That's What the Water Gave Me

“We were indeed buried with (Christ) through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.”

--Romans 6:7

As we said last time, there are seven sacraments: Baptism, Reconciliation, Eucharist, Confirmation, Marriage, Holy Orders, and Anointing of the Sick.  What we DIDN’T mention, is that these are broken up into categories.  Baptism, the Eucharist, and Confirmation are known as the Sacraments of Initiation.  Marriage & Holy Orders are known as the Sacraments of Service.  Reconciliation & Anointing of the Sick are known as the Sacraments of Healing.  In this next series of posts, we’ll take a look at each of these categories, and the sacraments they lump together individually, starting with the first sacrament that everyone receives:  Baptism.

Let’s take a quick look at a few things the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about Baptism:

“Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae spiritualis ianua), 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.’” (CCC 1213)

From this statement in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we see that this first sacrament of Christian Initiation (and in turn the first sacrament of the Church) is a pretty big deal in the life of a Christian.  In Baptism, we are cleansed of original sin which we inherit in our souls from the very beginning because of the first sin of Adam and Eve.  Because of this it is totally necessary for our salvation, and it instills in us an indelible spiritual mark (an unrepeatable act that permanently changes life and soul) that consecrates us for Christian worship.  As the Catechism says, “It signifies and actually brings about the birth of water and the Spirit without which no one ‘can enter the kingdom of God.’” (CCC 1215)

Before we get into the real “meat” of what goes on in the sacrament, I promised you guys I’d give examples straight from the Bible that support our seven Sacraments.  Here are a few signals for the sacrament of baptism in the Old Testament:

Book of Genesis: 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church points out that the first idea of water being used to wash something clean comes in the story of Noah: “The Church has seen in Noah’s ark a prefiguring of salvation by Baptism, for by it ‘a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.’” (CCC 1219)  The Blessing of the Water during the Easter Vigil talks about this, too:  “The waters of the great flood You made a sign of the waters of Baptism, that make an end of sin and a new beginning of goodness.” (Roman Missal: Easter Vigil) 

Book of Exodus:

We’ll turn to the Catechism again here, ‘cause, well, the Catechism’s just a pretty good book like that: “But above all, the crossing of the Red Sea, literally the liberation of Israel from the slavery of Egypt, announces the liberation wrought by Baptism.” (CCC 1221)  Again, the Easter Vigil Blessing of the Water says:  “You freed the children of Abraham from the slavery of Pharaoh, bringing them dry-shod through the waters of the Red Sea, to be an image of the people set free in Baptism.”  The last sign of baptism also comes from the book of Exodus in the crossing of the Jordan River in which water became the bridge between the old life of torment the Hebrews lived in while they were slaves in Egypt under Pharaoh and the new land “flowing with milk and honey” that had been promised to the descendants of Abraham. 

Then there’s always the obvious John 3:5, “Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.”

So what about the word, itself?  Baptism.  The term baptism comes from the Greek baptizein which means to plunge or to immerse.  “The ‘plunge’ into the water symbolizes the catechumen’s burial into Christ’s death, from which he rises up by resurrection with Him, as ‘a new creature.’”  (CCC 1214) Pretty cool, huh?

In the early days of Christianity (and Catholicism), only adults were baptized—and only after a period of catechumenate (learning about what it means to be a Christian) which lasted about three years.  The catechumens (the people preparing for the sacrament) were allowed to enter into the Liturgy of the Word (the first half of Mass), but were removed before the Liturgy of the Eucharist began.  A day of fasting was held on Good Friday, and during the last phase of preparation, a series of exorcisms (cleansing people’s souls from temptations and urgings by the devil) were performed with the last being performed by the bishop on Holy Saturday followed by the laying on of hands (which we’ll see and talk about in a more profound way when we get to our posts on the Sacrament of Holy Orders), the breathing on the candidate (like how God “breathed life into Adam” in the Book of Genesis), and making the sign of the cross on the catechumen’s forehead, ears and nose.  The Baptism, itself, began after the Easter vigil with the prayer over the baptismal water.  The catechumen was brought to a baptistery which housed a pool-style baptismal font.  He would strip his clothes as a sign of leaving behind his former life, and enter the pool.  After a rejection of Satan and three-part faith questioning, the deacon would dunk the candidate into the water three times saying, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”  The candidate would be held under for a time at each immersion to get a sense of struggle and being baptized not only into new life in Christ (as most understand) but also into a share of Christ’s death.  The newly baptized would then be led out of the pool and clothed in a white garment as a sign of the “putting on of Christ Jesus.”  He was then taken to the church where the bishop laid hands on him and anointed him on the head with the “oil of thanksgiving,” gave the kiss of peace, and welcomed the new Christian into the Church.  During the Eucharist, a chalice containing a mixture of milk and honey was offered as a sign, that the baptized had reached the Promised Land.

Over the years, baptism evolved and added new elements of symbolism.  In the Rituale Romanum of 1614, child baptism had become the rule.  The rite involved exorcisms (with the breathing on the child), and the sign of the cross on the forehead and breast.  The infant would also have salt placed on its tongue, which had a two-fold symbolism: (1) The preserving quality of salt was to be a sign that the catechumen’s decision to receive baptism would be lasting, and (2) Salt was given a guest at his reception before a meal—this was taken as an allusion to the real food of life, the Eucharist, which was taken after Baptism.  Because of feelings that the infants being baptized should not be thought of as a “small grown-up,” revisions were made to the rite that were more fitting to the situation and the status of the candidate.  On Ascension Day 1969, the new ritual for child baptism in the universal church appeared as prototype for rituals in local churches, the “Ordo Baptismi parvulorum” (Latin: “Order of Baptism of Children”).

So now we get to the question: Who can receive the Sacrament of Baptism? Simply put, every person not yet baptized and ONLY a person not yet baptized is able to be baptized and OUGHT to be Baptized.  In other words, everyone should get baptized, but only once.  There’s absolutely no need to get baptized more than once.  NONE.  Period.  Why am I putting emphasis on this?  Ask any former Catholic who left the Church to be part of a protestant church, and they’ll tell you one of the first things they had to do was get baptized at their new church.  The reason is that protestant churches don’t think our baptism matters.  To them, when you’re baptized, you’re baptized into a faith, and not baptized into the universal Christian community.  So if you’re a Catholic, then start going to a non-denominational church, then go to a Baptist church, then a Methodist Church, you’ll get baptized FOUR TIMES!  Or, I should say, you’ll THINK you’re getting baptized 4 times, when really, you’re only getting baptized once.  The other three times, you’re just getting wet.  Think back to 'Cause I Gotta Have Faith - Part XI…in the Nicene Creed, which we say at Mass every Sunday, we say, “I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.”  In saying this, we are saying that there is only ONE true baptism, and we believe that to be the form of being cleansed with water and someone baptizing us in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  As long as this is what happened at your baptism, you’re baptized.  No need to do it 40 times over the course of your life. 

The last question we’ll tackle in this post (which has been incredibly long already) is that of who can actually baptize someone.  The ordinary ministers of Baptism are the bishop, the priest, and in the Latin Church (which is probably the rite you belong to if you go to a typical Catholic church in the United States…although I noticed I’ve got a few Canadians, Europeans, and Asians reading this blog, so it’s up to you to figure it out), the deacon.  In case of emergency, though, (and this is pretty interesting) ANYONE (even a non-baptized person) with the right intention can baptize someone by using the Trinitarian baptismal formula (“I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”), and immersing the person in water or pouring water onto his head after each naming of each person in the Trinity.  It’s not incredibly uncommon in hospitals for nurses or some other person to baptize a newborn baby if it seems like the baby will not make it long enough to be baptized in a Church, and welcomed by a community.  The key, though, is that the person has to WANT to be baptized, or in the case of a baby, the parents have to want their child baptized.

We’ll get into the formal Rite of Baptism next time.