Sacrament of Baptism

Forms and Matter of the Sacrament

Matter
Water is the matter or the material element in the sacrament of baptism. It is from the
common understanding of the use and nature of water that it is being incorporated in the
sacrament of baptism. Water have both positive and negative side. On the first hand, water
quenches thirst and thus gives life. It makes plants grow, cleanses us physically and cleanse the
things that we use. On the other hand, water can be a destructive force through floods, heavy
rains and destructive tides.
CCC 1218- Since the beginning of the world, water, so humble and wonderful a creature, has
been the source of life and fruitfulness. Sacred scripture sees it as overshadowed by the Spirit of
God.
At the very dawn of creation
Your Spirit breathed on the waters
Making them the wellspring of all holiness. (Roman Missal, Easter Vigil 42. Blessing of water)

Water is one of the universal symbols that carries rich meaning. It has been adopted in
the sacrament of baptism by the church to represent some realities of our initiation into the
Christian community. The meaning of water in the sacrament of baptism relies heavily on both
Old Testament and New Testament sources.
Old Testament
Water meant both destruction and life for the Jew. In Gen. 1:1-2, water is described as
the primeval chaos, a hostile element. The story of the great flood in Noah’s time. Also in Psalm
69:1-2 it describes the destructive force of water.

Save me, God! The Water is already up to my neck!

I am sinking in the deepest swamp, there is no foothold;
I have stepped into deep water
And the waves are washing over me

CCC.1219-1220 the Church has seen Noah’s ark as a prefiguring of salvation by baptism, for it “a
few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.”
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)
IF water springing up from the earth symbolizes life, the water of the sea is a symbol of death
and so can represent the mystery of the cross. By this symbolism, baptism signifies communion
with Christ’s death.
But in the old testament also depicts God’s power as bringing life through water. The waters of
the Red sea saved the fleeing Jews from Pharaoh at the time of Exodus. In addition, CCC. 1221
affirms the crossing of the red sea is the liberation of Israel from slavery of Egypt, announces
the; liberation wrought by baptism
In the 40 year sojourn in the desert, the Jews were refreshed with water from a rock. The
crossing of Joshua in the Jordan river going to the promise land,.
CCC 1222 says that baptism is prefigured in the crossing of the Jordan River by which the people
of God received the gift of the land promised to Abraham’s descendants, the image of eternal
life. The promise of this blessed inheritance is fulfilled in the New Covenant.
Repeatedly the OT writers describe water as life giving ad renewing. Ez 36:24-26)
The ancient Jews also used water in their rituals. They used water to cleanse believers from
impurities. The gentile converts also to Judaism were baptized in Jordan River to symbolize
their entry into freedom of the Promised Land.
New Testament
Water was used in John the Baptist’s ritual of baptism. A calling for gentiles and Jews to turn
from their sins in expectation of God’s Kingdom. The baptism was followed by serious demands
that the baptized live their lives in accordance with God’s law. Thus, it meant death to an old
life of sin and a conversion to a new life of expectation of the Messiah.
The rich symbolism of water and the Spirit is evident today in the ritual of baptism. To be baptized
is to go into the destructive waters, which signify that we have died to evil and sin, and rise with
Jesus to be anointed with his Spirit. To say it another way, the one who is baptized converts or
turns from sin to begin a new life with the Lord. Paul stresses this point when he says that the
baptized are no longer slaves to sin but slaves to God (Rom 6) and that we put off the old man
and put on the new (Col 3:9). This dress imagery was symbolized in the early church by the
baptized person undressing before entering the baptismal waters and dressing again in a white
robe when he or she emerged with Christ. The water used in baptism suggests a new birth
through the action of the Spirit.

FORM

The pronouncing of the words is the form of baptism, namely: "I baptize you in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."
This was the form given by Christ to His Disciples in Mt 28: 19. In administering this sacrament it
is absolutely necessary to use the word "baptize" or its equivalent (Alex. VIII, Prop. damn., xxvii),
otherwise the ceremony is invalid. This had already been decreed by Alexander III (Cap. Si quis, I,
x, De Bapt.), and it is confirmed by the Florentine decree. St. Ambrose (On the Mysteries 4)
declares: "Unless a person has been baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Ghost, he can not obtain the remission of his sins," St. Cyprian (Epistle 72), rejecting the
validity of baptism given in the name of Christ only, affirms that the naming of all the Persons of
the Trinity was commanded by the Lord (in plena et adunata Trinitate).

The Baptismal Water

The baptismal water is blessed during the Easter Vigil.
CCC 1238 The Baptismal water is consecrated by a prayer of epiclesis (either at this moment or
at Easter Vigil). 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 Spirit.”