Baptism is a means by which God conveys grace. By undergoing this rite, the person baptized receives Remission of sins and is regenerated or given a new nature and an awakened and strengthened faith in Christ. Baptism involves the application of water to the head and body of a person. It is frequently thought of as an act by which believer enters the fellowship of the Church - that the power to convey grace is contained within the sacrament of Baptism . It is not the water but the sacrament as established by God and administered by the Church that produces the change.

Baptism enters the eye to reach and move the heart. The Gospel of John 3:5-6 is important to the advocates of the sacramental view of baptism: Jesus replied: I tell you most solemnly, unless a man is born through water and Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God: what is born of the flesh is flesh; what is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons and daughters of God; we became believers or disciples of Christ. There are two baptisms which are mentioned: the baptism of the Holy Spirit - the baptism that brings mercy, forgiveness and life. The baptism of Fire - the baptism that brings judgement, condemnation and death. The baptism of the Holy Spirit belongs to the present age of grace and the baptism of Fire belongs to a future age of judgement.

A feeling of expectancy had grown among the people who were beginning to think that John might be Christ, so John declared before them all, 'I baptise you with water but someone is coming, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandals; he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fan is in his hand to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out'. - Luke 3:15-17 - Matt. 3:11-12 -

"This bath is called enlightenment because those who receive this [catechetical] instruction are enlightened in their understanding... Having received in Baptism the Word, "the true light that enlightens every man", the person baptized has been "enlightened" he becomes a "son of light" indeed, he becomes "light" himself": Baptism is God's most beautiful and magnificent gift... We call it gift, grace, anointing, enlightenment, garment of immortality, bath of rebirth, seal and most precious gift. It is called gift because it is conferred on those who bring nothing of their own; grace since it is given even to the guilty; Baptism because sin is buried in the water; anointing for it is priestly and royals as are those who are anointed; enlightenment because it radiates light; clothing since it veils our shame; bath because it washes; and seal as it is our guard and the sign of God's Lordship. - CCC 1216 - John 1:9; 1Thes. 5:5; Heb. 10:32; Eph. 5:8 -

All Old Covenant prefigurations find their fulfillment in Christ Jesus. He begins his public life after having himself baptized by St. John the Baptist in the Jordan. After his resurrection Christ gives this mission to his apostles: "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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you". - CCC 1223 - Matt. 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16 -



Our Lord voluntarily submitted himself to the baptism of St. John the Baptist, intended for sinners, in order to "fulfill all righteousness" Jesus' gesture is a manifestation of his self-emptying. The Spirit who had hovered the waters of the first creation descended then on the Christ as a prelude of the new creation and the Father revealed Jesus as his "beloved Son". - CCC 1224 - Phil. 2:7; Matt. 3:16-17 -

In his Passover Christ opened to all men the fountain of Baptism. He had already spoken of his Passion which he was about to suffer in Jerusalem, as a "Baptism" with which he had to be baptized. The blood and water that flowed from the pierced side of the crucified Jesus are types of Baptism and the Eucharist, the sacraments of new life. From then on, it is possible "to be born of water and the Spirit" in order to enter the Kingdom of God. - See where you are baptized, see where Baptism comes from, if not from the cross of Christ, from his death. There is the whole mystery: he died for you. In him you are redeemed, in him you are saved. - CCC 1225 - Mark 10:38; Luke 12:50; John 3:5,19:34; 1John 5:6-8 -

From the very day of Pentecost the Church has celebrated and administered holy Baptism. Indeed Saint Peter declares to the crowd astounded by his preaching: "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit". The apostles and their collaborators offer Baptism to anyone who believed in Jesus: Jews, the God-fearing, pagans. Always, Baptism is seen as connected with faith: "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household", Saint Paul declared to his jailer in Philippi. And the narrative continues, the jailer "was baptized at once, with all his family". - CCC 1226 - Acts 2:38, 41, 8:12-13, 10:48, 16:15, 16:31-33 -

According to the Apostle Paul, the believer enters through Baptism into communion with Christ's death, is buried with him and rises with him:
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
The baptized have "put on Christ" Through the Holy Spirit, Baptism is a bath that purifies, justifies and sanctifies. - CCC 1227 - Rom. 6:3-4; Col. 2:12; Gal. 3:27; 1Cor. 6:11, 12:13 -

Hence Baptism is a bath of water in which the "imperishable seed" of the Word of God produces its life-giving effect. Saint Augustine says of Baptism: "The word is brought to the material element and it becomes a sacrament. - CCC 1228 - 1Peter 1:23; Eph. 5:26 -

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -