Benoit, soon to be baptized: ‘Everything comes from God!’

“I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” These are the words that thousands of catechumens around the world are preparing to hear on Easter night when they are baptized. Throughout Lent, Aleteia is sharing with you the stories of some of these men and women, who are happy to become children of God. Read all of the testimonies here.

Benoit, 32, a wealth management advisor, doesn’t like to do things half-way. Since he discovered God and entered the catechumenate, the young man assures us, “I’m learning to let go.” And what better way to embody this letting go than baptism by immersion?

“I saw it in 2023 during the Easter vigil at the student parish in Toulouse, and I was impressed. It was such an act of surrender and trust!” Benoit is going to be baptized during the Easter Vigil at Saint-Étienne Cathedral in Toulouse. So as soon as he could, he asked Fr. Simon d'Artigue, the cathedral’s pastor, if he could be baptized by immersion too.

He said “yes,” and is offering it this year to the 23 catechumens he’s about to baptize on Easter night. “It's not just a symbol. For me, baptism by immersion means feeling this new life in every cell of my body,” Benoit continues. ”I wanted to take this step to be born again.”

He owes this rebirth to his fiancée Clarance, whom he will marry this summer. “When I met Clarance at the end of November 2022, I was immediately illuminated by her faith,” he says with emotion. “It's quite inexplicable. I could see how she marvelled at everything with deep joy and without preconceptions. For the first time, I told myself that faith didn’t have to be so cold or sectarian.”

After a few weeks of dating, out of curiosity, Benoit decided to accompany her to Mass one Sunday at the student parish of Toulouse, Notre-Dame de la Daurade. “And there, it was a shock: the Mass was incredible with 300 to 400 students singing with one voice. Something extraordinary happened; I felt the call at that moment.”

So, of course, attending Mass for the first time isn’t easy. “I was a little uncomfortable at times because I wasn't familiar with the formalities of Mass, etc.,” he admits. “But I felt a rather inexplicable vibration in my heart. That was the starting point. I told myself right away that I had to look into it further, to understand. That's when I started wanting to meet Jesus.”

He gradually let go of his fears, the warnings he’d received against religion... “But every time I accompanied Clarance to Mass, something was missing. As if I weren’t yet worthy enough of his love, as if Jesus were still waiting for me. So I took the plunge and asked to be baptized.”

In the summer of 2023, he became closer to his parish and was finally received in September by one of the catechumenate guides, Claudine. The only snag is that Benoit and Clarance were planning to spend time in Australia and New Zealand.

“I was very touched by her ability to listen,” he continues. “I explained to her that we were leaving in two weeks for six months. And I told her that if it was too complicated to start my catechumenate remotely, I would come back to her later.”

After speaking with Fr. Simon d'Artigue, Claudine got back to him confirming that he could start the catechumenate remotely. “We have a WhatsApp group with reading suggestions, questions to share, etc. So I was able to start my catechumenate while Clarance and I were living our adventure.” On his return, he continued in person.

As the date of his baptism approaches, he thinks of his family. “I come from a very atheistic family. My parents warned me a lot about religion and the Church because of things that happened in their past,” he continues.

His parents divorced when he was little and he no longer had a relationship with his father, so he announced his baptism to his mother, his stepfather, and his sister. “When I told them, I thought they would judge me, but not at all,” Benoit explains. “They were certainly cautious because they didn't bring me up in the faith, but they didn't ask me any more questions, and they accepted it very simply.”

“It's the first time I feel this peaceful love in my heart, this fullness in my life. It’s such a precious, priceless gift that I couldn't help but share it,” he says as he thinks about his family. “But hey, sometimes not everyone wants to receive it, or at least not immediately. You have to respect that.”

As he prepares to get married with Clarance before God on August 16, Benoit rejoices in the priceless treasure that is faith. “I have this image of a triangle,” the young man continues. “At the bottom corners are the husband and wife. And at the very top corner is God.”

“The closer we get to God, the less distance there is between the couple. The more we align ourselves with God, the closer Clarance and I get to each other. In a broader sense, getting closer to God means getting closer to others.”

Benoit continues: “I remember a time when Fr. Simon was teaching about a gospel passage where Christ calls us to leave everything to follow him. At one point, I let my heart speak and I understood that Jesus was asking us to follow him first, because everything comes from him. Love? It has its source in his Love. And it’s an inexhaustible source.”