NEW HORIZONS
The Sacrament of Baptism

This is the first article in a series on the Seven Sacraments.  This article is written about the meaning of the Sacrament of Baptism.  I write about Baptism as on Tuesday, September 28 I will begin on a class on the Seven Sacraments.  The first class will cover the meaning of Baptism.  There will be seven separate classes and each class will be held in the church and will begin at 6 pm.

The celebration of Baptism has changed over time.  In the early centuries of the history of the church baptism was a rite which was mainly celebrated for adults.   The period before Easter was a special period of preparation for the celebration of the Sacrament although the preparation could take place over multiple years.  In the early fifth century St. Augustine taught that original sin was passed on through procreation.  The sin of the father was passed on to their children.    It was believed that those who were not baptized would be damned.  Therefore, by the end of the fifth century the baptism of infants was universal in the Catholic Church.   The practice through the Early Middle Ages was that children who were baptized received Eucharist, First Communion and Confirmation together.   This practice did not die out altogether until the Council of Trent in 1562.

The meaning and practice of baptism stayed constant from the Council of Trent in 1562 to the Second Vatican Council in 1958.  In the Decree on the Liturgy the bishops wrote that through baptism, “men and women are inserted into the paschal mystery of Christ; they die with him, are buried with him, and rise with him.”   The decree goes on to say that those who are baptized put on a new humanity and become a new creation and become children of God.   Up to the Second Vatican Council it was understood that one had to be baptized in order to be saved.  The only two exceptions were termed baptism by blood and baptism by desire.    One who was baptized by blood was a person who gave his/her life for the faith and yet had not yet been baptized.   The understanding of baptism by desire was that salvation was still open to one who desired to be baptized but was unable to receive the sacrament.  The Second Vatican Council broadened the understanding of baptism by desire as including all of those who “through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart …(Church in the Modern World 16).”

As a result of the teachings of Vatican II a new rite of infant baptism and a new rite of adult baptism were promulgated in the early 1970’s.  The Rite of Christian Initiation was designed as the way through which adults would enter the Catholic Church.  After the Second Vatican II it was established that the norm for unbaptized adults would baptism at the Easter Vigil.   

The modern focus on Baptism is that it is the first of the three Sacraments through which one is initiated in the Catholic Church.  It is also the Sacrament through which one is incorporated into the Body of Christ.  For those baptized as adults they make a personal commitment to living their lives as Catholic.  In the baptism of infants great responsibility is placed on parents to raise their children in the faith.  Baptism continues to be seen as the means by which original sin and personal sins are washed away.  In the Church there is now a new emphasis placed on living out the Christian life.   Baptism today as in the early centuries of the church is seen as a Sacrament of salvation.   From an ecumenical perspective Baptism also creates a bond among all baptized Christians.