TO GIVE GRACE

The Church has always taught that the sacraments give

grace.

Ex Opere Operato - this means that any lack of holiness

on the part of the minister does not prevent grace from
being offered.

For Christ Himself acts through His Spirit when the

sacraments are celebrated properly.

All the sacraments have their special graces since they all
manifest the different ways in which Christ comes to us,
meeting us at all the decisive and ordinary moments of
our lives.
Even in a child’s
baptism God’s grace
and love are given first
and mark the child as
God’s own.

The grace and love

bestowed in Baptism
are not passive gifts.
They accompany the
child and call him to
respond freely to God’s
love.
A descriptive definition of
sacrament according to
the liturgical renewal would
be a saving symbolic act
or a visible sign, arising
from the ministry of
Christ and continued in,
by and for the Church.
BAPTISM
In keeping with the Church’s sacramental renewal, our
exposition of Baptism shall focus on the Baptism of
adults.

This pertains equally to our common Filipino practice of

Infant Baptism. For it is on the adult faith of the parents,
the god-parents and sponsors, that the responsibility falls
for developing the seed of faith received by the infants in
Baptism.

Most Filipino Catholics have a general idea of Baptism, but

little interest in “how it works.”
 Baptism has a three major headings:
1. New life in Christ - through water and the
spirit, and by dying/rising with Christ in
sharing his Paschal Mystery.
2. Incorporation into the Church -through the
sacrament of faith;
3. Sharing the Trinitarian divine life - in an
on-going, progressive way that looks ever to
the future.
NEW LIFE IN
UNION WITH
CHRIST
Baptism’s first effect is to unite the baptized with
Christ, their Risen Lord.

Through the symbol of water and God’s spirit, and

secondly, by sharing in Christ’s “baptism” of his
Paschal mystery.

Both ways are superbly presented for us in the

Easter Vigil Liturgy.
1. Genesis (1-2) presents God’s creation of the world,
with His Spirit hovering over the waters.

St. Paul reminded us that “if anyone is in Christ, he is

a new creation. The old order has passed away.

“Let there be light”: Christ is our light. Baptism is

called enlightenment because the baptized receive
Christ the light of the world.
2. Abraham’s faith - in offering his only son Isaac
prepares us for Christ’s sacrifice, when God the
Father “ did not spare his own Son, but handed
him over for the sake of us all.”

God fulfilled his promise to Abraham, the father of

all nations, to increase His Chosen People by His
invitation to the new life of grace.
3. The Exodus deliverance of the Israelites from
Egypt, the land of slavery, through the waters of
the Red Sea.

The Old Testament symbol of our deliverance from

the slavery of sin through baptismal waters.

The Red Sea is a symbol of our baptism, and the

nation free from slavery is a sign of the Christian
people.
4. Isaiah the prophet speaks of the enduring love
of the “Holy One of Israel,” Israel’s Redeemer who
will never again deluge the earth with the Flood
waters of Noah.

St. Peter explained how Christ suffered and died

he might lead the unjust to God, and by his
Resurrection was given new life in the Spirit.

This new life he communicates to believers to

baptism that cleanses their consciences from sin.
As Noah’s family was saved through water, so Christians are save
through the waters of baptism.

Early Christians saw in Noah’s Ark a symbol of the Church, and the dove
as a symbol of the Spirit.
“When people are baptized, they share
sacramentally in Christ’s death. For baptism
recalls and actualizes the Paschal Mystery
itself, because by it men and women pass
from death of sin into life.”
ORIGINAL SIN
AND BAPTISM
Original sin in the context of Baptism refers not to the
personal sin committed by the first human beings but on
the sinful condition into which all human beings as
descendants of Adam and Eve are born.

Sinful condition- deprivation of sanctifying grace.

The “originating sin” committed by Adam and Eve had and

continues to have also other disastrous consequences,
both within each human being and on the environment in
which we live.
Thus, not only do we experience a painful moral
weakness in trying to do what our conscience tells
to be right, but also a certain inclination to evil
(Concupiscence).

As a consequence of concupiscence and our moral

weakness and personal sins, we find ourselves in a
society characterized by injustices, sinful structures,
suffering etc.
Baptism’s sensible sign of washing with water symbolizes and
effects a cleansing from all sin and rebirth to new life in the
spirit.

Traditionally, original sin has been described as a “black mark” to

be washed off in baptism.

It is the Holy Spirit that frees us from sin. To put simply, we are in
a state of sin when God’s Holy Spirit does not dwell within us.

Baptism takes away all sin, both original and personal for
adults, by signifying and effecting the coming of the Holy
Spirit.

The core of original sin, then, is the deprivation of grace, which is

removed by the coming of the Holy Spirit effected in Baptism.
However, this does not mean that the baptized no longer
experience any effects of original sin. We all remain in the world
marked by the weight of evil that burdens us all.

We must all continue to “wrestle with” and resist our inner

inclication to sin (concupiscence).

How then does Baptism “take away” original sin? - by

symbolizing and effecting the baptized’s saving solidarity with
Christ, within the community and the Church.

The struggle against sin must go on, but now the baptized are
marked with Christ, indwelt by the Spirit, and supported by the
Christian Community.
How else could the Father “wipe our
sins” except through the loving
embrace of the Spirit, joining us to
Christ, our Savior, and to one another,
members of his Body, the Church
Baptism focuses on Christ not on the washing way original sin.
The core of Baptism is new life in Christ, a sharing in Christ, a
radical change of allegiance to Christ.

A new birth, unto which draws its life from the Resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead; a birth to an imperishable
inheritance.

Christ as the Primordial Sacrament means here not only that

when anyone baptizes, it is really Christ himself who baptizes.

It also means Christ himself is the goal and fullness for which
Baptism is administered.
SACRAMENT OF
FAITH
Baptism is a sacrament of faith by that prompts people to ask for
baptism, and the baptismal grace deepens that faith.

It presents us with a model not only for becoming a Christian but

for remaining a Catholic Christian.

Sharing the Divine Life - From this new life in Christ and being
united in his Body, the Church, Baptism is the effective symbol of
our sharing in the divine life.

We become a “new creation”, sharers in the divine nature, not

simple creatures, but children of God.

Baptism is a heaven-sent regeneration.

By baptism, it allows us to let the Spirit helps us to
have faith in God, hope in God’s fidelity and mercy,
and respond to God in love.

In other words, the Spirit helps us to begin to think

life disciples of Christ, overcome problems, and be
outgoing in love rather than turned back on
ourselves,