Baptism and the Domestic Church

The routine and ritual of the Sunday mornings of my childhood are forever etched into my memory. My siblings and I looked forward to Saturday night sleepovers at my Italian-immigrant Grandmother’s house and on Sunday morning we awoke to the smell of frying meatballs and simmering sauce. Hand in hand, we walked with my Grandmother to 10:30 Mass and the remainder of Sunday was spent with my parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins lazily feasting on my Grandmother’s food. Mass was the focal point of our Sundays and the shared family meal was a way to extend the celebration. Little did I know it at the time, but the catechesis of those Sunday mornings was slowly forming me into a disciple and a missionary. In a weekly audience on January 15, 2015 Pope Francis reflected on the Sacrament of  Baptism,  stressing “an important fruit of this Sacrament: it makes us members of the Body of Christ and of the People of God.” He went on to elaborate that “the People of God is a disciple People — because it receives the faith — and a missionary People — because it transmits the faith.” For the vast majority of lay Catholics, our formation as disciples of Christ does not happen in a seminary or theological library.  Instead most Catholics are formed in the faith through a  “joint venture” between the local parish and the family – the Domestic Church. Likewise, our participation in the missionary activity of the church happens not in distant, foreign lands, but in the day to day experiences of ordinary family life. The Holy Father confirmed this saying “Such is the grace of God and such is our faith, which we must transmit to our sons and daughters, transmit to children, so that once adults, they can do the same for