Denver Catholic

2 AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2026 | DENVER CATHOLIC ARCH B I S H O P ' S CO LU M N A Tsunami of Love T he day after I was installed as Archbishop of Denver, one of my younger nieces came running up to me. She gave me a massive hug, looked up at me and said, "It's like a tsunami of love just ran through us." I experienced that during the days around my installa- tion as your archbishop, and for that, I'm grateful to each of you. I felt it, too, during our recent pallium pilgrimage to Rome. As I knelt before Pope Leo XIV and he placed the pallium, a two-inch-wide white woolen band, on my shoulders, I felt the loving tsunami of your prayers with me. What an image from my niece: an overwhelming, over- powering and uncontrollable flood of love sweeping us up, washing over us, moving us, changing us. I realize that a tsunami can be destructive. In this column, I refer to the magnitude, size and strength of the waves, which are not unlike how the Holy Spirit works in Baptism. The power of the Holy Spirit is for our renewal and rebirth. In Baptism, a tsunami of divine love washes over us. We are caught up, surrounded, steeped in the love of God for us. In a certain way, we are changed to the point of death — death to our old selves, to the world and to the In Baptism, every Catholic receives a new identity in Christ and a mission to share his love with the world. BY ARCHBISHOP JAMES GOLKA R E D I S C O V E R T H E G I F T O F B A P T I S M way we might want things to be. But, in Christ, that death blossoms into new life. St. Paul tells us that, by dying with Jesus in Baptism, we rise with him anew (Romans 6:8-10). It is no longer we who live, but Jesus who lives in us (Gala- tians 2:20). Our new life is made entirely new; we are made entirely new, alive in Christ and sent forth in his love (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are claimed by Jesus, redeemed and brought home to the Father in the Holy Spirit. That's our primary rela- tionship: communion with the Trinity. We become beloved children of the Father, overwhelmed by God's love for us. That's our identity. We're empowered by the Holy Spirit dwelling within us to return that love to God and, through him, to our neighbor as members of God's family, the Church. That's our mission. This is what Baptism does. It redeems us. It raises us to new life. It makes us children of God and members of his family, the Church. It gives us an identity and a mission. And it is all pure gift, because God claims us in Jesus Christ before we could ever claim him. This is the greatest gift that parents can give their chil- dren: the gift of new life in Christ through Baptism. It's the greatest invitation we can extend to our non-Catholic

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