Christ's Baptism
All the Old Covenant prefigurations find their fulfillment in
Christ Jesus. He begins his public life after having himself baptized by
St. John the Baptist in the Jordan. After his resurrection Christ gives
this mission to his apostles.
Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded
you.
Our Lord voluntarily submitted himself to the baptism of St.
John, intended for sinners, in order to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus' gesture is a manifestation of his self-emptying.
The Spirit who
had hovered over the waters of the first creation descended then on the
Christ as a prelude of the new creation, and the Father revealed Jesus
as his "beloved Son.
In his Passover Christ opened to all men the fountain of Baptism.
He had already spoken of his Passion, which he was about to suffer in
Jerusalem, as a "Baptism" with which he had to be baptized.
The
blood and water that flowed from the pierced side of the crucified Jesus
are types of Baptism and the Eucharist, the sacraments of new life.23
From then on, it is possible "to be born of water and the Spirit in
order to enter the Kingdom of God.
See where you are baptized, see where Baptism comes from, if not
from the cross of Christ, from his death. There is the whole mystery: he
died for you. In him you are redeemed, in him you are saved.
Baptism in the Church
From the very day of Pentecost the Church has celebrated and
administered holy Baptism. Indeed St. Peter declares to the crowd
astounded by his preaching: Repent, and be baptized every one of you
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you
shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The apostles and their
collaborators offer Baptism to anyone who believed in Jesus: Jews, the
God-fearing, pagans. Always, Baptism is seen as connected with
faith: Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your
household, St. Paul declared to his jailer in Philippi. and the narrative
continues, the jailer was baptized at once, with all his family.
According to the Apostle Paul, the believer enters through
Baptism into communion with Christ's death, is buried with him, and
rises with him:
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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.
The baptized have put on Christ. Through the Holy Spirit,
Baptism is a bath that purifies, justifies, and sanctifies. Hence Baptism is a bath of water in which the imperishable
seed of the Word of God produces its life-giving effect. St.
Augustine says of Baptism: The word is brought to the material
element, and it becomes a sacrament.
Who can Receive Baptism?
Every person not yet baptized and only such a person is able to
be baptized. Since the beginning of the Church, adult Baptism is the common
practice where the proclamation of the Gospel is still new.
The
catechumenate (preparation for Baptism) therefore occupies an
important place. This initiation into Christian faith and life should
dispose the catechumen to receive the gift of God in Baptism,
Confirmation, and the Eucharist.
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The catechumenate, or formation of catechumens, aims at
bringing their conversion and faith to maturity, in response to the divine initiative and in union with an ecclesial community. the
catechumenate is to be a formation in the whole Christian life . . .
during which the disciples will be joined to Christ their teacher.
The
catechumens should be properly initiated into the mystery of salvation
and the practice of the evangelical virtues, and they should be
introduced into the life of faith, liturgy, and charity of the People of
God by successive sacred rites.
Catechumens are already joined to the Church, they are already
of the household of Christ, and are quite frequently already living a life
of faith, hope, and charity. With love and solicitude mother
Church already embraces them as her own.
The Baptism of infants
Born with a fallen human nature and tainted by original sin,
children also have need of the new birth in Baptism to be freed from
the power of darkness and brought into the realm of the freedom of the
children of God, to which all men are called.
The sheer
gratuitousness of the grace of salvation is particularly manifest in infant
Baptism. the Church and the parents would deny a child the priceless
grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer Baptism
shortly after birth.
Christian parents will recognize that this practice also accords
with their role as nurturers of the life that God has entrusted to
them.
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The practice of infant Baptism is an immemorial tradition of the
Church. There is explicit testimony to this practice from the second
century on, and it is quite possible that, from the beginning of the
apostolic preaching, when whole households received baptism,
infants may also have been baptized.
Faith and Baptism
Baptism is the sacrament of faith. But faith needs the
community of believers. It is only within the faith of the Church that
each of the faithful can believe. The faith required for Baptism is not a
perfect and mature faith, but a beginning that is called to develop.
The catechumen or the godparent is asked: What do you ask of God's
Church? the response is: Faith!
For all the baptized, children or adults, faith must grow after
Baptism. For this reason the Church celebrates each year at the Easter
Vigil the renewal of baptismal promises. Preparation for Baptism leads
only to the threshold of new life. Baptism is the source of that new life
in Christ from which the entire Christian life springs forth.
For the grace of Baptism to unfold, the parents' help is
important. So too is the role of the godfather and godmother, who
must be firm believers, able and ready to help the newly baptized -
child or adult on the road of Christian life.
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Their task is a truly
ecclesial function (officium). The whole ecclesial community bears
some responsibility for the development and safeguarding of the grace
given at Baptism.
Who can Baptize?
The ordinary ministers of Baptism are the bishop and priest and,
in the Latin Church, also the deacon. In case of necessity, anyone,
even a not-baptized person, with the required intention, can
baptize. By using the Trinitarian baptismal formula. The intention
required is to will to do what the Church does when she baptizes. The Church finds the reason for this possibility in the universal saving will
of God and the necessity of Baptism for salvation.
