It's a Christian!

Born on Mother Teresa's birthday, our little Fulton was reborn on her Feast Day, September 5! (How cool is that?!)

As instituted by Jesus Christ, the Sacrament of Baptism has saved him (see 1Pet. 3:21)!  He has been adopted by God and now shares as an heir in the eternal glory of Jesus Christ (see Gal. 4:5-7).   Fulton's covenant relationship with God was ratified at 8:17 A.M. before an all-school Mass with all students and staff on hand.  As circumcision initiated children into the Old Covenant at 8 days old based on the faith of their parents, Fulton was initiated into the New Covenant via Baptism, which replaces circumcision, as taught by St. Paul (see Col. 2:11-12).  These promises have been made to us and our household (see Acts 16:15, 31, 33; 1Cor. 1:16).

Since we celebrate a baptism within our circle of friends quite often, it's easy to forget about these truths, which were taught by our Lord, passed on to his apostles and their successors, and confirmed in Scripture.  The familiarity makes it easy to forget about the magnitude of what actually took place here!

Fulton was the 31st Hoffman, including his mother and grandmother, to wear this 68-year-old baptismal gown made my his great-great-grandmother, with some help from the Carmelite nuns in Louisville, Kentucky.

Some might wonder, why so early?  While we had our first two sons baptized barely within the 40-day window recommended by the Church, those weeks were filled with some anxiety.  But after losing a child before the chance to baptize, the sense of urgency was greatly magnified for us.  This time, waiting 10 days seemed a long time, and we experienced a huge sense of relief on Friday.

The proper sense of urgency has been largely lost by modern Christianity for several reasons.  Part of this loss stems from missing the effects of Original Sin (see Rom. 5:12-19; 1Cor. 15:21-23), which leads to a lack of understanding regarding the necessity of Baptism, even for "innocent" infants (see John 3:5).  Part of this shift in practice also comes from a misreading of paragraph 1261 of the Catechism, which mentions a "hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism."  Notice hope, not certainty.  For more on this misunderstanding, I highly recommend this article from Crisis Magazine:  The Urgency of Infant Baptism by Dr. Jared Staudt.

And to see further questions on infant baptism (an issue close to our hearts for multiple reasons) addressed on a previous post, see this tab.

Please join us in offering prayers of thanksgiving and welcoming Fulton into the family of God!

Bl. Teresa of Calcutta and Ven. Fulton Sheen, pray for us!

A special thanks to his Godparents, Elias and Claudia, and Fr. Brian.