On Baptism

A child's greatest need is to be loved. Correct them when they've done something wrong and let them know you love them and how precious they are to you. Bring them up in simplicity and love. 

Give them The Whole World of Love-The Trinitarian God-The Lord Jesus Christ.

BAPTISM by which we are made Christians, children of God, members of His holy church and heirs of heaven. 

There are some things on Baptism that i would in the Grace of God love to clear:

• I have come to understand, that when a baby is born and the mother is her healthy self and is able to move about, that is a good time to baptize one's child. It is no more a rule to wait for 40 days or 3 months. That is very much a thing of the past.
• I know some married couples who have married from outside their religion. Being born a Catholic and having a child practice another religion or maybe both (and the child is not baptized), it is then from a Catholic perspective holding the child back from what should have come to him or her through rite of succession (you being a Catholic). OH! The JOY to know what Salvation IS? (Don't take it away from your child)
• There is a group called the Neo-Catechumen's. I don't know if you've heard about them. I do not understand their modus operandi. This is what i know, that children born anytime outside the Easter Season can only be baptized on Easter Sunday and in the Season. And children born after Easter Sunday and well in the Easter season can be baptized during the time. Born after the Easter Season, the wait is upto 10 months, and that would mean the next Easter Sunday. Does this make sense? (My head is on a spin writing this and getting it right? God simplifies things, we complicate them.) And if you would tell me that these are new Christians, i would say okay, they are still in the learning process. But no, the neo-catechumens are coming from families that are strongly based in the Christian life. 

REALITY CHECK 

What kind of Neo-Catechumen teaching is this? What happens if the child does not survive? As of now, we know very little of life after death as for the unbaptized. Yes, we know of the mercy of God. 

But we fail in showing our mercy to the Angel that is given to us. We fail to understand of what it feels for a baby with the contact to God covered with rebelliousness through 'Original sin'. Is it the baby's fault to suffer unnecessarily and for a prolonged time? And if the child does not survive then how long should the child be kept away from God? As a parent, does eternity sound good to you? 

In all the 3 scenarios, it is most essential to baptize a child as soon as the parents can. If you are up and about the next day is good. 

You don’t want to keep your child away from the love of God. Original sin is too much for a baby to carry for 3 months or more after birth? Why would you suffer your child? Or do you not understand what happens to a life without God. Your baby goes through an agony that you cannot see. If they could speak, they would tell you, their suffering.

Do you not think for your baby' soul?

When You Have Your Child Baptized, Four Incredible Things Happen:

• Your child becomes a member of the Church.
• Your child is adopted by God.
• Your child is cleansed of original sin.
• Your child is sealed with the Holy Spirit.

What is Baptism?

Baptism is the first sacrament. It washes away the stain of original sin and in the case of somebody receiving Baptism later in life, any personal sins the person has committed. It is a new life. 

The “indwelling of the Holy Spirit begins at Baptism and continues from that moment forward into a person’s life. The baptized person is now the “Temple of the Holy Spirit” a place in which the Holy Spirit is present and active. 

Jesus, accepted baptism from St. John the Baptist and also directed the Apostles to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit - Matthew 28:19. 

The newly baptized person becomes a member of the church and is incorporated into the Body of Christ. 

It is pure natural water that needs to be used, and baptism must be conferred, as Jesus taught, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Baptism is normally conferred by a Priest, but the Roman Catholic Church accepts baptism conferred in an emergency by anyone, having the use of reason “with the intention of doing what the church does.” 

Renewal of Baptismal Promises

The faithful renew their Baptismal Vows every year during the Easter Vigil Mass. 

Many of us were baptized as infants with the parents or God-parents who answered for us. Now in the celebration of the mass, we get to answer for ourselves.

V. Do you reject Satan?

R. I do.

V. And all his works?

R. I do.

V. And all his empty promises?

R. I do.

V. Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth?

R. I do.

V. Do you believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary was crucified, died, and was buried, rose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father?

R. I do.

V. Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting?

R. I do.

V. God, the all-powerful Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has given us a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, and forgiven all our sins. May he also keep us faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ for ever and ever.

R. Amen.

THE SACRAMENTS OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION

1212ccc - The sacraments of Christian initiation - Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist - lay the foundations of every Christian life. "The sharing in the divine nature given to men through the grace of Christ bears a certain likeness to the origin, development, and nourishing of natural life. The faithful are born anew by Baptism, strengthened by the sacrament of Confirmation, and receive in the Eucharist the food of eternal life. By means of these sacraments of Christian initiation, they thus receive in increasing measure the treasures of the divine life and advance toward the perfection of charity."3

Regarding BAPTISM

1213ccc - Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae spiritualis ianua),4 and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission: "Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word."5

1227ccc - 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.29The baptized have "put on Christ."30 Through the Holy Spirit, Baptism is a bath that purifies, justifies, and sanctifies.31

1228ccc - Hence Baptism is a bath of water in which the "imperishable seed" of the Word of God produces its life-giving effect.32 St. Augustine says of Baptism: "The word is brought to the material element, and it becomes a sacrament."33

1235ccc - The sign of the cross, on the threshold of the celebration, marks with the imprint of Christ the one who is going to belong to him and signifies the grace of the redemption Christ won for us by his cross.

1237ccc - Since Baptism signifies liberation from sin and from its instigator the devil, one or more exorcisms are pronounced over the candidate. The celebrant then anoints him with the oil of catechumens, or lays his hand on him, and he explicitly renounces Satan. Thus prepared, he is to confess the faith of the Church, to which he will be “entrusted” by Baptism.

1250ccc - 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.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.51

THE NECESSITY OF BAPTISM

1257ccc - The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation.60 He also commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them.61 Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament.62 The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized are "reborn of water and the Spirit." God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments.

1258ccc - The Church has always held the firm conviction that those who suffer death for the sake of the faith without having received Baptism are baptized by their death for and with Christ. This Baptism of blood, like the desire for Baptism, brings about the fruits of Baptism without being a sacrament.

1259ccc - For catechumens who die before their Baptism, their explicit desire to receive it, together with repentance for their sins, and charity, assures them the salvation that they were not able to receive through the sacrament.

1260ccc - "Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Paschal mystery."63 Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity.

1261ccc - As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus' tenderness toward children which caused him to say: "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them,"64 allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism. All the more urgent is the Church's call not to prevent little children coming to Christ through the gift of holy Baptism.

1266ccc - The Most Holy Trinity gives the baptized sanctifying grace, the grace of justification: - enabling them to believe in God, to hope in him, and to love him through the theological virtues; - giving them the power to live and act under the prompting of the Holy Spirit through the gifts of the Holy Spirit; - allowing them to grow in goodness through the moral virtues. Thus the whole organism of the Christian's supernatural life has its roots in Baptism.

Incorporated into the Church, the Body of Christ

1269ccc - Having become a member of the Church, the person baptized belongs no longer to himself, but to him who died and rose for us. From now on, he is called to be subject to others, to serve them in the communion of the Church, and to "obey and submit" to the Church's leaders, holding them in respect and affection.77 Just as Baptism is the source of responsibilities and duties, the baptized person also enjoys rights within the Church: to receive the sacraments, to be nourished with the Word of God and to be sustained by the other spiritual helps of the Church.

1270ccc - "Reborn as sons of God, [the baptized] must profess before men the faith they have received from God through the Church" and participate in the apostolic and missionary activity of the People of God.

The sacramental bond of the unity of Christians

1272ccc - Incorporated into Christ by Baptism, the person baptized is configured to Christ. Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark (character) of his belonging to Christ. No sin can erase this mark, even if sin prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation. Given once for all, Baptism cannot be repeated.

1274ccc - The Holy Spirit has marked us with the seal of the Lord ("Dominicus character") "for the day of redemption." "Baptism indeed is the seal of eternal life." The faithful Christian who has "kept the seal" until the end, remaining faithful to the demands of his Baptism, will be able to depart this life "marked with the sign of faith," with his baptismal faith, in expectation of the blessed vision of God - the consummation of faith - and in the hope of resurrection.