Colossians 1:13

He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.

St. Dismas, otherwise known as the Good Thief, is the traditional Patron Saint of Thieves (because he “stole heaven” at the last minute). He is also, when we think about it, a pretty good little icon of life of each one of us, particularly in light of today’s verse. For every one of us was, to quote Bob Dylan, “stone cold dead when we stepped out of the womb.” Not one of us has any more chance of getting out of here alive than St. Dismas did. Yet, in an instant, God is able to do in any ordinary baptism what he did for Dismas: pluck us clean out of the dominion of darkness, out of this howling wilderness of crucifixion, screaming mobs, slaughters, deportation, famine and the kingdom of death and transfer us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. In baptism, God isn’t kidding when he says “This day you shall be with me in Paradise.” And every time we go to mass, we enter into that mystical reality again in preparation for the Day when we enter, in our resurrection life, into the fullness of that Kingdom for all eternity. What a steal!