“The baptismal font becomes at once a tomb and a womb: "at the self-same moment you die and are born; the water of salvation is at once your grave and your mother" (St. Cyril of Jerusalem). The triple immersion in and emersion from the baptismal waters is laden with meaning. Baptism is both a death and a new birth. The water destroys one life and it begets another. It drowns the old man and raises up the new. The liturgical act gives expression to two realities: the death of the old man, who in solidarity with Adam, is subject to sin and death, and the birth of the new man, who in his union with Christ, is provided with new members and faculties in preparation for the life to come.” (Rev. Alciviadis C. Calivas, Th.D.)
“A friend gave me a striking comparison the other day. Do you know how the police and investigators learn how to spot counterfeit bills? They meticulously study every aspect of genuine currency. They take the measure of every real bill – they immerse themselves in the truth, so that it becomes second nature. This means that when they’re confronted with a fake, they can immediately spot all the ways in which it is faulty. This is why it is so important to immerse yourself in the Truth. Otherwise, you’re easy prey for deception.” (Douglas Cramer)
“There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says ‘Morning, boys. How’s the water?’ And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes ‘What…is water?” We need to become aware of our immersions.” (David Foster Wallace, James K.A. Smith)
“My daughter is currently enrolled in a swim class for half-an-hour a week. She has gone weekly for the last three months, and (Surprise!) still doesn’t know how to swim. Swimming is an immersive experience, one that you learn by doing, through consistent and frequent repetition. A far more effective way to teach her to swim, then, would be for me to take her to the pool daily, get into the water with her, and show her the ins-and-outs of aquatic recreation. Not only would this provide the consistent and frequent repetition necessary to learn to swim, but it would bind my daughter and me together in a unique way. Swimming, for her, would forever be associated with a loving relationship. As it is now, I am unfortunately abdicating not only my responsibility to ensure that my daughter knows how to swim, but I am also missing out on the opportunity to bond with her in a lasting way by teaching her to do so myself…Like swimming, the Christian faith is an immersive experience, one that you learn by doing it. I delude myself into thinking that if I get her to Church once a week and make sure goes to Sunday School that she will learn how to swim.” (Christian Gonzales)
“Knowledge is worthless if it doesn’t deepen our heart for God and increase our faith. But constantly immersing ourselves with knowledge of Godly teachings will do that over time. That is why feeding our soul, if you will, by praying every morning, reading the daily Bible readings, reading books about God and Christianity and going to as many Church services as possible is so important to our spiritual growth. None of this has to do with intellectual knowledge or gaining self-satisfaction by being pious, but rather it is always about faith, understanding and loving God and doing whatever we can to stay in constant relationship with Him.” (Sacramental Living)