Sacrament of Baptism

The following is a reflection on the Sacrament of Baptism.  I think this is important as we prepare for the penitential season of Lent.  Lent is time for us to renew our Baptismal commitment through prayer, fasting, and alms giving.

When we become members of the Church, we are united to Jesus Himself. St. Paul tells us: "For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ" (Galatians 3:27, cf. Romans 6:3-5, Titus 3:4-7). We are all one in Christ through the sacraments of initiation, because through these sacraments Christ shares His life with us, uniting us to Him.

Initiation into the Catholic Church is like no other initiation because, through the sacraments of initiation, Jesus personally meets us, welcomes us as members of the Church, and makes us one with Him by sharing His life with us. No other initiation can claim to do anything close to what the sacraments of initiation do for us.

Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Eucharist are called sacraments of initiation because they make those receiving them full members of the Church. As members of the Church, the newly initiated are called to work together with the other members of the Church to carry on Jesus' mission of love: to love God, ourselves, and others here on earth and to live with God someday in heaven. The sacraments give each member the grace to carry on Jesus' mission. The sacraments are physical signs, given to us by Jesus Christ through which He meets us and gives us grace.

Baptism is the first sacrament of initiation because, when we are baptized, we are welcomed, or initiated, into God's family. We begin life as members of the Church.

Through Baptism, Jesus touches us in a loving and special way. Through the water that is used in Baptism and the words that are spoken, Jesus Christ touches us physically, but He also touches our souls. When we are baptized, we receive grace, God's life, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Grace makes us friends of God and makes it possible for us to live in heaven someday. Each of us is conceived and born with original sin, which means that we do not share God's life (Romans 5:15-20, Acts 2:38-39). Baptism gives us grace (Colossians 2:11-13) and takes away original and any actual sins [if you are an adult]. Along with grace we also receive the gifts of faith, hope, and love. Faith is the power God gives us that makes it possible for us to believe in Him, Hope is the power that makes it possible for us to desire to share God's life, Love is the power that makes it possible for us to love God, ourselves, and others and work for his kingdom in faith (Ephesians 2:4-10, 15, Galatians 5:6).

The Lord Jesus Christ said the following about Baptism, "Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus...He came to Jesus and said, 'Rabbi, we know that you area teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him.' Jesus answered him 'Amen, Amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above [again]', Nicodemus said to him, 'how can a man grown old be born again?' Jesus answered 'Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and spirit." Then as if to prove his point about being born of water and spirit, Baptism, Jesus and his disciples: "...went into the region of Judea where he spent some time with them baptizing" (John 3:1-5, 22).

Jesus showed us how important Baptism is when He Himself was baptized. As God, He did not have to be baptized but He went to be baptized by John to show us how important it is for us to receive the sacrament of Baptism that He gave us. Jesus was to show again the importance of Baptism through these words to His disciples: "...then Jesus approached and said to them, 'All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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..." (Matthew 28:16-17).

The sign of Baptism, water, is not coincidental. We need water in order to live. The water of Baptism is a sign of life. It is a sign of God's life, grace, that we receive in Baptism. Jesus being a Jewish man would have been familiar with the importance of water in Jewish ceremonies. Even his first miracle at Cana had Baptismal overtones because the jars of water that he changed to wine were used for Jewish purification ceremonies (John 2:1-11, cf. Number 19:1-21).  Therefore, celebrate your baptism, the day that we were born again from Adam's family into Christ's family.