Do you know the date you were baptized and welcomed as a new member of the Christian faith? During the Holy Father’s general weekly audience on Wednesday morning, he revealed that the focus of his catechesis during the Easter Season will be the Sacrament of Baptism.

Pope Francis spoke this morning about the importance of our baptism. “Sometimes it’s something we don’t remember but a way we can definitely remember it and incorporate it into our lives is to celebrate the date of our baptism. And he specifically asked us to look into that and at least remember that baptismal date. And why is it so important? Why is it something we should remember every year? Because it’s the day that the Holy Spirit entered our lives, he said. And it’s our date of rebirth; it’s our second birthday,” reported Ashley Noronha, Relevant Radio^® Vatican Correspondent in her weekly Relevant in Rome segment on Morning Air^®.

Through baptism “we’re called to new life” and “through the Sacrament we are immersed in Christ and become members of his body, members of the Church and then we participate in the global mission of the Church,” said Noronha. Pope Francis told the faithful that baptism “Christifies” all who receive it “by making us another Christ”.

The Holy Father also reminded the faithful to have their children baptized. “When we do, we trust in the Holy Spirit, he said. We trust that the Holy Spirit will enter their child and will help the child grow. And then we will be united in Christ, we will be able to not only collaborate in the life of the Church but the Holy Father said, we will be able to transform the world!” said Noronha.

If you don’t know the date of your baptism, give the parish in which you were baptized a call! They keep baptismal records and will be able to tell you your baptismal date. Then put it on your calendar and remember to celebrate it each year.

The following summary of Pope Francis’ catechesis was shared for English-speaking attendees during the audience:

Dear brothers and sisters: In the joy of this Easter season, we now begin a new cycle of catecheses on the sacrament of Baptism, by which we receive the forgiveness of sin and are reborn to new and eternal life in Christ. Through the waters of Baptism, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, we are immersed in the saving mystery of the Lord’s death and resurrection, and become, in Christ, adoptive sons and daughters of God our Father. Renewed in the image of Christ, the new Adam, we are called to acknowledge his Lordship in our lives and to share in the mission of the Church, his Body, for the transformation of our world. Baptism is the door to the other sacraments, whereby we grow in the life of grace until we come at last to our true homeland in heaven. Our Christian life, as a journey of faith and union with the Lord, is sustained by prayer and by our daily efforts to grow in the imitation of Christ. During this Easter season, may we come to appreciate ever more fully the unmerited gift we received on the day of our Baptism, and resolve to live faithfully the new life we have received in Christ.