BAPTISM
Baptism is
the first and chief sacrament of forgiveness of sins
because it unites us with Christ, who died for our
sins and rose for our justification. Baptism, Confirmation,
and Eucharist constitute the sacraments of initiation
by which a believer receives the remission of original
and personal sin, begins a new life in Christ and
the Holy Spirit, and is incorporated into the Church,
the Body of Christ. The rite of Baptism consists
in immersing the candidate in water, or pouring water
on the head, while pronouncing the invocation of
the Most Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit (Catechism
of the Catholic Church, 977, 1213,1275, 1278).
The Sacraments of Christian
Initiation lay the foundation for the entire Christian
life, and the first of these is Holy Baptism, which
is the gateway to the life in the Spirit and the
door which gives access to the life of grace. Through
Baptism we are freed from all sin and born again
of water and the Holy Spirit as children of God.
Through Baptism we are made a new creation, and we
become members of Christ and heirs of the Kingdom
of Heaven.
The Greek word baptizein
means to plunge or to immerse, and whether we are
literally immersed in water or the water is poured
upon us, the water symbolizes the burial with Christ
for the catechumen. Do you not know that all of
us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into His death? We were buried therefore
with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ
was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,
we too might walk in newness of life (Romans 5:3-4).
The Lord Jesus Himself
made Baptism necessary for salvation (cf. John 3:5),
and from the beginning the Church faithfully followed
Our Lord's Great Commission to teach His Gospel to
all nations and baptize all who believe (cf. Matthew
28:16-20). In the first years of the Church's life,
most of those who were baptized were adults, but
when the Gospel began to be accepted by great numbers
of people, even infants and children were baptized.
Infant baptism, which is an immemorial tradition
of the Church, shows forth the absolutely free and
unmerited grace of God leading to salvation, but
the danger also exists that Christians will forget
that Baptism is the sacrament of faith.
But faith needs the community
of believers, and it is only within the living faith
of the Church that each of the faithful can come
to believe. That is why infants and children can
only be baptized when their parents and godparents
(sacramental sponsors) give evidence of genuine Christian
belief and practice.
The renewal of Christian
faith and life for which we all long can be found
in fidelity to the grace of our Baptism, when we
were born again as a new creation. |
