What is a saint? In the most basic, biblical sense a saint is one who is set apart, called by God in Christ to fulfil his work: building the Kingdom of God. Lower-case saints. However, there are also the wonderful men and women of exceptional holiness who have been noticed and honoured by the Church, canonized and added to the official calendar of upper-case Saints. But all of us people of faith -- past, present and to come -- are part of the great Communion of Saints, which the Prayer Book defines as "one great fellowship of prayer and praise."
That phrase, the Communion of Saints, appears in the Apostles Creed, a faith statement issued near the end of the first century C.E. as a short summary of Christian belief. It predates the first Christian Bible by almost three centuries. That phrase meant then, has always meant, and still means, the truth that because of what Christ did, death no longer has dominion over us. We are united in the spiritual dimension to all God's holy people who went before, and they pray for and with us. Indeed we pray surrounded by the angels and saints. Praise God!
In today's baptism, Amelia will become the newest member of Christ's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. She will be joined to two thousand years of love and praise, obtaining a new, second family which will help raise her spiritually and have her back in all occasions. She will also have two wonderful godparents committed to her spiritual welfare. And she will have for her patron Saint Amelia Bloomer who was a civil rights activist in the last century. An appropriate choice for one who is so active! And she will later have an opportunity in the Sacrament of Confirmation to confirm for herself the promises made for her today. Let us proceed to the font of new life.
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