The last words of famous people are treasured by admiring and faithful followers. This is true especially of Jesus Christ  who gave  a very explicit  directive to His followers  gathered on a mountain top in Galilee just before He rose into heaven and disappeared into a cloud

  These treasured words were recorded by St. Matthew in his Gospel: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything everything  that I have commanded you.” And Jesus concluded with a most consoling  assurance: “And remember, I am with you always until the end of the age.” (Mt. 28:18-20)

  What Jesus said was like marching orders delivered  by a commanding officer to his soldiers before  they marched off to do battle for an important objective.

  Jesus had been instructing His followers and especially a group of twelve making them ready to continue His mission to save “all nations.” Now they were told what to do, “baptizing them.”

  They followed His directive and the Church was born as the institution that would safeguard His teachings and attract new followers until the “end of the age.”

  The initial step for new members was to be baptized and become a member of the ever-growing group of followers of Christ. Human associaions often have initiation rites by which new associates are admitted and begin to participate in working to attain the objectives of that association.

  The difference between human initiation and  Baptism is that there is a real  change that is meant to last forever. The baptised one begins to live with God’s own life which is called “sanctifying grace.”   As the Catechism expresses it: “By virtue of our Baptism the first sacrament of our faith the Holy Spirit in the Church communicates to us, immediately and personally, the life that originates in the Father and is offered to us in the Son.” (683).

  That “life that originates in the Father “ means that the baptised begins to live in a spiritual union with God  that is to remain for all eternity in heaven. It can be severed  by mortal sin but restored in the sacrament of Reconciliation. More about Baptism later.