendship’

When Karen married Stephen West, a practicing Catholic, she never dreamed she would one day join him in his faith. A self-proclaimed “scientific-minded” obstetrician gynecologist, Karen was not sure God existed.

But when their son, Nicholas, had a relapse of leukemia at age 10 after a two-and-a-half year remission, Karen prayed.

“I started feeling like God was really present and really listening to my prayers,” she recalled. “Even after the chaplain came and said there was nothing [the doctors] could do, I prayed and felt calm, like everything would be OK.”

She also felt buoyed by the support she and her family received from the students, teachers and members of their parish, Nativity of Our 

Lord Jesus Christ, in Indianapolis, where the West’s children also attended grade school.

Nicholas did rebound, and the family of four took a trip to Italy to celebrate.

“We toured the Vatican,” Karen recalled. “It was overwhelming for me to see my children and husband and his parents with their faith, and I wanted that.”

Karen did attend Mass at Nativity with her family at times, saying she “always felt comfortable and welcomed there.” But she admitted there were times when she would claim to be too busy with work or too tired from being on call.

Then two things happened in the fall of 2014 that solidified her path to the Church. The first was an encounter with some Nativity parishioners at a wedding.

“They said, ‘We miss you,’ and this one guy said, ‘Just go to Mass,’ ” she recalled. “I had this feeling like, ‘I need to do this.’

“I listened to the guy and went to church. Father Pat [Doyle, pastor of Nativity Parish] said something in his sermon that grabbed me about needing to be baptized.”

By October, Karen was enrolled in RCIA at Nativity.

“Once I got involved, it just fit,” she said. “I just felt comfortable. There was a feeling of community and friendship and belonging.”

Karen, who is 50 and an obstetrician gynecologist at Community North Hospital in Indianapolis, said the Easter Vigil at Nativity Church on 

April 4, during which she was baptized, confirmed and received Holy Communion, was “the most beautiful thing I’ve ever witnessed in my entire life.

“The whole service, the Scripture, going through the Litany of the Saints, hearing St. Raphael [her confirmation saint] mentioned—it really felt like God was right there,” she said.

During the course of the RCIA sessions, Karen said she changed.

“I’m not as worried about little things anymore,” she said. “I make time for church, I can give up control of patients to other doctors, I take time for myself and my spirituality. People have already commented at work that I seem like a different person.

“I’ve always witnessed Mass and the faith from a distance,” she added. “Partaking in it now is very special.”

‘I feel like a real member now’

Gilles Noumsi’s journey to the faith was gradual, spanning four decades and two continents.

Growing up in Cameroon in Africa, he was not one to frequent church.

“My mother passed away when I was pretty young, and my father was not a churchgoer,” he recalled. “My extended family were Catholic. I would go to Mass at Christmas and on Easter Day, but that was it.”

And that was fine with Noumsi, until his mid-20s.

“I started noticing that all the girls I was attracted to, they were very, very into the Church,” he said. “It felt like maybe God was telling me something. I decided maybe I need to look in that direction, and started going to Mass.”

Noumsi liked what he found there.

“I’ve been to different churches out of curiosity,” he said. “To me, the progression of the Catholic Mass compels me, the way it is conducted, and also the way the priest conveys the Gospel message.

“In other churches, I felt like the message was more about making you feel good about yourself. But here the message guides you toward understanding the Scripture and how to apply it toward your life.”

But the two years of classes it would take to become a Catholic in Cameroon?

“I wasn’t interested in doing that,” he said with a chuckle. “But I kept going to Mass.”

Eventually, the desire to be received into full communion of the Church and to receive the sacraments trumped the “lack of interest” in two years of study, and Noumsi started the course of study at his parish.

But before he could finish, he moved to New York City. Between working weekends and going to school, he had little time to go to Mass, let alone enroll in RCIA.

Again, just as he prepared to begin RCIA at a church in Harlem, life took him elsewhere, and he found himself with a new job in risk management in Indianapolis two years ago.

With his weekends free, Noumsi started attending Mass again, and enrolled in RCIA at St. Monica Parish in Indianapolis last fall.

“St. Monica is a great community,” he said. “When I started coming here, I felt like I was home.”

Finally, after almost 20 years of wanting to partake of the sacraments, he was baptized, confirmed and received Communion on April 4 during 

the Easter Vigil Mass at St. Monica.

“It was really emotional,” said Noumsi, 41, of the Mass and receiving the sacraments. “After Communion, I sat in the pew and I felt something. I just started crying. It’s hard for me to cry, but it happened. I felt that power.

“I used to come to Church but wasn’t [receiving] Communion, so I felt like I wasn’t really participating. Now I feel like a real member, really participating and understanding more about Jesus and the Catholic faith.”

Noumsi also enjoys worshipping in his native language at the French-speaking Mass at St. Michael the Archangel Church in Indianapolis, held the second Sunday of each month.

And there, in addition to receiving the sacraments, he has started doing something else he “always wanted to do.”

“I started singing in their Gospel choir,” he said with an exuberant smile. “There’s something about Gospel singing. I just feel a peace inside me.”

Wherever he worships, Noumsi feels he is home at last with the Catholic Church.

“I believe in the Catholic teaching,” he said. “I’m in the right place, and I hope God continues to guide me.” †

https://www.archindy.org/criterion/local/2015/05-15/baptized.html

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https://www.catholicmom.com/articles/2013/12/09/a-story-of-baptism?

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Catholic Kids Media - Jesus Gets Baptized?! - Baptism of the Lord A https://youtu.be/uR1w-YBtl0A?si=gDLrg979RsevXJHl via @YouTube 

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What is Your Baptism Story?

11/3/2013

Listen to the podcast.

A sermon by the Rev. George M. Maxwell, Jr.

All Saints Day-Year C

Do you have a baptism story?

I have heard mine more than once.

I was born in Columbia, South Carolina.

The first day did not go as planned. Just after my father had called all of the family to give them the good news of my arrival, the doctors told him that I would not survive the day.

My heart was too big. It was crowding my lungs and preventing them from getting enough oxygen. There was nothing that anyone could do.

My maternal grandmother suggested that I be baptized. So, they asked a Roman Catholic nurse to do it. The nurse knew her liturgy as well as her medicine, so she baptized me-in the name of the Father, and of Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Then they waited.

I'm not sure what happened next. No one else is either. All we know is that, miraculously, my lungs began to work.

Things didn't get better right away. Mother still bears several stories of my turning blue without warning. One time dad had to race down the hallways of the hospital to find the missing oxygen tanks. Another time mom had to submerge me in a bath of cold water to shock me into breathing again.

But, my lungs did ultimately work. Here I am. And, it's been awhile since anyone complained that they were having difficulty hearing me!

Beyond the occasional joke, though, I didn't think very much about my baptism story until I started having children of my own. It was then that I realized what it really means to have been blessed.

As I experienced what a gift our children were to us, I got a glimpse of what a gift my life had been to my own parents-and even to me. It made me think of the story of Abraham and Sarah.

I realized that we were, as they were, blessed in order to be a blessing.

Today is the first Sunday after All Saints Day, the day when we remember all of the ways that we have been blessed by all of the holy women and men who have gone before us.

We perform baptisms today as a reminder that, by this bathing, we are washed clean of sin and, with this anointing, we too are made holy people.

It doesn't happen all at once, of course. Baptism is not magic. We aren't trying to manipulate God into doing something that God would not otherwise do.

Baptism is a sacrament. It reveals to us a truth that we might otherwise have missed. It shows it to us in a way that we can see it.

The truth that baptism reveals is simply that we have been blessed by God's love for us. Our very lives are a gift. But, it's a gift that we have to live into.

That's what we are talking about when we talk about the process of becoming a person. We are always becoming who we are meant to be.

I won't really be George Maxwell until the day I die, and maybe not even then.

We become the person we are meant to be by imitating Christ. That is, after all, what it means to be a Christian. It's a little ironic, really, that we gain our unique individuality by imitating another person. But, faith is something that we have to live before it's something that we can understand.

Paul summarizes all of this in his letter to the Galatians. "As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves in Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise." (Gal. 3: 27-29)

Our Gospel reading for today is taken from Luke's "Sermon on the Plain." This passage describes a critical part of what it means to imitate Christ.

It's really all about relationships.

Many of the ethical standards sound so familiar that we don't really think about them when we hear them. Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you.

We are used to people claiming that they are doing these things without noticing any real change in their behavior.

But, there is one of these standards that always gets our attention. We know right away if we are living into this one.

"And if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again."

It's hard, frankly, for us to imagine that imitating Christ means that we are supposed to just stand there while someone steals our stuff.

Now, to be clear, I think that we understand that we are not our stuff.

We know that we are supposed to share with those who are in need, and to support the communities of which we are a part.

For example, I have heard from many of you that you are looking forward to our pledge procession today. It's one of those times when we experience a real sense of blessing. We feel it as we sing the repeating alleluias and put our pledge cards in the basket in front of the altar.

We know without having to think too much about it that these pledges are about our relationships-what it means to be in communion with each other, to be accountable to each other, to believe in each other, to bless each other.

It is harder, though, to understand how letting someone steal our stuff is helpful to our relationships. It sounds more like enabling abuse. Besides, how there can be any real reconciliation without restoration?

Yet, sometimes that is exactly what forgiveness requires.

Do you remember the candlestick scene Victor Hugo's novel, Les Miserables?

Jean Valjean is wandering the streets of the city in the cold of the night. There is no room for felons in the inn. He had been imprisoned for nineteen long years after stealing bread for his starving sister and trying repeatedly to escape. He is angry. He is bitter. And, he trusts no one.

A compassionate bishop brings him home, gives him a hot meal, and offers him a bed for the night.

Understandably perhaps, Valjean gets up in the middle of the night, stuffs all of the silver on the shelves into a sack, and sneaks out of the house.

He doesn't get far. Soldiers arrest him and bring him back to the bishop.

The bishop greets him the second time with the same sense of compassion that he showed at first. With open arms and tear-filled eyes, he says to the soldiers 

that Valjean is telling them the truth. The silver had been a gift.

He looks at Valjean and tells him that he that, in his haste to leave, he forgot something. Then, the bishop takes two silver candlesticks off of the table and gives them to Valjean as well.

As the soldiers are leaving, the bishop tells Valjean that his life has been spared for God, and that he should use the money from the silver to 

make an honest man of himself.

This is, I think, Jean Valjean's baptism story.

This is the moment when the blessing of his life is revealed to him. And, he ultimately chooses to live into it, finding ways that he can be a blessing to others-even at the risk of losing his own life.

Lest you think that this kind of thing only happens in idealistic French novels, let me give you an earthier example.

Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the Robertson family in the popular A&E program "Duck Dynasty," tells a story in his book about dealing with what he calls "river rats." A "river rat" is someone who steals fish out of your nets or off of your lines.

When Phil discovered that people were stealing his fish, he did just what you might expect him to do. He got his gun and began patrolling the river. When he spotted someone lifting his nets, he ran them down in his boat and shot at them.

But, as God would have it, Phil was also reading his Bible during this time.

One day, he came across Paul's admonition in the twelfth chapter of Romans, "If your enemy is hungry; feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. ... Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good."

Though not completely convinced of this wisdom, Phil decided to try it.

The next time he caught "river rats" lifting one of his nets, he offered to give them the fish that they were trying to steal. He pulled up the net himself and poured the fish out into their boat. He told them to invite all of their kinfolk to a fish fry. And, he told them that if they ever needed fish, they didn't have to steal them. All they had to do was come to his dock and ask. He would give them all of the fish they wanted.

People stopped stealing his fish after that. Every time he saw someone eying one of his nets, he'd offer them free fish. Then, he realized that he was giving away fewer fish that were previously being stolen from him. And, he realized something else.

In his words, he realized that "no matter how sorry and low-down somebody might be, everybody's worth something."

This is, I think, Phil Robertson's baptism story.

It is the moment that the blessing of his life is revealed to him. And, he ultimately chooses to live into it, finding ways that he can be a blessing to others-even at the risk of losing some of his own livelihood.

So, what is your baptism story?

When was the moment when the blessing of your life was revealed to you?

When did you choose to live into it?

How did you find ways that you could be a blessing to others?

What did you risk losing in the process?

Maybe this is our work this week. Right now, in this moment, we all know what it means to be blessed. As we celebrate the baptisms of these young children, we won't miss the miraculous gift that their new life is to us. We won't mistake the presence of God's love, even if we might not have used these words to describe it.

It's not hard, right now, to understand the story of Abraham and Sarah.

We know that we are, as they were, blessed in order to be a blessing.

It is important that we do this work, I think.

We have to be able to tell our own baptism stories before we can begin to teach these children about theirs.

We have to be able to feel the presence of God's love in our own lives before we can begin to point out the same gift in theirs.

And, the best way to teach them what it means to choose to live into this gift is to show them.

Our work is to show them that faith is something that we have to live before it's something that we can understand.

And, I look forward to watching them do just that for many years to come!

Amen.

https://www.cathedralatl.org/sermons/what-is-your-baptism-story/

The Cathedral of St. Philip, an Episcopal parish in Atlanta, Georgia

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https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/resource/55685/baptism-foreshadowed-in-old-testament

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