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Bats, Baptism and the Comfort We Find in Community

This week I had the privilege of meeting with a group of parents to help prepare them for the baptism of their children. I speak to them about what will happen on the day of their child's baptism and what it expresses about our faith and our relationship with God and the Church. 

Near the end of the session I tell them a (fictional) story about a Catholic priest, an Anglican minister and a Baptist pastor in a country town plagued by bats. In it the pastor complains that, to escape the summer heat, the bats are roosting in the rafters of his Church, making a mess all over the pews. 'I have tried turning the lights on and off at all times of day and night to drive them out,' he explains. 'But as soon as I stop, they just come back.' 

Similarly, the Anglican minister describes playing loud music during the middle of the day to disturb the bats at rest in his Church, but, he laments, 'I can't spend all day every day doing it. And as soon as I stop, the bats come back.' 

'What do you do?' they asked the Catholic priest. 

When he tells them that there are no longer any bats in his church, they are surprised and ask how he managed this. 

'I just baptised them,' he explains. I haven't seen them since - but they have all enrolled in the local Catholic school.' 

The point of telling this story is to say that baptism is not a one and done thing - that as a community we want to welcome them, get to know them and be in a relationship that supports them in their new commitment to share their faith with their children. 

There are times, I tell them, that life is tough, and I really don't feel like going to Mass on Sunday morning. But I know that these are the times when coming together with the faith community is exactly what I need. No matter how hard I am finding it, there are others there that are also fighting the good fight, and some of them are winning. I am encouraged and comforted by them. It reminds me that I am not alone in striving to be faithful - nor am I the only one that is struggling. But that it is do-able. 

In this Sunday's Gospel, Jesus tells His disciples that, although He will soon leave them, they will not be alone in their struggle either. The Father will send you another advocate, He says, the Spirit of truth who will live in you. 

On one level we might ask, why do I need to go to Church, to be a part of the community, if I have the Spirit with me? 

But when I'm finding it really tough, it can be just as hard to acknowledge, let alone be open to the Spirit, all on my own. 

So, when Jesus says to His disciples, I will not leave you orphaned. I am hearing that there is a whole family in the Church to support me. And that the same Spirit living in them is speaking to me through their example of faith. 

As we come closer to celebrating the Feast of Pentecost I pray that I may continue to look to the faith community to support and encourage me. And that the families of the newly baptised will have the same experience as they begin this new season in their lives. 



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