Day 170: Who Can Be Baptized? (1246-1252)

• It’s Day 170!!

• WHO CAN RECEIVE BAPTISM?

• There are two groups of people

• THE BAPTISM OF ADULTS

• THE BAPTISM OF INFANTS

• Paragraph 1246 says, “‘Every person not yet baptized and only such a person is able to be baptized.’”

• SOMEONE UNBAPTIZED

• The adults are the catechumenate, a formation of catechumens, as they receive that gift of faith and the gift of Baptism

• Baptism of infants goes back to the very beginnings of the Church

• Let’s say a prayer!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we praise you. We give you glory and we thank you. Thank you for the gift of Baptism. If we have received Baptism, we just praise you because this gift has come to us, a purely gratuitous gift, a purely gracious gift, a grace-filled gift, an undeserved gift, an unearned gift, a gift that comes from your heart. We thank you. And for all of us who are listening who have not been Baptized, we ask that you please lead us step by step closer and closer to this incredible gift that you have in store. You want everyone on this planet, everyone who has ever lived, is living, or will live, you want them to be brought into your family. And so we ask you please, Lord God, for all those who are listening, joining us today, walking with us, who are not Baptized, we ask that you lead them by the power of your Love and your Truth to the fountain of Baptism so they can also become sons and daughters of you, our Heavenly Father. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• Who can be Baptized?

• EVERY PERSON WHO IS NOT BAPTIZED!!

• This is God’s GRATUITOUS GRACE

• This is God’s FREE GRACE

• We have to keep this in mind

• We are going to talk about some more things

• FAITH AND BAPTISM

• What if someone has not been Baptized?

• Soon we will emphasize THE NECESSITY OF BAPTISM

• So the question is important because Baptism is for EVERYONE

• God’s grace of Salvation and Redemption  IS NOT EXCLUSIVE

• It is meant to be INCLUSIVE

• THIS IS SO IMPORTANT FOR US!!

• GOD WANTS ALL MEN TO BE SAVED!!

• Even those who do not know about Jesus Christ, God wants them to KNOW HIM

• If that’s the case and not all human beings know about God and had access to Baptism, then what is God calling me to do to spread that word and bring that incredible free gift of new life, of belonging to the People of God, of being a Temple of the Holy Spirit, of being adopted sons and daughters of God, what am I doing to bring that to the world?

• THE BAPTISM OF ADULTS

• Since the beginning of the Church where the Gospel is proclaimed new, and where Christianity has not yet made inroads in the culture, adult Baptism is the common practice

• That makes sense because there are a lot of people who were not raised Christian and did not hear the Good News of Jesus Christ

• So from the very beginning we have adults who are hearing the Word of God and the Good News of Jesus Christ

• So adults are the ones who are primarily being Baptized

• Because of that there is the CATECHUMENATE

• The formation, preparation, and proclamation of the Word of God and that response of faith that is elicited during that time of formation of the catechumens

• Paragraph 1248 says, “The catechumenate is to be ‘a formation in the whole Christian life…’”

• A lot of us who were Baptized as children had a post-baptismal catechumenate

• It is meant to be a formation in the whole Christian life

• We can ask ourselves if we have received a formation in the whole Christian life

• This is not to blame anyone

• If we haven’t, then that means God wants us to have that formation even if it is after Baptism

• Not just intellectual formation

• Not merely prayer or spiritual formation

• God wants us to have the WHOLE FORMATION IN THE WHOLE CHRISTIAN LIFE

• We ask so we can give ourselves a self assessment

• What more does God want from us?

• God wants us to CONTINUE TO BE FORMED!!

• THAT’S IT!!

• VERY SIMPLE!!

• Paragraph 1248 continues, “...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 rites.”

• Fr. Mike is a huge fan of origin stories like Batman Begins 

• Fr. Mike loves the Rocky movies so let’s listen to him wax poetic about training montages…

• Why does Fr. Mike know it’s EXACTLY 37 seconds????? ( DRAAAAAGOOOOOOOO!!!!  Rocky IV Training Montage | 720p HD )

• Anyways…

• People love the training montages

• The catechumenate is a training montage

• It’s about letting ourselves be formed and trained in the spiritual life

• That is the goal

• If we have already been Baptized then we have a post-baptismal catechumenate

• If we have not yet been Baptized then we have a pre-baptismal catechumenate

• It is all that formation and training

• THE BAPTISM OF INFANTS

• Why do we baptize infants?

• Because we are fallen 

• We are born in God’s image and likeness but we also experience the wound of Original Sin and we are under the dominion of darkness

• We NEED to be Baptized

• We NEED God’s Grace

• Paragraph 1250 says, “The sheer gratuitousness of the grace of salvation is particularly manifest in infant Baptism.”

• God’s goodness is such that the sheer gratuitousness of the grace of salvation is revealed in infant Baptism

• An infant has done NOTHING to merit this grace

• If we were to deny an infant the Grace of becoming a child of God then we would be denying an incredible gift

• Paragraph 1252 says, “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 apostolic preaching, when whole ‘households’ received baptism, infants may also have been baptized.”

• The new thing is NOT to Baptize your CHILD

• The new thing is WITHHOLDING Baptism from your CHILD

• Infant Baptism is incredible and NECESSARY 

• It is a gratuitous gift of God’s love

• We get to praise the Lord that we get to go through this training montage

• Where we are formed in the whole Christian life

• Post-baptismal catechumenate for those of us who are Baptized

• Pre-baptismal catechumenate for those of us who are not yet Baptized

• We become more and more the people that God has called us to be

• WHAT A GIFT!!

• Part of that training is prayer and the reality that we are not alone

• We belong to each other as the Body of Christ

• As members of the Body of Christ we pray for each other

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!!