Ruminations of an Irascible Hermit.: Baptism - the basis of our life as Christians

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Baptism - the basis of our life as Christians

At Bible study on my parish tonight we were going through different verses and this one from Ezekiel 16:9 struck me, regarding the beauty and power of baptism.

In the Catechism (CCC #1213) it refers to Baptism as the basis of the whole Christian life. Often many of you may have been baptised as infants/children so don’t remember your baptism, or the adult converts among us like myself may have been baptised but not had proper catechesis to understand it properly. It is something we often take for granted without realising the dignity and power it gives us.

In baptism we are washed clean from Original/Ancestral sin and any personal sins too. According to the Catechism #1279

“The fruit of Baptism, or baptismal grace, is a rich reality that includes forgiveness of original sin and all personal sins, birth into the new life by which man becomes an adoptive son of the Father, a member of Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit. By this very fact the person baptized is incorporated into the Church, the Body of Christ, and made a sharer in the priesthood of Christ”.

WOW

Let’s unpack this a bit more…

We understand that baptism frees us from sin (although we still suffer the effects of sin and can still commit sins), but what about being children of the Father, temples of the Holy Spirit and sharers in the priesthood of Christ? In the Old Testament, annointing with oil was only done for PRIESTS or KINGS - and yet in baptism we are annointed, why’s that? Because by becoming one with Christ we become heirs to the Kingdom, children of the Father and are made priests! This is called the “common priesthood of all believers” ref CCC 1268

All of us who have been baptised have been washed by God and reborn as His children, and annointed as His priests and royalty. This is the dignity we possess as Baptised Christians! We can offer prayers on behalf of other people, and unite our prayers with the Sacrifice of the Eucharist on behalf of others too. Baptism is what gives us access or the rights to the other sacraments as well.

The importance of Catholics understanding their baptism is something that has really been on my mind lately. Too often we see it as our ticket to being part of the Church, but we forget it’s so much more than just that. Baptism is what sets us apart from others, it is what makes us Children of God. It is also what makes us Temples of the Holy Spirit.

In the Old Testament the Jews and Samaritan’s disagreed over where God should be worshipped and in what Temple. But as Christians we are all individually and collectively the Temple of the Holy Spirit! This would have been mind blowing to the first Christians. This is why Jesus spoke about those who will worship the Father in “spirit and in truth” John 5:23-24, because as Christians who have the full revelation of who God is (the Holy Trinity) we are able to have true worship in “spirit and truth”.

Worship is ultimately about union, and what closer union can you have with God than to physically be His Temple and be able to eat the Eucharist? Through baptism we are washed clean and given the wedding garment (Matt 22:1-14) and invited to the Wedding of the Lamb for eternity (Revelation 19:6-9) which we already partake of now in the Eucharist.

At my baptism I remember reading the following passage from 1 Peter 2:9-10, may we always mediate on and remember these words!

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were no people but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy.”

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Disclaimer

Please note. I am a Catholic layman, not a qualified theologian or philosopher. What I say and write here are my own personal thoughts and ideas, although I always try to conform my writings to the Magisterium of the Church.

I- with firm faith believe and profess everything that is contained in the symbol of faith: namely,

I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: By the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died and was buried. On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. I believe in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

With firm faith I believe as well everything contained in God's word, written or handed down in tradition and proposed by the church--whether in solemn judgment or in the ordinary and universal Magisterium--as divinely revealed and called for faith.

I also firmly accept and hold each and every thing that is proposed by that same church definitively with regard to teaching concerning faith or morals.

What is more, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the college of bishops enunciate when they exercise the authentic Magisterium even if they proclaim those teachings in an act that is not definitive.