Simple Catholic Teaching: Baptism
In Matthew 28 we read of Jesus sending his disciples to evangelise the world. "All Authority (that word again) is given to me, go therefore to all nations baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching to to OBSERVE (does he really mean indoctrinate) all I have commanded you, and behold I am with you all days, even to the end of the world" He may well have secretly thought that Observe would not be appropriate in the 20th century where people would be so educated that they could think for themselves, but let us concentrate on Baptism.
Baptism has to do with Original Sin. So what is Original Sin?
At the time of Moses someone in Israel looked around him. He saw how men were evil and committed so many offences against one another. Surely a God who was perfect could not create such imperfect men, he asked himself. Then he remembered the legends of his tribe that once men were perfect and close to God but somehow they by their own free will became evil. They rebelled against that goodness within them. Inspired by the Holy Spirit he wrote down not the true event which had been lost through the years but an analogy about the Garden of Eden. Adam, Eve, the Serpent, walking with God in that Garden illustrating how close they were to God. Then they did something forbidden which turned them to evil, he talks about them eating of forbidden fruit. They were cast out of the Garden and that close friendship with God. Their souls were weak and evil was now not just forbidden fruit but desirable to them. But in all their misery God gave them one hope. A Messiah would appear to lead them back to that close union which was there in the beginning.
In the New Testament we have John baptising for the forgiveness of sin in the Jordan. "Repent" he cries "The Kingdom of God is at hand" But John's Baptism was of water but Jesus claimed to baptise with the Holy Spirit. This is very different. The Holy Spirit comes with many graces into the soul, indeed many of the Graces that were lost at the Fall, and man now had the power to resist evil through those graces. That is why Baptism is a very important step in accepting Jesus - it is NOT just a ceremony which makes you part of a community it is something that gives you strength in the battle ahead against sin. The Church is there to give other graces that will help us through life, confirmation to make us evangelists, the Blessed Sacrament to feed our souls and help us dwell on just how much God loves us, the Sacrament of Penance which helps us to find not just forgiveness but advances us on the course of not just goodness but holiness, being united to Jesus so, that our whole life is HIS, the Sacrament of Matrimony where the couple receive the help and graces of God to stay faithful and loving to themselves and their roles as Father and Mother, the Sacrament of Holy Orders where a priest is given the graces to say the Holy Mass and confer grace and help the faithful to be faithful to God, and lastly when our life is fading the wonderful Sacrament of Extreme Unction or the Last Rite.
We no longer live by the Law but in the Grace of Christ" St Paul told the Corinthians. This Grace was obtained by Christ on the Cross and the re-enactment of that Sacrifice in the Mass. Returning to Baptism when I was young people would rush to have the baby baptised after a few days because they believed that unbaptised babies go to Limbo. In fact the Church never taught this. It was some theological point mad by St Tomas Aquinas but as the Penny Catechism we read at school clearly taught What is Limbo Limbo is a place of rest where the souls of the just who died before Christ were detained. The Catholic Church, the Council of Trent on which the catechism was based never spoke of babies going to Limbo. But that does not mean we should not seek to have our babies baptised as soon as possible. There is no evidence biblical or historical which shows that when whole families were baptised the children were not. If there had been that practice surely there would have been evidence somewhere of a change. A soul with graces is a boon even to a child, the presence of the Holy Spirit will help them.
Baptism has to do with Original Sin. So what is Original Sin?
At the time of Moses someone in Israel looked around him. He saw how men were evil and committed so many offences against one another. Surely a God who was perfect could not create such imperfect men, he asked himself. Then he remembered the legends of his tribe that once men were perfect and close to God but somehow they by their own free will became evil. They rebelled against that goodness within them. Inspired by the Holy Spirit he wrote down not the true event which had been lost through the years but an analogy about the Garden of Eden. Adam, Eve, the Serpent, walking with God in that Garden illustrating how close they were to God. Then they did something forbidden which turned them to evil, he talks about them eating of forbidden fruit. They were cast out of the Garden and that close friendship with God. Their souls were weak and evil was now not just forbidden fruit but desirable to them. But in all their misery God gave them one hope. A Messiah would appear to lead them back to that close union which was there in the beginning.
In the New Testament we have John baptising for the forgiveness of sin in the Jordan. "Repent" he cries "The Kingdom of God is at hand" But John's Baptism was of water but Jesus claimed to baptise with the Holy Spirit. This is very different. The Holy Spirit comes with many graces into the soul, indeed many of the Graces that were lost at the Fall, and man now had the power to resist evil through those graces. That is why Baptism is a very important step in accepting Jesus - it is NOT just a ceremony which makes you part of a community it is something that gives you strength in the battle ahead against sin. The Church is there to give other graces that will help us through life, confirmation to make us evangelists, the Blessed Sacrament to feed our souls and help us dwell on just how much God loves us, the Sacrament of Penance which helps us to find not just forgiveness but advances us on the course of not just goodness but holiness, being united to Jesus so, that our whole life is HIS, the Sacrament of Matrimony where the couple receive the help and graces of God to stay faithful and loving to themselves and their roles as Father and Mother, the Sacrament of Holy Orders where a priest is given the graces to say the Holy Mass and confer grace and help the faithful to be faithful to God, and lastly when our life is fading the wonderful Sacrament of Extreme Unction or the Last Rite.
We no longer live by the Law but in the Grace of Christ" St Paul told the Corinthians. This Grace was obtained by Christ on the Cross and the re-enactment of that Sacrifice in the Mass. Returning to Baptism when I was young people would rush to have the baby baptised after a few days because they believed that unbaptised babies go to Limbo. In fact the Church never taught this. It was some theological point mad by St Tomas Aquinas but as the Penny Catechism we read at school clearly taught What is Limbo Limbo is a place of rest where the souls of the just who died before Christ were detained. The Catholic Church, the Council of Trent on which the catechism was based never spoke of babies going to Limbo. But that does not mean we should not seek to have our babies baptised as soon as possible. There is no evidence biblical or historical which shows that when whole families were baptised the children were not. If there had been that practice surely there would have been evidence somewhere of a change. A soul with graces is a boon even to a child, the presence of the Holy Spirit will help them.
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