Thursday, December 15, 2016

196 Baptism, the Priceless Grace of Becoming a Child of God

YOUCAT Lesson 196
YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

196  Who can be baptized, and what is required of a candidate?

Any person who is not yet baptized can be baptized.  The only prerequisite for Baptism is faith, which must be professed publicly at the Baptism.  [1246-1254]




Photo: …..Family baptism event: Left to right, toddler Lisa, niece Irma Linskey, brother-in-law Charles Bayer, newborn Don C Bragg, and parents Don L. and RoseMarie Bragg.....123...196






A person who turns to Christianity is not just changing a world view.  He travels a path of learning (the catechumenate), in which he becomes a new man through personal conversion, but especially through the gift of Baptism.  He is now a living member of the Body of Christ.

Catechumenate (from Greek kat’ echein=to instruct, to teach by word of mouth):  Especially in the early Church candidates for adult Baptism (catechumens) went through a three-stage preparation, the catechumenate, in which they were instructed in the faith and were gradually allowed to participate in the Liturgy of the word.


…….WHO CAN RECEIVE BAPTISM?

…….1246  "Every person not yet baptized and only such a person is able to be baptized." (Codex Iuris Canonici, can. 864; compare  Corpus Canonum Ecclesiarm Orientalium, can. 679)46 –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition


…….The Baptism of adults

…….1247 Since the beginning of the Church, adult Baptism is the common practice where the proclamation of the Gospel is still new. The catechumenate (preparation for Baptism) therefore occupies an important place. This initiation into Christian faith and life should dispose the catechumen to receive the gift of God in Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist. –CCC

…….1248   The catechumenate, or formation of catechumens, aims at bringing their conversion and faith to maturity, in response to the divine initiative and in union with an ecclesial community. The catechumenate is to be "a formation in the whole Christian life . . . during which the disciples will be joined to Christ their teacher. The catechumens should be properly initiated into the mystery of salvation and the practice of the evangelical virtues, and they should be introduced into the life of faith, liturgy, and charity of the People of God by successive sacred rites." (Ad Gentes 14; compare Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults 19; 98)47 –CCC

…….1249   Catechumens "are already joined to the Church, they are already of the household of Christ, and are quite frequently already living a life of faith, hope, and charity." (Ad Gentes 14 § 5)48    "With love and solicitude mother Church already embraces them as her own." (Lumen Gentium 14 § 3; compare Codex Iuris Canonici, cann. 206; 788 § 3)49 –CCC


…….The Baptism of infants

…….1250   Born with a fallen human nature and tainted by original sin, children also have need of the new birth in Baptism to be freed from the power of darkness and brought into the realm of the freedom of the children of God, to which all men are called. (compare Council of Trent (1546): Denzinger-Schönmetzer 1514; compare Colossians 1:12-14)50    The sheer gratuitousness of the grace of salvation is particularly manifest in infant Baptism. The Church and the parents would deny a child the priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer Baptism shortly after birth. (compare Codex Iuris Canonici, can. 867; Corpus Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium, cann. 681; 686,1)51 –CCC

……..1251   Christian parents will recognize that this practice also accords with their role as nurturers of the life that God has entrusted to them. (compare Lumen Gentium11; 41; Gaudium et Spes 48; Codex Iuris Canonici, can. 868)52 –CCC

…….1252 The practice of infant Baptism is an immemorial tradition of the Church. There is explicit testimony to this practice from the second century on, and it is quite possible that, from the beginning of the apostolic preaching, when whole "households" received baptism, infants may also have been baptized. ( compare  Acts of the Apostles 16:15,33; Acts 18:8; 1 Corinthians 1:16; Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, instruction, Pastoralis actio: Acts Apostolicae Sedis 72 (1980) 1137-1156.)53  --CCC


…….Faith and Baptism

…….1253   Baptism is the sacrament of faith. (compare Mark 16:16)54    But faith needs the community of believers. It is only within the faith of the Church that each of the faithful can believe. The faith required for Baptism is not a perfect and mature faith, but a beginning that is called to develop. The catechumen or the godparent is asked: "What do you ask of God's Church?" The response is: "Faith!" --CCC

…….1254   For all the baptized, children or adults, faith must grow after Baptism. For this reason the Church celebrates each year at the Easter Vigil the renewal of baptismal promises. Preparation for Baptism leads only to the threshold of new life. Baptism is the source of that new life in Christ from which the entire Christian life springs forth. –CCC


No comments:

Post a Comment