If your faith feels like a burden, you are going about your spirituality in the wrong way.

We continue reading through the Letter to the Colossians, one of the great summaries of the New Testament. This community was heavily influenced by a local cult that emphasized the divine power of angels and the need to perform religious rituals and follow laws in order to obtain this power from heaven. The problem was that they were losing sight of the power of Christ in their lives.

To help them, the community’s leader sought Paul’s guidance while he was imprisoned, and this letter was written. That’s why, as we’ve heard over the past two weekends, this letter begins by emphasizing that Christ possesses the fullness of redemptive power—having dominion over all things visible and invisible, over the principalities and powers of both heaven and earth.

Today, the letter clarifies that under Christ, true spiritual renewal does not come from “channeling” angelic energies or following strict laws, but through contact with the person of Christ, beginning in baptism. The letter says it this way:

“You were buried with Jesus in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.”

This is the summary of the Christian faith: we believe in the power of God, manifested in the resurrection of Jesus, and shared with humanity through baptism. It can only be received as a gift, it is never the result of human achievement.

So no, no set of laws or commandments, no matter how good they are, can help human beings obtain divine power or bring lasting order and unity to human power structures.

The letter then describes the difference between baptism and circumcision:

“You were circumcised with a circumcision not administered by hand.”

Baptism was seen as replacing circumcision. In the Old Testament, circumcision was the first law given to Abraham, even before Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. It was considered foundational, because it bound the individual and their family to the entire body of law that would follow. As Paul writes in Galatians 5, anyone circumcised was bound to observe the entire Old Testament law.

The original purpose of these laws was to guide humanity toward justice, but instead, they became a burden. People felt weighed down by them.

So, what about baptism? If baptism is the new circumcision, does that mean we too are bound to new laws? Many people think of Christianity this way, especially Catholicism, which emphasizes observance of canon law and the Catechism, particularly the Five Precepts of the Church. To be a practicing Catholic in good standing, the minimum expected is:

1. Attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation, and rest from unnecessary work.
2. Confess your sins at least once a year.
3. Receive the Eucharist at least during the Easter season.
4. Observe days of fasting and abstinence.
5. Support the Church’s needs.

These are good and necessary for community life, but Colossians insists that baptism is not primarily about being placed under a law. In fact, it tells us the opposite:

“God brought you to life along with Christ, having forgiven us all our transgressions; obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims… nailing it to the cross.”

We must think of baptism not as something that places us under rules, but as something that places us within the power of God. Only by living in the power of the resurrection can we do what we cannot otherwise do: overcome sin and be united as a human family.

This is authentic Christian spirituality, to say: “I live in the power of the resurrection.”

Bad spirituality believes the resurrection is something you must earn. When that happens, faith becomes about rule-following. But this approach quickly fails, because we fall short. People become so focused on what not to do, so fixated on their sin, that faith becomes a burden. They forget what they have already received. So the letter says:

“Christ has obliterated the bond against us with its legal claims.”

But why, then, did God emphasize laws and commandments in the Old Testament? Because that was phase one of salvation history. God needed to teach humanity that law alone cannot save us. Something deeper is required: inner transformation, brought about by the power of God, not by the powers of the world.

Colossians says that Jesus removed the bond against us, with its legal claims, nailing it to the cross. What is the crucifixion? It is the failure of human law. Jesus allows himself to be crucified by the political and religious powers of his day to show their failure. Think about it: what did they use to crucify Jesus? The very religious law they claimed was necessary to stay in relationship with God. They killed God using the law book itself. As the scribes and Pharisees said, “He broke the covenant law. And the penalty is death.”

Colossians continues:

“If you died with Christ to the elemental powers of the world, why do you submit to regulations as if you were still living in the world? ‘Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!’ These are all things destined to perish with use; they accord with human precepts and teachings. While they have a semblance of wisdom in rigor of devotion and severity to the body, they are of no value against gratification of the flesh.” In other words: rules and restrictions alone won’t heal the human heart.

Baptism gives us new life in the resurrection. We live in the power of God. So, as baptized Christians, our focus should be on what we can do, because of what we have received and who we are: children of God. Paul calls this “our new self.”

“Take off the old self with its practices, and put on the new self, which is being renewed… in the image of its creator.”

Salvation is not just being forgiven for breaking rules. Salvation is a deep transformation of the heart, becoming the person God created me to be. The more I allow God to transform me, the more I realize God is waiting to love me. If God loves me, then I will live and act in that love, through Him, with Him, and in Him.

This frees me from fear and rule-obsession. Jesus tells us there is one law that sums up the rest:

“Love one another as I have loved you.”

Baptism does not bind us to law, it frees us for love. It makes us part of a covenant community in which everyone knows they are loved by God and treats others as beloved sons and daughters of God.

That’s why we baptize babies. Can a baby understand laws? No. Can a baby be harmed by the actions of others? Absolutely. Does a baby need a new self? Not in the same way—but they need to be surrounded by people who have been renewed. Otherwise, those people will pass their brokenness on to the child. Infant baptism immerses the child in a community of grace. That is who you are: a community of grace.

This brings us to the Lord’s Prayer, which we read today in Luke’s Gospel (with a longer version in Matthew). It is the prayer of the baptized community, a community living in the power of God. It teaches the spiritual attitudes needed to live out the new self.

Let’s break it down:

• Our Father – the spiritual life is always communal, never just “I.”
• Hallowed be thy name – the attitude of Thanksgiving, the root of worship and social concern.
• Thy kingdom come… – the attitude of Hope, not just waiting for heaven, but asking God to transform the world here and now.
• Give us this day our daily bread – the attitude of Solidarity and trust in God to meet our shared needs.
• Forgive us… as we forgive – the attitude of Mercy, healing evil with compassion.
• Lead us not into temptation – the attitude of Perseverance. In 2019, Pope Francis proposed a better translation: “Do not let us fall into temptation” (as we say in Spanish: “no nos dejes caer en la tentación”). It reminds us that God doesn’t lead us into temptation, but helps us stay on the right path.

To persevere is to trust that the Gospel can transform the world.

Jesus does not give us instructions on how to be just another world religion led by laws and regulations. The Colossians were tempted to become that. But the power of God came to them in the waters of baptism. And it comes to us still.

Colossians ends with the line:“Put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” So, if your faith feels like a burden, ask Jesus to teach you to pray, to help you realize you are a person made for Thanksgiving, Hope, Solidarity, Mercy, and Perseverance. That is the attitude of the baptized Christian. You are free. You are loved. You are a person who focuses on what they can do in Christ.