I often meet with people who are preparing to have a child baptized so we can talk about the sacrament and what it means. As part of that conversation we discuss the four physical symbols that are part of the ritual. When I ask what those symbols are, almost everyone gets one right-- water. We readily associate water with baptism, and with the cleansing from sin that comes with baptism. Along those same lines, people often remember the symbol of the white garment, worn by the baptized as a symbol of their new life with God, freed from sin. A candle, lit from the Pascal Candle, is tougher for folks to bring to mind, but with some prompting people often recall that part of baptism is the reception of the light of Christ, and the "enlightenment" that comes with that. The hardest one-- the one people struggle with the most to bring to mind-- is in many ways the most important one: Sacred Chrism, the holy oil with which the person to be baptized is annointed. I suggest this symbol is arguably the most important for this time in the Church because the annointing with oil reminds us that a part of baptism is that we receive the Holy Spirit and, like Jesus, that makes us "priest, prophet and king " (as the ritual puts it). If all we think about when we consider baptism, especially our own baptism, is that it is a sacrament of initiation in which we become cleansed of sin, we are forgetting our role as baptized followers of Christ. We're called to be leaders, prophets, part of a "royal priesthood." We're called to be people who don't just "pray, pay and obey," in the somewhat-cynical language used to articulate the expectations of the people in the pews supposedly held by the pre-Vatican II Church. No, because we have received the Holy Spirit, we're called to do much more. We're called to push the leaders of the Church to the places they should go, but perhaps do not have the courage or the interest or the motivation to go-- to the margins, to the poor, to the disenfranchised, to the sick, to those in prison. We're called to help steer the ship, not just take orders. We're called to let the leaders know when they've got it wrong-- politely, respectfully, charitably, of course-- but let them know nevertheless, when they're wasting money or acting full of themselves. People of my generation never learned that, and we have a hard time remembering it. But receiving the Holy Spirit makes all the difference. It is the difference between John's baptism of repentance, and the baptism of followers of Jesus, a baptism which doesn't just leave us as the people we were (although with sins forgiven) but which makes us new, gives us a new Spirit and a new responsibility. Sure almost all of us experiences baptism as babies, so all this may seem just like sacramental theology with no impact on our lives, now 60 or 70 years later. But that's only true if we let it be so, if we forget who we are and what we have received. Of course, there are lots of forces in the world, some even in the Church, who want us to do just that. Don't let that happen. Remember, as John tells us today (Jn 1: 29-34), we are baptized "with the Holy Spirit." And that makes all the difference!