Born Anew
“For the Souls in Purgatory – Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord”
Romans 6:3–11
Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life. For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection. We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin. For a dead person has been absolved from sin. If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him. As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God. Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.
Grace Prayed For
The grace to live from my baptismal identity rather than from my history of failure, embracing the “newness of life” that is already mine in Christ.
Reflection
There is a question buried in the opening of this passage that Paul expects will stop us cold: “Are you unaware?” It is not a rebuke so much as an astonishment. How is it possible, Paul wonders, that people who have been baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are still living as though none of it happened? How is it possible that we still introduce ourselves—to ourselves and to others—primarily by our failures, our wounds, our worst moments?
Baptism is not a ceremony we passed through. It is a country we now live in.
Paul’s language is deliberately extreme. We were buried with Christ. Our old self was crucified with Him. These are not metaphors chosen for gentle inspiration—they are meant to communicate the totality of what occurred. Something actually died in the waters of Baptism. The self that was in slavery to sin, the self that was defined by shame and compulsion and the endless exhausting project of self-justification—that self was put in the ground. And something else rose.
This is why Week Two of our Lenten journey takes up the theme of identity. Before we can be sent anywhere, before we can offer anything to anyone, we must know who we are. And the answer Paul gives is not who we were, not who we are trying to become, but who we already are by virtue of what God has already done. “You too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.” The word Paul uses—logizesthe, reckon, consider, account it as true—is an act of the will applied to a fact. It is not wishful thinking. It is choosing to align our self-perception with reality.
The practical difficulty is that our feelings do not always cooperate. We sin again after Baptism. We return to old patterns. We feel the pull of everything we thought was buried. Paul knows this. He is not describing a life of sinless perfection; he is describing a life with a new center of gravity. We are not merely reformed—we are reoriented. The gravitational pull of death has been broken. It may still exert force, but it no longer has final authority over us. “Death no longer has power over him.” And therefore, over us.
To be a missionary disciple, you must be willing to be introduced—to yourself, first of all—by your Baptism rather than by your biography. Not because the biography doesn’t matter, but because the Baptism is deeper. It reaches further back and further forward than any story you could tell about yourself.
Make the Sign of the Cross slowly today. Feel the weight of what it marks. You are not who you were. You are not what you have done. You are a person who has been buried with Christ and raised with Him—grafted into the very life of the Trinity, called to live, from this moment forward, for God.
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Sharing
Jesus last words on Earth were to his disciples, can be found in Matthew Chap 28 when Jesus told his disciples, “Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
Jesus calls all of us to share in his redemptive mission here on Earth. I would ask you to share this Scripture reflection with your family, your friends and your acquaintances, and then share it with a couple of individuals that you may may not be comfortable sharing with, keeping in mind always the words of Jesus, And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age
Author was assisted by AI in the drafting of this Post