and we are all members of Christ. We are cells in the divine organism which continues the life of Christ among men and women. We are incorporated with Christ, made one body with him. Just as our birth to the new life of Christ takes place at Baptism, so does our incorporation into Christ Jesus. The metaphor of a body whose head is Christ and whose members are the faithful provides an image which keeps in focus both the unity and the diversity of the Church.
Infants and Godparents
Baptism can be validly received by infants and the Church instructs us to have our children baptized as soon as possible after birth. It is usual for everyone coming into the Church to have two godparents, a man and a woman, who are themselves practicing Catholics and have received the sacrament of confirmation. Two men or two women are not acceptable. Neither is a non-believer in Christ an acceptable godparent. Only one Catholic godparent, a man or a woman is absolutely necessary. As godparents contract a spiritual relationship with the child, they have a responsibility to help parents in seeing that the child is brought up in the Catholic faith. The candidate's father and mother cannot be godparents.
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Those baptized promise at baptism, through their godparents, to renounce the devil and to live according to the teachings of Christ and his Church. Children, when they grow up, are not free to reject their Baptismal promises made for them by their godparents. That is not to say that one who has received Baptism no longer has free will. It is saying that the one who is baptized is not morally free to reject truth or to choose what is false.
The beginning of our earthly life takes place at birth. The beginning of our Catholic spiritual life takes place at Baptism. It was under the image of a spiritual birth that our Lord spoke of Baptism, when he said,"Unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven" (John 3:5). Through Baptism one begins to live the divine life of a child of God.
Baptism of Desire
Those who through no fault of their own have not received the Sacrament of Baptism can be saved through Baptism of desire. Baptism of desire and the act of perfect contrition, in which we love God above all things and want to do what he wills us to do for our salvation, takes away all sins, original sin as well as actual sins. It does not imprint the Baptismal character on the soul, however, and it does not permit one to receive the other sacraments. This desire for Baptism need not be explicit. It can be implicit in the desire to do whatever God wants us to do.
Order of the Rite of Baptism
The meaning and grace of Baptism are clearly seen in the rites of its celebration.
The sign of the cross at 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 redemption Christ won for us by his Cross.
The word of God enlightens the candidates and the assembly with the revealed truth and elecits the response of faith, which is inseparable from Baptism.
An exorcism is pronounced over the candidate, because Baptism signifies liberation from sin, and from its instigator, the devil.
The celebrant anoints the candidate with the oil of catechumens, and lays hands, as the candidate explicitly renounces Satan. In the case of an infant the sponsors do so.
The Baptismal water is then consecrated. The Church asks God that through his Son the power of the Holy Spirit may be sent upon the water, so that those who will be baptized in it may be born "of water and the spirit" and incorporated into Christ.The essential rite of the sacrament then follows: It signifies and actually brings about death to sin and entry into the life of the Most Holy Trinity through configuration to the Paschal mystery of Christ. The priest pours the water three times over the head of the person, as he pronounces the words: "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
Then follows the anointing with sacred chrism, perfumed oil consecrated by the bishop, which signifies the gift of the Holy Spirit, as priest, prophet and king.
The white garment symbolizes that the person baptized has put on Christ.
The candle, lit from the Easter candle, signifies that Christ has enlightened the neophyte. In Christ, the baptized person is the light of the world, a child of God, entitled to say the prayer of the children of God: "Our Father". The solemn blessing concludes the celebration.
We are incorporated into the Church, the body of Christ
Baptism makes us members of the Body of Christ: "Therefore ...we are members of one another" (Cor.6:15). Baptism incorporates us into the Church. From the Baptismal font is born the one People of God of the New Covenant, which transcends all the natural or human limits of nations, cultures, races, and sexes: "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body (1Cor.12:13).
The Baptized become "living stones' to be "built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood" (1Pet.2:5). By Baptism we share in the priesthood of Christ, in his profetic and royal mission. "We are "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that we may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1Pet.2:9). Baptism gives a share in the common priesthood to all believers.
Having become a member of the Church, the person baptized belongs no longer to himself, but to him who died and rose for us (1Cor.6:19). From now on he is called to serve others in the communion of the Church, He is to hold the Church's leaders in respect and affection.
Baptism is the source of responsibilities and duties but the baptized person also enjoys many rights and priveleges. We have the right to receive the other sacraments, to be nourished with the word of God and to be sustained by the other spiritual helps of the Church" (LG 37).
"Reborn as sons and daughters 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 (LG 11).