Our Lady of Advent and Christian Baptism

# Our Lady of Advent and Christian Baptism

Not only the Church as a whole but also each one of us in our spiritual life experiences a continuous Advent mystery, the progressive coming of Christ into us, until we reach the full stature of the new man, “born again of water and the Spirit” (Jn 3:5), to attain the stature of the Son of God incarnate (Ef 4:13).

We live on this journey and in this expectation that Christ will fill our lives more and more and transform us. If grace at baptism is already connected in many ways with Mary’s task in the history of salvation and in each one of our individual histories, the same can be said and with equal force for our growth in each of us in this baptismal life. From the earliest moments to the highest peaks of spiritual growth, it is always Mary who prepares the coming of Jesus within us, who constantly and fully forms Jesus within us, the baptized. Mary accompanies the entire path of spiritual regeneration and growth in Christ, from its beginning to its fullness.

*Baptism is this mystery of Christ’s nativity within us.*

The spiritual life is the progressive growth in this mystery of Christ’s nativity within us, which began at baptism. There is a mystery of nativity celebrated continuously throughout our spiritual existence: it has its roots in baptism, where Mary fulfills her task.

The perpetual birth of Lord Jesus in us constitutes the essential core of every Christian path. Baptism ontologically founds this birth, once and for all. This is the meaning of the baptismal character. With sin, one can lose grace, and one cannot benefit from this mystery of being born in Christ, but one never loses the right to recover it, when, after sin, one recovers the filial life.

Baptism is an irrevocable alliance, given once and for all. The path of life in the Spirit, better known as the state of grace, can be lost, but this alliance will not be canceled. Therefore, it will always be possible to regain possession of grace, provided that guilt is recognized and reconciliation with the Lord is made.

Baptism is an irrevocable alliance because it does not depend on our correspondences or non-correspondences, but on the absolute faithfulness of God to his promises. We may be unfaithful, but God remains faithful, never failing in his action, in his close alliance with each one of us, thanks to baptism.

A radical, irrevocable, definitive birth that establishes, if we desire it and are fully available, an incessant path of transformation of ourselves into Jesus, to the point where we can say with Saint Paul: “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). This is the meaning of baptism and the baptismal journey. To be baptized means to accept being gradually transformed into Christ Jesus, so as to become truly children of the Father in the fullness of the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. This is the foundation of the common vocation to holiness.

Thanks to baptism, we are already radically holy and called to bring to fullness this ontological holiness received once and for all. Here also lies the foundation of the common priesthood of the faithful, by which all are called to offer spiritual sacrifices pleasing to God, and to make our life a living offering, an action of thanks to the Father (cf. Romans 12:1).

This is the foundation of responsibility, or better, co-responsibility of all Christians in building up the Church in the world. Thanks to baptism, we are all involved in this salvation history that has its central point in the Church and must extend to all humanity until its fullness, until the Parousia. Mary also plays a primary role here.

Just as the “Servant of the Lord” had an eminent task in the birth of Christ, according to the human nature assumed by the Son of God in the world, so too she continues to have an eminent task in preparing the present coming of Jesus in us, the baptized, and continues to fulfill a primary task in forming in us Christ, in shaping us according to Christ, the new Man.

Mary is Mother not only because she generated Christ among us once and for all, the Emmanuel, but she is also Mother in a continuous and simultaneous way by contributing to the spiritual regeneration of all of us, in the growth of each one of us in the Only-Begotten Christ. From the Pascal Spirit of the Son generated, Mary has the same task regarding the members of Christ as she had with Christ.

Mary is fully Mother of Christ and the Church, and mother to each one of us. In this regard, the Fathers of the Church liked to put Mary’s motherhood in parallel with the Church’s motherhood through baptismal regeneration.

St. John Paul II says:

“There are only two issues: our fidelity to the Alliance with Eternal Wisdom, which is the source of a true culture, meaning the growth of man and faithfulness to the promises of our baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

It is no coincidence that a great icon of Mary as Mother was often found near the baptismal font, precisely because the intention was to show this continuity between Mary’s motherhood in the generation of Christ for the world and her motherhood in the baptismal generation of Christians.

If all this is true, it explains why there cannot be an authentic spiritual path or a genuine growth of Jesus in us that does not pass through Mary’s hands. There is no true realization of the baptismal life that does not follow the model of “Fiat” and her total availability to the Father for the fulfillment of His salvific design in the world.

In this sense, Mary is a model of Christian spirituality:

– Model of waiting for the Savior.
– Model of availability to welcome the Redeemer of man and the world.

Mary is the figure of Advent for each one of us.

Baptism is that fundamental event that makes us participate in the life of Christ and the Church. In this regard, Mary is deeply related to baptism. There is a presence of the Virgin in our baptism:

– In preparation.
– In fulfillment.
– Throughout our entire baptismal journey.

Moreover, looking at Mary as an exemplary icon of fidelity to God’s design, we know what is the most authentic way to carry out our baptismal life in response to God’s call in our existence and His design for each one of us.

To deepen the relationship between Mary, Advent, and the sacraments, consult the Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus by Paul VI on Mary in the liturgical calendar.

Deepen your studies: explore Mariology, Marian Theology, Marian Apparitions and the Master’s in Mariology.