The Holy Priest-Martyr Pancratius, Bishop of Tauromenia (1st-2nd c.)
Romans 8:14-21; Matthew 9:9-13
Read Romans 8:14-21
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
At the conclusion of a baptism, or perhaps the next Sunday depending on local practice, it is traditional to have a “churching” of the newly enlightened (baptized) infant. In this short service the priest takes the child around the altar once while the Song of Simeon is chanted. I always tell the parents and godparents that the altar area of the church typifies heaven and so the baby has the opportunity to see his or her inheritance as a son or daughter of the King. It is not simply that we are new people when we are baptized. We are adopted into God’s family- we become sons or daughters of the King- princes or princesses!
St. Cyprian writes:
If we are the sons of God, if we have already begun to be his temples, if (after receiving the Holy Spirit) we live holy and spiritually, if we have lifted up our eyes from the earth toward heaven, if we have raised our hearts, full of God and Christ, to supernal and divine things, let us do nothing which is not worthy of God and Christ, as the apostle arouses and urges us. (Jealously and Envy 14)