Building the City of God

This month’s word was chosen in light of the beginning of my son’s sacramental life in the Church, which will take place in just over a week.

The Catholic Word of the Month is BAPTISM.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that Baptism is too elementary to discuss. More importantly, don’t make the mistake of thinking that Baptism is mundane or unnecessary. One who thinks and believes these things ought to reconsider.

Baptism is the very beginning of our relationship with God. It is the sacrament of primary importance because it allows us access to the rest of the sacraments. Without Baptism, we have no access to sanctifying grace, which helps us fulfill our eternal destiny, eternity with God in Heaven. Finally, Baptism makes the one who receives it a new creation: “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” (Romans 6:4). (See also 1 Peter 3:21)

Fr. Alfred McBride wrote of the subject so much more eloquently:

Baptism is a sacrament that initiates a person into membership in the Church. Baptismal grace forgives original sin and all personal sins. It is the first sacrament that a Christian receives and it unites the candidate to Christ, who died for our sins and rose from the dead fro our salvation.

No one ought to think of his/her Baptism as “an expression of inward faith.” On the contrary, Baptism is the sacrament that instills the seeds of Faith within us. Then, as we live from our Baptismal graces, and the grace received from subsequent sacraments, those seeds of Faith bear fruit in our lives.

Let us pray that baptized Christians will recall the mighty power of their baptisms in their daily lives. Let us pray that God will grant an abundance of grace from this precious sacrament so that we may become holy in this life.

God Bless.