Baptism

Yesterday was the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.  
I heard it said once that the Sunday Scripture readings are meant to nourish us for the entire week, not just for one day.  Therefore, it is not necessary to exhaust all the possibilities from yesterday's Feast in one post.  I am thinking, in connection with the Year of Mercy, which is the focus of our posts this year, that there are two angles I could take; one related to the corporal work of mercy "to give drink to the thirsty", and the other related to Mercy and the Sacrament of Baptism.  I will do the latter (the Sacrament of Baptism) now, and then the former (the corporal work of mercy) later this week sometime.

Baptism is merciful.   We spoke in a recent post about how we need to be merciful to children.  Bringing them to this Sacrament is one very important and real way to show them mercy.  Check out what Paragraph 1250 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states (emphasis mine on certain words because they relate to mercy):
Born with a fallen human nature and tainted by original sin, children also have need of the new birth in Baptism to be freed from the power of darkness and brought into the realm of the freedom of the children of God, to which all men are called. The sheer gratuitousness of the grace of salvation is particularly manifest in infant Baptism. The Church and the parents would deny a child the priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer Baptism shortly after birth.

In 1964, there were about 1.3 million baptisms in the United States.   In 2013 (the last year we have full and complete data for), there were a little over 713,000.  This is almost a 50% drop!   A lot of this has to do with the declining birth rate overall, which we have discussed in previous posts.  However, I think we need to realize, too, that likely, many of us have stopped taking our children to be baptized because we do not consider it to be important anymore.  We are robbing our children  of their spiritual birthright. How unmerciful we are being to them!  This needs to stop!   What better time is there than now, the Year of Mercy, for this to do just that.

Lest we think that Baptism is not important, or even necessary, let us heed the words of Our Savior in John 3:5  ""Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit."   He doesn't say that no one can enter the Kingdom unless they are good people.  He doesn't say that no one can enter the Kingdom unless he or she does certain good deeds.  He doesn't say that no one can enter the Kingdom unless they avoid such and such a sin.  No, he says that no one can enter the Kingdom unless they get baptized, period. With all due respect to my Protestant brothers and sisters, it is clear from Jesus' words here that Baptism is necessary for salvation, confessing Christ as Savior alone is not sufficient.
Mercy is all about compassion.   God wishes to enter into our lives to join us in our trials and tribulations, and raise us to new life.  He cannot do that without first coming to us in the Sacrament of Baptism, which begins the Divine Life in us.  He has told us this.  This Sacrament is merciful in and of itself, and we cannot experience any more mercy in our lives without it.

In closing, I must say the following.  We have all got to stop presuming that we will all be saved, no matter what we do or do not do.  Parents of young children and babies, this especially pertains to you regarding your salvation and that of your children.  Do not ignore the words of Our Lord.  Don't take a chance.  Give Him the benefit of the doubt that His words are true.  Bring your child to the Sacrament of Baptism; bring yourself if you have not received it yourself yet.  Be merciful to yourself and your children in doing so.  Receive this wonderful gift of mercy from Our Lord, this gives that forgives sins, and makes us "partakers of divine nature".

Joseph most prudent, pray for us.