“But you promised me!”

Perhaps we said these words to our parents around our birthday or after Christmas.

With higher stakes, we have heard someone we love express their disappointment and deep pain with us. (I will never forget times when my parents said it to me, whether in words or a pained look!)

In this “Mindwalk’ I am not talking about promises that are mere “wishes” or “maybes”, even New Year’s resolutions. I am talking about our “big promises.” I am talking about promises as affirmations of love, friendship, family, or human connection.

Baptismal Promises as a life-long journey

This Easter season, I am thinking of our Baptismal promises.

I suspect that many of us were not conscious of the commitments made in our name by our parents and Godparents. But these promises set us on a journey.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that the faith required for baptism is not a perfect and mature faith, but a beginning that is called to develop (CCC 1253).

Our post-baptismal journey requires us to continually commit to and live out a more mature response to God’s love for us.

We mark milestones of our baptismal promises at various stages during life, especially Confirmation. What we might forget is that Lent serves to prepare us for renewing those Baptismal promises most solemnly as the highlight of the Easter Vigil.

Each time we participate in the Eucharist, we join together as a family to renew our commitment to do what Jesus told us to commit our lives to do. He said … “wash one another’s feet as he washed ours.”

Each time we bless ourselves, whether with or without holy water, we reaffirm our promises… or at least we should.

Baptismal promises unpacked

So, what are these promises?

In their simplest form, we are asked…

• Do you renounce Satan?
• And all his works?
• And all his empty show?

Susan Stabile, a sometime contributor to famvin, posted an unpacked version of our promises attributed to William Reiser, S.J

• Do you accept Jesus as your teacher, as the example whom you will always imitate and as the one in whom the mystery of God’s love for the world has been fully revealed?

• Do you dedicate yourself to seeking the kingdom of God and God’s justice, to praying daily, to meditating on the Gospels and to celebrating the Eucharist faithfully and devoutly?

• Do you commit yourself to that spirit of poverty and detachment that Jesus enjoined on His disciples and to resisting that spirit of consumerism and materialism that is so strong in our culture?

He continues…

• Do you accept your responsibility for building community, for being people of compassion and reconciliation, for being mindful of those who are poor and oppressed, and for truly forgiving those who have offended you?

• Will you try to thank and praise God by your works and by your actions, in times of prosperity as well as in moments of suffering, giving loyal witness to the risen Jesus by your faith, by your hope and by the style of your living?

• Do you surrender your lives to God as disciples and companions of Jesus?  Do you believe that God is Lord of history, sovereign over nations and peoples, and that God’s promise to redeem all of creation from its bondage to death and decay will one day be accomplished?

• Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, and life everlasting?

So, do you understand, believe, promise, and live by your promises?

Click below for an early version of this Vincentian Mindwalk