“Take a look, Father,” Stan clicked on the Facebook link.
The page loaded and Stephanie’s cute little face, Stan’s
recently born baby girl, popped out as the profile picture. “That’s a very nice picture for your FB account, Stan,” I said.
“Oh, it’s Stephanie’s account, Father” he clarified.
That was surprising! The baby wasn’t even old enough to appreciate what being part of a social network was and she was already signed up as a dormant netizen.
“Doesn’t FB have age restrictions?”
“Oh, it does, but is there any harm in setting up an account that she will eventually own?” Stan asked.
“‘Sides, wouldn’t it be a wonderful timeline legacy for her when she’s older to appreciate all that her would-be-account stored up for her?”
“I never saw it that way,” I realized Stan had a fatherly point.
“I would like to consider it our digital legacy to Stephanie.”
* * *
Even before Facebook’s conception, the early Christians already saw the importance of initiating their spiritual timeline with Baptism.
St. Augustine, for example, joyfully addressed the newly baptized faithful, “I speak to you who have just been reborn in baptism, my little children in Christ, you who are the new offspring of the Church, gift of the Father, proof of Mother
Church’s fruitfulness. All of you who stand fast in the Lord are a holy seed, a new colony of bees, the very flower of our ministry and fruit of our toil, my joy and my crown.” (St. Augustine, A New Creation in Christ)
He continued reminding them about the importance of Baptism: “Such is the power of this sacrament: it is a sacrament of new life which begins here and now with the forgiveness of all past sins, and will be brought to completion in the resurrection of the dead. You have been buried with Christ by baptism into death in order that, as Christ has risen from the dead, you also may walk in newness of life.” (Ibid.)
This was how the first Christians understood the importance and urgency of initiation into the Faith: ensuring one’s spiritual journey towards Heaven. Thus, the Bishop of Hippo went on, “You are walking now by faith, still on pilgrimage in a mortal body away from the Lord; but He to whom your steps are directed is Himself the sure and certain way for you: Jesus Christ, who for our sake became man. For all who fear Him, He has stored up abundant happiness, which He will reveal to those who hope in Him, bringing it to completion when we have attained the reality which even now we possess in hope. (Ibid.)
Although St. Augustine was addressing recently baptized adults, it was not uncommon for the early Christian community to already initiate young children through this portal of Faith. It was only natural, for both the Church and Christian parents, to lovingly entrust a spiritual legacy to their children despite being too young to understand or even make a personal choice of faith.
Scripture, unlike what is liturgically practiced today, may not have been very explicit regarding the urgency and need to baptize infants and young children. There are, however, many accounts in the New Testament revealing how the early
Church did not delay or deprive their smallest members from benefiting the divine gifts that only a supernatural means as Baptism could give.
As early as in the Acts of the Apostles, we find occasions mentioning how the Apostles would routinely baptize entire households. Household then was understood to include everyone: the parents, their children, infants and including household servants. St. Peter himself exhorted the Jews to ‘repent and to be baptized’ because through it they will receive the Holy Spirit. This, the first Pope said, was promised by God to ‘them and their children.’
St. Paul, among the Apostles, was the one who gave a concrete teaching on the matter. In his letter to the Colossians, he tackled how Christian baptism was now the sign of the New Covenant which had replaced the circumcision of the Old Covenant.
“Paul lays a biblical foundation for infant Baptism, inasmuch as circumcision was administered to newborn babies eight days after birth (Gen 17:9-14). Later tradition bears this out, as St. Cyprian stressed that a council held in North Africa in the third century declared that Christians need not delay the Baptism of infants until the eighth day. Behind this assertion lay the assumption that the early Christians saw in Baptism what the Israelites saw in circumcision: the sacrament of initiation into God’s covenant people, open to adults and infants alike. (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, New Testament, Commentary on Col. 2:11-12)”
Baptism, for the first Christians, was like enlisting someone into a divine social network. This was so important that they already wanted their children to profit from its graces by coming in contact and sharing in the spiritual goods (i.e. prayer, Sacraments and the saints) of the community of grace, the Church. This already allowed God to work in the souls of the newly born and start a spiritual diary with them.
Through infant baptism, we can somehow say, that God stamped His Trinitarian profile picture, sealing and engraving it upon the heart and soul of every child through the gifts of faith, hope and love. Something that no earthly social network can achieve!
* * *
“What will you post first, Stan?”
Of course, photos of her baptism!” He proudly exclaimed. “But I first have to sort out the 300 photos from my camera.”
“I wonder if she’ll even have time to go through the entire timeline when she’s older. [SIGH!] At least having her baptized already kicked off her spiritual legacy,” I said.