The door we came through– Baptism

By Fr Martin Sirju, Vicar General

On December 29, 2024, on the Feast of the Holy Family, the bishops throughout the world opened their Jubilee Doors as a sign of thanksgiving, forgiveness, reconciliation, and peace.

This opening of the Jubilee Door evokes many symbolisms. Fr Don Chambers explored the concept of ‘door’ as a sacramental and the spirituality of sacramentality in his September 2024 Jubilee reflections on Trinity TV. I now add some reflections of my own.

First of all, Baptism. Baptism is the “vitae spiritualis ianua” – “door to the life in the Spirit.” It is a much better definition that “Baptism is the sacrament that removes Original Sin.”

The story of salvation does not begin with sin but with grace—“original grace”—as Richard Rohr puts it in his book Divine Dance. The fundamental doctrine—or maybe better yet, story—of Christian faith is that God wants us to share in the life of the Trinity. The story also tells us we messed up things so badly, God Himself had to come and open that door to us in a special way.

The Jubilee Year is an opportunity for us to rethink our Baptism. When I speak to parents—most times single mothers, but on some occasions fathers—who are requesting the baptism of their child, they do so because of tradition (which they hardly understand), for school, or to keep Jumbie at bay. At some point I ask about their Baptism certificate, once they claim to be Catholic.

Most times they say: “Oh God! I dunno where to find dat, yes!” Sometimes they think it is impossible to locate but because our sacramental record-keeping is generally in very good order, they are easily able to find it.

Let’s begin the Jubilee Year by celebrating Baptism, locating our Baptism certificate, framing it or laminating it, and keep it in a safe place.

The first thing Baptism should remind us of is the “door” we came, through Baptism, the door that is Christ (Jn 10:7), which the parish main church door symbolises, for through it we enter the Church, we become a member of the Christian community, bound and energised by the Spirit.

The first door we think of should not be the door or the gateway to the Catholic school Baptism primary or secondary. That is the main reason people baptise children today. It is linked to the “door” that is Christ; the school door holds a lesser though important significance.

Pope Francis in Dilexit Nos links the heart of Christ to Baptism. Out of Christ’s wounded side flowed “blood and water”. Christ also says on the cross: “I thirst”. Not for the vinegar they gave Him, not even for water, but for He thirsts for us. At the height of His sacrifice, He thirsts for us.

Baptism should therefore remind us that Christ thirsts for us and wants us to drink Him so that our homes will be filled with life-giving water. Baptism therefore immediately points to the family.

It ought to be the context in which children first experience life in the Spirit, in Christ. For this very reason Catholic teaching calls it the “domestic Church.”

Even the taboos surrounding Baptism serve a purpose. The pre-baptismal anointing of the baby is meant to protect the child from evil, from the Evil One. ‘Jumbies’ are real–negative influences, toxic behaviour, and evil spirits roaming the territory. Pope Francis, more than any other pope since Vatican II, has been reminding us of the subtle working of the Evil One.

There was the cultural taboo that if you came home late at night or very early in the morning, enter the door of your home backward. We don’t have to actually practise this, but the sentiment is instructive. We can walk the wrong path, mix with the wrong people. Protecting ourselves means “changing direction”, hence the turning backward.

The Jumbie mentality also serves a purpose. It reminds us of the reality of evil, not prior to grace nor more powerful. Even the black beads/‘jets’ that people bring for blessing should not be rejected. It retains a consciousness among our people that there is evil out there.

It would be better to bless it in conjunction with a traditional Catholic sacramental (rosary, medal) rather than reject it outright. The ‘jets’ serve as link from one cosmology to the next, which is helpful in the process of conversion, but also points to how a salvific ontology (who I am in the story of salvation) evolves in history.

The evil associated with Baptism should remind us of the path we ought to have taken and the wrong one we are on, if that applies. This has so many implications for marriage and family life. One of the action items for the Jubilee Year is to place a Jubilee Door image on a door in one’s home.

There is a socio-economic factor here. Many homes in East Port of Spain have one door–the front door. Many of the other rooms have no doors or a curtain that acts as a door.

The head of the household can stick that picture in any meaningful spot, entrance door to the home or maybe pin it onto the curtain that marks off the separate room.

In view of the high incidence of child abuse in this country, the sticker can be placed in the rooms in which children sleep. It can remind us to open a new doorway in the way we treat children. Opening the door of listening is far more important than opening the door to material things, especially iPhones.