Father Mike Schmitz: Your Baptism Was Only the Beginning
Baptism makes us beloved children of God — and gives us a lifelong mission as kings, prophets and priests to bring his Kingdom into the world.
Water flows. The baby cries. Everyone smiles. Now what?
The Baptism takes only a few moments, but the Christian mission lasts a lifetime. So what does the baptized person do after the water has dried and the candle has been snuffed out?
The Good News
First, a piece of good news: God’s Kingdom is here, and he’s among us, reclaiming, healing and restoring the world even now.
It might seem strange to emphasize this, but it’s important to recognize that God is not a far-off clockmaker who set the world and forgot about it. He is, has been and will always be intimately involved in the world and in our lives.
“The Kingdom of God is here. God is doing something; He’s claiming again,” Father Mike Schmitz told the Denver Catholic. “We’re born with hearts and souls that are under the power of the evil one. We’re born under the dominion of the kingdom of darkness. And the Good News is that Jesus came to bring us into his Kingdom, the kingdom of light.”
The God of the universe, in the person of Jesus Christ, became man. He went “behind enemy lines,” so to speak, to rescue his people. He preached; he taught; he healed. He suffered; he died; he rose.
He opened the gates of Heaven, inviting God’s redeemed people into relationship with him. He gave those people concrete ways to live that relationship: the sacraments, the Church and the Bible, which his Holy Spirit inspired.
The drama of this rescue mission — death and life; conquering and claiming; release and freedom — comes alive in the sacrament of Baptism. Each of the baptized becomes a beloved son or daughter of God through the sacrament, through the rescue mission. That identity carries three aspects: we are kings in the King; we are prophets in the ordinary; and we are kingdom priests.
Kings in the King
Once rescued and incorporated into the Body of Christ, the baptized has a new mission: “to advance the Kingdom, to live the Kingdom, let it transform us and then to live the Gospel,” Father Schmitz explained.
But that mission only makes sense when it’s rooted in our relationship with God sacramentalized at Baptism, when we received our identity as his beloved children.
“When that gets out of order, it will always lead us to a place where faith becomes performative, or my relationship with God becomes conditional,” Father Schmitz said. “But how we make sure we don’t think we earn or have to work more and more for identity is putting that relationship first. That relationship is given to us, handed to us when we were claimed at Baptism. Now I have a new identity, and now out of that identity, I do what I do.”
Of course, a relationship with God comes with certain responsibilities — as do all relationships. Parents are responsible for feeding, clothing and caring for their children; children are responsible for listening to, respecting and honoring their parents. But we’re all well acquainted with the demands of the Christian life; they’re considered frequently.
Baptism doesn’t just bestow responsibilities, though. As beloved children of the King of Kings, the baptized are co-heirs, sharing in Jesus’ authority, freedom and inheritance.
“We have real rights,” Father Schmitz emphasized. “We have access to the Father. We have the whole company of saints — the Communion of Saints, that’s our family. We have access to the sacraments. Your inheritance is all 73 books of the Bible. Your inheritance is all seven sacraments. Your inheritance is the Magisterium [the teaching of the Church].”
Those are more than mere formalities, Father Schmitz noted. They are powerful, meaningful, life-altering rights.
“I can go to the Father at any moment!” he said. “I can be reconciled when I’ve failed!”
Prophets in the Ordinary
Rooted in that identity as beloved children, the baptized ought to become zealous prophets, sharing that Good News with others: salvation is real, and it’s possible.
“The task that’s been entrusted to us as God’s adopted sons and daughters is to let that [identity] transform our hearts, and then to bring that to the world, however he’s asking us to do it,” Father Schmitz explained.
Now, this doesn’t have to be a massive undertaking, he continued. In fact, throughout the Scriptures and the lives of the saints, God calls the weak, the small and the simple to teach the powerful and the wise.
“A lot of times, I jump to the big things — God wants me to bring the Gospel to the world! But I forget how often, even in the Bible, someone was asked to just live this life well, to love the people closest to them,” Father Schmitz noted. “Do this, right here, in front of you. It doesn’t have to be like Francis of Assisi or Mother Teresa or Teresa of Avila. The Kingdom of Heaven is brought to this earth to reign when we just live each day as God’s sons and daughters.”
Though it’s not a glamorous mission, he acknowledged, it’s a consistent one.
“Consistency beats intensity every time,” Father Schmitz said. “Show up again and again and let God do what he needs.”
Pointing to the example of King Solomon in the Old Testament, Father Schmitz reflected on the importance of consistency and fidelity. Though King Solomon started off strong, asking for wisdom to lead well and being richly rewarded by God (1 Kings 3), he ended in ruin, with the kingdom divided and fallen to idolatry (1 Kings 11).
Why?
“He did extraordinary things, but he failed to do the ordinary things,” Father Schmitz explained. “When it comes to us as disciples, as adopted sons and daughters of God, I want to go for the big thing for you, God. It’s possible to use the gifts and opportunities that God gives us and lose our heart, because I’m doing the extraordinary things but I’m failing to do the ordinary things.”
Kingdom Priests
All of this sounds great, but why does it matter? What’s the point of this whole Christian life?
Father Schmitz’s answer was clear: worship.
“The point of all of this is worship, so the praise music is great, and other things are great, because they're an extension of the Eucharistic sacrifice,” Father Schmitz explained. “So our fast on a Friday or any given day or any kind of penance we do is an extension of the Eucharistic sacrifice. Every time we “offer it up,” every time we humble ourselves, every time we give God a sacrifice of praise, it's an extension of the Eucharistic sacrifice, and we can do that because of our kingdom priesthood.”
Through Baptism, each person becomes a “kingdom priest,” Father Schmitz said. The main bullet point in the job description of this common priesthood — different from the ordained priesthood — is to pray and offer sacrifice, he explained.
“When we go to Mass, you’re not there to watch the ministerial priest pray, the ordained priest pray,” he said. “You’re there to, as a kingdom priest, unite your priesthood to his ordained or ministerial priesthood, to unite to Jesus’ high priesthood, to offer God worship.”
This insight is game-changing, he continued, not only for one’s prayer during Mass, but for one’s entire Christian life.
“If Catholics understood that, it would be incredible. It would transform not only the way we understand the Mass, but also transform the way we offer,” he said. “How many people have said, ‘Offer it up’? But because you’re a kingdom priest, and because, like St. Paul said, ‘Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice’ (Romans 12:1), or ‘I rejoice in my sufferings' and ‘I’m making up what’s lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his Body, the Church’ (Colossians 1:24), we can do that because we’re kingdom priests.”
Living Icons in the World
As beloved kings, prophets and priests, adopted children of the Father, the baptized bring the presence of God with them into a hungry world. Through consistent fidelity and courageous witness, they invite others into relationship with the King of Kings. It might not look glamorous, but it’s no less powerful.
“I always say that the Gospel will be advanced in our culture through two things: family and friendship,” Father Schmitz told the Denver Catholic.
By faithfully living the things God asks, especially in deep friendships with the Lord and others, the baptized become the hands and feet of Christ, living icons of truth, beauty and goodness.
The water is dry. The candle is out. But the mission has only just begun.
