SIBU: Thirty Catholics were baptised at Sacred Heart Cathedral here during an Easter Vigil, last Saturday.
Father Paul Ling, assisted by Bishop Dominic Su, officiated at the baptism ceremony.
Last Saturday was Holy Saturday, the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday in the Catholic Liturgical Calendar. The day celebrated the vigil that Christ’s followers held for him outside his tomb, waiting for his resurrection.
Attended by about 1,000 faithful, the Easter Vigil held at the church compound began with Father Paul blessing the fire, followed by the lighting up of the paschal candle and later the blessing of the baptismal water in a pond. After that, came the renewal of baptismal promises where the faithful pledged to renounce sins and Satan.
Father Paul, in his homily, said the baptism was like a second birthday for the faithful.
“Your first birthday is the day when you were born. You are the sons and daughters of your parents. Your second birthday is when you were baptised to become children of God,” he said.
Easter Vigil, he said, was the most solemn ceremony of the church as through Jesus’s resurrection, the faithful were given the chance to become children of God.
He added, “If Adam had not sinned, Jesus would not have come to Earth and died for our sins on Good Friday.”
