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
…….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
…….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
…….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
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