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What a great joy to our whole cluster of parishes, that on Easter this year Mr. David Schmick will be baptized. This will take place at the Easter Vigil Mass, following the practice of the Church, who baptizes the adult faithful ordinarily on Easter. His large family, all of whom are already Catholic, and whom we have all seen at Mass, will be in full attendance. His son, David, who has been learning how to serve at the altar, will have the privilege of being an altar boy at his father’s own baptism.
I’m sure that the good example of Catholic life, coupled with reverential
ritual, orthodox preaching, striking Church art and uplifting liturgical music
have all contributed to this wonderful event in their own way. The Lord himself revealed to us the necessity of Baptism for entry into heaven and eternal beatitude (cf. Jn 5:3, CCC 1257). It is the “gateway to the sacraments and necessary for salvation by actual reception or at least by desire” (CIC 849). This sentence from Canon Law, which itself is a quote of older doctrinal documents of the Church, shows that besides baptism by water, there is also something called baptism by desire. St. Ambrose (340?-397) teaches about baptism by desire in reference to Valentinian II, who requested baptism, but fell victim to a political assassination before he was washed by the saving waters. Being a catechumen qualifies for baptism by desire; should a catechumen, even as our own David Schmick, die before baptism, the Church most generously promises them the grace of “salvation that they were not able to receive through the sacrament” (CCC 1259). Together with baptism by water and baptism by desire we can add baptism by blood or by fire, which is one who dies for Christ yet who is not baptized. “Baptism by the Holy Spirit” is a popular, non-Catholic interpretation of Acts 11:16 and a couple other places. When the scriptures distinguish the baptism of St. John the Baptist, and the life-giving and Spirit-giving baptism bestowed on the Church by Jesus Christ, they refer to the “baptism with the Holy Spirit.” This isn’t a different baptism from the one Jesus gave us; it is just referring to it by one of the effects (the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, of the entire Trinity in fact) so as to distinguish it from St. John the Baptist’s baptism, which was nothing more than an expression of penance. Given the importance of baptism, and following the tradition of the Apostles (cf. Acts 2:38-39), Catholics have always baptized infants. Infants in danger of death are to be baptized right away; should they survive, the rest of the rites and blessings proper to the celebration of baptism are done when the child can be brought to the Church. The Church requires that infants be “baptized in the first few weeks,” allowing sufficient time for the parents to be prepared; but this should be seen as a maximum. The first consideration here is the welfare of the child; the Instruction (n. 8) for the rite of Baptism states that secondary to this consideration “the health of the mother must be considered, so that, if at all possible, she too may be present.” For the state of original sin is a reality, and baptism objectively washes original sin away; all too often parents delay far, far too long in baptizing their children. For baptism has many marvelous consequences (cf. CCC 1257-1274). It washes away original sin, it opens the gates of heaven, it forgives all sins even actual (person) sins for those beyond infancy, all punishment for sin, gives justification, bestows faith and hope and charity, unites them with all the baptized in Christ, and no one can ever take baptism away from the baptized, not even Satan. So great is God’s love and mercy upon us!
Let us all live up to our baptismal commitments, especially by a life centered
on the Eucharist, which is the source and summit of everything in the Catholic
Church. Picture: Piero della Francesca (1420?-92), The Baptism, 1442; Tempera on panel, 167 x 116 cm; National Gallery, London. Thanks: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/piero/. |
Baptism
This Easter