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Holy
Baptism stands at the beginning of Christian Life, not principally because
it is frequently administered to young children, but because it is the
beginning of all sacramental grace. This is clear from the fourfold nature
of the "inward and spiritual grace" of the sacrament.
Baptism is first of all the washing away of sin. When Baptism is
administered to those old enough to know right from wrong, their past
sinful actions are forgiven; their actual sins are washed away. Even more,
all those who are baptized are forgiven what has been traditionally known
as original sin. This means that all of the fallenness of our nature which
stands as an obstacle to a true relationship with God is done away. God
establishes a relationship with us by removing the guilt of our fallen
condition.
 This new relationship is God’s adoption of Christians as His children.
Thus - and this is the second part of the grace of the sacrament - we are
reborn. The font is a kind of womb bringing forth the new life in Christ.
Just as we were born to a physical life from our earthly mothers, so from
the font we are born to a spiritual life. This is a life which partakes of
the life of God and thus of immortality. As spiritual birth, it is the
beginning of Christian life. That life must still be lived, and there is
much growth which must follow the birth. But the birth is real, and like
our earthly birth, unrepeatable.
In being reborn we are incorporated into Christ and especially into His
death and resurrection. St. Paul has termed it "putting on Christ" and
putting off "the old man." Coming to the font, we first renounce the
devil, the world, and the flesh, and then turn to Jesus and accept His
Lordship over our lives. This incorporation into the death and
resurrection of Christ is graphically symbolized when the baptism is by
immersion:
going down into the waters under which human life cannot survive and being
raised up through death to a new life.
As a result of the putting on of Christ, we are made members of His Body,
the Church. For all of its profound effects on our individual souls,
Baptism is also profoundly corporate. In uniting us with Christ, it unites
us also with all other Christians who are similarly united with the Head
of the Church. Symbolizing this entrance into the Church, the font is
often placed near the door to remind us how it is that we have come here.
All of these four elements of the Sacramental grace of Baptism emphasize
God’s initiative in the Sacrament. This properly expresses the comfortable
Gospel of grace: that God saves us quite apart from any merits or good
deeds of our own. In Baptism, God takes us to Himself, establishing by His
own sovereign mercy a relationship which is intended to bear fruit both in
this life and the next.
Holy Baptism is especially appropriate at the Easter Vigil, on the Day of
Pentecost, on All Saints’ Day or the Sunday after All Saints’ Day, and on
the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord (the First Sunday after the
Epiphany). It is also appropriate to reserve Baptisms for the visitation
of a Bishop. |
