Not surprisingly, Teresa does not remember her baptism. She was only about three months old at the time. But there is a family picture on the refrigerator of the event, one with my husband’s parents and all of their grandchildren. It was one of the last big family events that both Tony’s mom and dad were able to attend, and Teresa likes to pick them out, as well as look at younger versions of her brother and sister. She knows the baby in the white dress being held in Papa’s arms is her, and that the picture was taken at her baptism. That led to her very reasonable question, “What’s a baptism?” The short answer that popped into my head — it’s when they pour water on your head and make you Catholic — is true, but obviously doesn’t go far enough. On the other hand, complex explanations of forgiveness for original sin and professing belief in a faith that she has not thought to question wouldn’t really help at this age, either. So we settled on the idea of welcoming, of her being welcomed into the family of the church, of our family welcoming her presence in the wider family of God. Yes, we also talked about pouring water on her head, and how she cried just a little because it was wet and likely a bit cool. We talked about how, in the weeks leading up to her baptism, when we gave her a bath and rinsed her hair, we’d say we were “playing baptism.” January always includes the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, the Sunday after Epiphany, and it always leads to the question of why Jesus had to be baptized at all. As one person of the triune God, incarnated as human, he would have had no original sin to expiate. So was he just showing us what to do? Showing us that the Father was paying attention, what with him speaking from the sky? Not really, according to Pope Francis. In his homily on the Baptism of the Lord in 2013, Pope Francis said Jesus was taking on the role of a sinner, prefiguring the cross, showing that he was willing to take on sins that were not his so that we might be saved, as well as showing us how to participate in salvation. Addressing the parents of the babies he was about to baptize, he said: “Dear brothers and sisters, what happens in baptism, which will soon be administered to your children? What happens is this: They will be united in a profound way and forever with Jesus, immersed in the mystery of his power, that is, in the mystery of his death, which is the source of life, in order to share in his resurrection, to be reborn to new life.” Welcome, indeed.