There are handsome Christians and there are ugly Christians. There are rich Christians and there are poor Christians. There are holy Christians and there are sinful Christians. There are smart Christians, less smart Christians, and some who are rather foolish. But what there are not are unbaptized Christians.
If you are not baptized, you may be a good person, but you are not a Christian. Baptism is the first step, absolutely necessary, in order to form part of the Church founded by Christ.
That is why, when the young lady came to me and said: “Father, I want to have my wedding in your church with many flowers and candles, with the choir’s songs and holy water. And I want you to speak very beautifully to us at Mass, as you do with the people of your church.”
My first question was: and are you Christians, that is, are you already baptized and prepared for the sacrament of matrimony?
“Well, I have not been baptized, but I am Christian, and my fiancé is also quite Christian. I mean, he has calmed down a lot and hardly drinks anymore.”
You can imagine how long it took me to straighten out the young lady’s ideas! “Being Christian” is not the same as “behaving well.” A Christian is a person who “belongs to Christ.” In baptism we consecrate ourselves to Him, and He places a seal on our soul that marks us as His own.
Baptism really changes us. We receive the Holy Spirit and are different in the eyes of God. We Catholics are usually baptized as newborns. In this way we begin to live in God’s grace from the time we are very small.
Where, then, does the bride’s confusion come from? I think it is due to two things: the ignorance of Catholics and the doubts sown by our separated brothers. I devote myself seven days a week to remedying the ignorance of Catholics. Now I am going to deal with the sects.
Almost all the Evangelical or Pentecostal-type groups out there recognize some form of baptism. But, as in everything else, Protestants take only one part of the truth and discard what makes them uncomfortable. For some, baptism is only the symbol that one has accepted Jesus as personal savior.
Others distinguish between baptism of water and baptism of the Spirit. Others say that you can be baptized as many times as you want in order to give testimony.
They also argue among themselves about how one must baptize: whether in the name of Jesus Christ or in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; whether by wetting the whole body as in a bath or with a little water on the head. In short, there is a bit of everything. The curious thing is that all these sects tell you that they only do what the Bible says… and they cannot manage to agree!
First of all, remember that what separates us Catholics from the sects is that the Catholic Church teaches, believes and lives everything that Jesus Christ taught us. We believe nothing that is not found in, or supported by, the Bible. We are the most “biblical” of all Christians.
Is it a symbol, or does something truly happen?
According to what Jesus Christ tells us, when we are baptized we receive the Holy Spirit and are “born again” as children of God (Jn 3:5). When Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan, heaven opened, the Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove, and the voice of God the Father was heard: “You are my beloved Son, my chosen one.” (Mk 1:9-12).
Before Jesus, John the Baptist baptized with water, and that was indeed a symbolic baptism, because those baptized by John did not receive the Holy Spirit nor were they incorporated into the Church. It served only as a penitential practice and a sign of conversion. But Jesus changes baptism from a symbol into a sacrament, and every sacrament truly transforms us, makes us different.
We were all born sinners, that is, without God’s friendship. This is what we call original sin or, as Saint Paul says, Adam’s sin (Rom 5:12). In the sacrament of baptism God adopts us as His children (Rom 8:15), the Holy Spirit washes us from sin (Acts 2:38), and we become one with Jesus Christ (1 Cor 12:13).
In baptism, as in all the seven sacraments that Christ gave to his Church, it is He himself who transforms us with his power.
In whose name?
There are very extremist sects, far from the Bible, that recognize only baptism “in the name of Jesus Christ,” such as, for example, the mega-sect of Guadalajara, La Luz del Mundo. They affirm this because they do not believe in the Most Holy Trinity. In fact, twice in the Bible we see the expression baptize in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38 and 10:48), and two other times baptize in the name of Jesus (Acts 8:16 and 19:5). But in none of these passages is the formula for baptism being given. It is simply referring to the baptism that Christ instituted (and not, for example, to John’s baptism).
There is no doubt that the only acceptable form for baptism is with the words in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, because Jesus Christ himself indicates it to us (Mt 28:19). They are His words, and it is useless to keep going around the matter.
Catholics and the majority of Protestants take Him at His word.
Immersion or infusion?
And what about baptism as a complete bath? What do we Catholics say? That way of baptizing, called immersion, is very good. It even seems to have been the preferred form of the first Christians, because it perfectly represents our death to sin and resurrection with Christ. In many places the Catholic Church baptizes its own in this way.
But the Bible tells us that immersion is not the only form of baptism. For immersion one needs a river, a fountain or at least a pool where the person can be submerged. Saint Paul was baptized in a house (Acts 9:17), Saint Peter baptized several people in the house of Cornelius (Acts 10:47), and Paul baptized his jailer in the prison itself (Acts 16:33).
On the day of Pentecost, in the middle of the city, three thousand people were baptized, and archaeologists have shown that there was not enough water in Jerusalem for so many immersions. On the other hand, what is to be done with the sick and the dying who want baptism but cannot be submerged? Or with Eskimos? Or with people who live in the desert? There must be another way to baptize them.
A very ancient document called The Teachings of the Apostles (written in A.D. 70, when some apostles were still alive!) indicates that if there is neither river nor pool, one may baptize by pouring water on the head.
In the oldest Christian art (paintings and mosaics), many baptism scenes are seen, but none of immersion!
For this reason, since the time of the apostles, the Church founded by Christ has recognized three types of baptism: immersion, infusion (water is poured on the head), and aspersion (those being baptized are sprinkled).
At present the most common form is baptism by infusion, because of the practical difficulties of the other methods.
Baptism is a great gift of God that Christ left us so that, in Him, we too might become children of the Father.
Do not forget, Catholic, that through your baptism you have become an heir of heaven!
Source: Churchforum.org
Author: Siempre Fiel
