Most of us, obviously, don’t remember our baptisms, as we were infants at the time, but you’ve probably been to a baptism since then. This is a very important moment for a Christian. In fact, in some places they celebrate the anniversary of baptism either in addition to or instead of the birthday. What we have to realize is that baptism is a birthday. Through physical birth we are born into our human families, and through baptism we are born into the family of God, the Church, and receive the new life of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus is talking to Nicodemus, He says, “Amen Amen, I say to you, unless one has been reborn anew, he is not able to see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). We know that He’s talking about baptism because Nicodemus is confused, so Christ clarifies, saying, “Truly, Truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (Jn 3:5-6). When Christ says that we must be “reborn anew” He’s using a phrase that can mean two different things in Hebrew. It can be, as we translated it, “reborn,” or “born again,” which is where the term born-again Christian comes from, and it can mean “born from above.” In the waters of baptism we are born anew by being born from above, or born from the Holy Spirit, which enables us to see and enter the Kingdom of God. Through water and the Holy Spirit, God Himself comes to live in our souls. He makes us a member of the Church, forgives our sins, washes away Original Sin, and marks our souls, not with a physical mark, but by changing our souls and uniting us to the Son of God, Jesus Christ. What is this mark? It is the sign of the Cross, the sign of Christians. The power of baptism is the Cross and Resurrection of Christ. St. Paul writes, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised form the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3-4). Baptism unties us to the death and Resurrection of Jesus. Entering the waters of baptism is a sign of death, just as the sea is a sign of the grave. However, water is also a sign of life, and so coming up out of the water resembles coming up out of the grave, which is a sign of Resurrection. We are washed clean by having our sins forgiven. We die to the sins and worldliness that holds us back. We are born anew in the life of the Holy Spirit. Baptism is not only a sign of our conversion, it actually transforms us into children of God. Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God. By birth we are children of Adam and Eve, but by baptism we are transformed into children of God. Through His death Christ shows His love for us and gives us the power to love as He loves: totally, completely, and sacrificially. The way we can live out our baptismal graces is to strive, with the help of God, to put others before ourselves. As He said, “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34).