Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION
	The prayers surrounding baptism often speak of being “clothed in Christ,” and clothes are an important consideration. In ancient times, adults were probably baptized without any clothes at all, and old texts survive asking people to leave fancy garb and jewelry behind as they enter the font. Baptism was typically in a private place, the community waited elsewhere, and the casting off of clothing was hardly a public moment, nor was it embarrassing in ancient cultures where privacy was largely unknown.
	Nonetheless, what was left behind on one side of the font was replaced on the other as a white robe was wrapped around the newly baptized. It was a robe of honor, a dazzling sign of a new beginning for a society that valued clothing as a sign of personal identity. For the newly baptized, a whole week in white garments was the rule, through the second Sunday of Easter, called “Sunday in Albis,” because of all the folks wearing their baptismal robes.
—Rev. James Field