Born to Live Forever

Seeing we have more tomorrows than yesterdays

07/12/2021

Mt 10:34—11:1 Jesus said to his Apostles: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s enemies will be those of his household. “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Today, July 12, is my birthday, and it provides a perfect platform to reflect on the blessing of being born. But first let me clarify a common chronological confusion. Today I am completing my 52nd year of life; I am not beginning my 52nd year of life. Think about it this way: when I turned one year old, my first year of life was already behind me, it was not unfolding before me.

This is clearer if you know a little Spanish. The word for birthday in Spanish is “cumpleaños” which literally means “finished years.” So, on my 52nd birthday, I have finished 52 trips around the sun, not embarking on my 52nd trip. Our modern English parlance about age is a psychological sleight of hand to make us feel younger. Today, I turn 53, but some people may still say 52.

In my home country of India we traditionally try to connect birthdays with baptisms, like Jesus did with Nicodemus in Jn 3, where he described baptism as being “born again,” a new birthday. Baptism is our new and definitive birthday. In India we baptize baby boys eight days after they are born, building on the Jewish custom of circumcising a baby boy eight days after his birth (like Jesus was in Lk 2:21). I recently took out my old baptismal certificate to see when I was baptized, and it was actually nine days after my birthday, on July 21.

Why the discrepancy of the extra day? Well, the eighth day after my birthday that year (1969) fell on a Sunday, and the priest was too tired after all the Sunday Masses, so he said, “Come back tomorrow!” So, I was baptized on July 21, 1969, a Monday. My baptism was the day I was “born again,” indeed, it was the day I was born to live forever. I even had a baptismal candle present that I could blow out on my spiritual birthday. Baptism is our definitive birthday.

When we turn 53 (or 52 if you like), it is tempting to look back over our history rather than fret about our future. Why? Well, we feel we have more yesterdays than tomorrows. But true as that may be on the natural level, it is false on the supernatural level. How so? Well, thanks to my baptism – being born again as a child of God – I have the hope of living forever. And therefore, the infinite number of years that stretch out before me entirely eclipses the short 52 years behind me. 52 years are the blink of an eye next to eternity.

This birthday business may help us make more sense of Jesus’ cryptic comment in today’s gospel, where he says: “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Our life, therefore, should not be measured by earthly standards but by eternal ones. That is, if we believe that our baptism is more important than our birthday, we suddenly start to peer through a panoramic perspective in which 52 years weighs no more than dust on the scales of eternity. What does it matter to lose a few grains of this life to gain innumerable grains heaped high as heaven of endless life?

St. Ignatius of Antioch understood perfectly what Jesus meant about finding and losing life. He wrote on this way to Rome to be martyred and devoured by lions: “All the pleasures of the world, and all the kingdoms of this earth, shall profit me nothing. It is better for me to die on behalf of Jesus Christ, than to reign over all the ends of the earth.” St. Ignatius would not care if you thought he was 52 or 53 on his birthday. What mattered to that holy martyr was being born again in baptism and living (and dying) for God.

My friends, do you look forward to your birthday or do you dread it? Maybe you are like me and feel you have lot more yesterdays than tomorrows, and therefore you find yourself looking backward and fear looking forward. If so, let me invite you to find a copy of your baptismal certificate and figure out the date of your spiritual birthday, when you were born again by water and the Spirit. And celebrate your baptism more than you do your birthday.

Why? Well, because on that day you were born as a child of God, destined to life forever and enjoy the glory of heaven, our Father’s House. When we accept the reality that baptism is infinitely more important than our birthday, we will discover we have far more tomorrows before us than yesterdays behind us. Indeed, you will see that we have not even begun to live, even if you are 53 (or 52) like me.

Praised be Jesus Christ!