We offer three aspects of this sacrament on this page:
- What baptism means, why it is valuable.
- How we live out this sacrament; what it means for our lives.
- How to have your child baptized at Holy Rosary Parish.
THE WHAT AND THE WHY
We are taught that Baptism is our entrance into the Church. But to understand the importance of this we need to understand what the Church is meant to be. It is not just a building, or just a parish, or even just a group of parishes. Nor is it just an organization led by the Pope of Rome.
The God that Catholic Christians believe in is Creator God, a God who creates out of love. He created us humans in order to surround himself with more and more love. Two-way love: He loves us and we loving him back. Love is His nature, his happiness, and He wants to share that.
God’s love is not romantic, which comes and goes and does not usually last very long. God’s love is rather a concern for the well-being and happiness of his creation; it is a generosity, a caring, even a commitment to and a willingness to sacrifice for, the ones He loves.
God, being perfect, does not play favorites; He loves everyone wholeheartedly. It is a mistake to believe that I am so unworthy or so unimportant that He cannot care about me.
But there is a problem: love is only genuine when it is freely given. It cannot be forced and still be love. So in order to enable people to love, he made us free. Free to choose to love.
In the story of Adam and Eve, the Bible reminds us that from the very beginning up to the present moment, we often have gone wrong, choosing NOT to love. Instead we choose “ME FIRST” as our priority in life; we choose the opposite of love. If we look around at our world today, it is not hard to see where that has led us. Few people enjoy true happiness; everyone suffers. And it seems to be getting worse and worse.
God is love, so He decided to act, not by taking away our freedom, but to show us a better way than selfishness. He sent His Son, Jesus, not as a vision in the sky but as a human like ourselves who can not only advise us but also give us an example of living a life of loving God and loving our neighbors.
In the Gospel according to John there is a long passage in which Jesus prays to the Father that we may all be one, united by love. In the Gospels He also tells us that the greatest commandment of God is to love. Love is so important to Him that He created a Church, of which all who love God are invited to be members. A unity built on love.
And He himself is the Head of that church. St Paul described it as a Mystical Body; each member of the church is a part of the body that Jesus is the head of. He claims each member as a part of himself. He can do this because He is God. He does it because God is love. As with our own bodies, whenever any part of it hurts, the whole body, including its head, hurts. And when the members are happy, so is the head.
Each person becomes a member of this body, and connected intimately with Jesus by being baptized. Without baptism we lack this intimate connection with Jesus, and remain a kind of alien rather than a citizen of the Kingdom of Jesus.
LIVING IT
How should this affect us and how we live our life?
St Paul points out that the body parts depend on each other. We are not isolated, independent people when we belong to the Body that is Jesus. One part of the body cannot be totally healthy if another is sick, so the healthy parts help the sick parts. One part cannot say to the other part “I don’t need you; I am better off alone,” so neither can the parts of Jesus’ mystical Body. And above all, all the parts have to be connected to the head in order to survive.
So how do we stay connected to the Head? Chiefly by prayer, all kinds of prayer. Prayer together in Church. Prayer together in our families and prayer groups. Private prayer. Scripture reading and study. Whatever focuses our attention on relating to God and learning to love more.
Also we need to stay closely related to one another in generous ways. Simple kindnesses. Willingness to make sacrifices for one another. This may involve money, but probably more often it involves giving patiently our attention, our talents, and our time. We can never outdo God in generosity. It also often means providing good examples of love and trust of God, who IS love, love pointed at US.
If this is true of us all, for parents it also means being good examples to our children. “Do as I say, not what I do” has never been a viable attitude toward children. Children may be baptized, but they won’t understand it, and how to live it, unless they learn what it means from their parents’ attitudes and actions. Thus, baptism is not the end of the parents’ duty but the beginning.
The same for adults: the saying “Use it or lose it” can describe it: we need to keep advancing or we will fall back and maybe starve spiritually.
These days many people who used to identify as Christians now say that they are “spiritual but not religious.” Probably that means something like “I’ll be my own guide and make my own rules.” How sad. Without connection to the believing community, they can so easily go astray.
We are taught that Baptism is our entrance into the Church. But to understand the importance of this we need to understand what the Church is meant to be. It is not just a building, or just a parish, or even just a group of parishes. Nor is it just an organization led by the Pope of Rome.
The God that Catholic Christians believe in is Creator God, a God who creates out of love. He created us humans in order to surround himself with more and more love. Two-way love: He loves us and we loving him back. Love is His nature, his happiness, and He wants to share that.
God’s love is not romantic, which comes and goes and does not usually last very long. God’s love is rather a concern for the well-being and happiness of his creation; it is a generosity, a caring, even a commitment to and a willingness to sacrifice for, the ones He loves.
God, being perfect, does not play favorites; He loves everyone wholeheartedly. It is a mistake to believe that I am so unworthy or so unimportant that He cannot care about me.
But there is a problem: love is only genuine when it is freely given. It cannot be forced and still be love. So in order to enable people to love, he made us free. Free to choose to love.
In the story of Adam and Eve, the Bible reminds us that from the very beginning up to the present moment, we often have gone wrong, choosing NOT to love. Instead we choose “ME FIRST” as our priority in life; we choose the opposite of love. If we look around at our world today, it is not hard to see where that has led us. Few people enjoy true happiness; everyone suffers. And it seems to be getting worse and worse.
God is love, so He decided to act, not by taking away our freedom, but to show us a better way than selfishness. He sent His Son, Jesus, not as a vision in the sky but as a human like ourselves who can not only advise us but also give us an example of living a life of loving God and loving our neighbors.
In the Gospel according to John there is a long passage in which Jesus prays to the Father that we may all be one, united by love. In the Gospels He also tells us that the greatest commandment of God is to love. Love is so important to Him that He created a Church, of which all who love God are invited to be members. A unity built on love.
And He himself is the Head of that church. St Paul described it as a Mystical Body; each member of the church is a part of the body that Jesus is the head of. He claims each member as a part of himself. He can do this because He is God. He does it because God is love. As with our own bodies, whenever any part of it hurts, the whole body, including its head, hurts. And when the members are happy, so is the head.
Each person becomes a member of this body, and connected intimately with Jesus by being baptized. Without baptism we lack this intimate connection with Jesus, and remain a kind of alien rather than a citizen of the Kingdom of Jesus.
LIVING IT
How should this affect us and how we live our life?
St Paul points out that the body parts depend on each other. We are not isolated, independent people when we belong to the Body that is Jesus. One part of the body cannot be totally healthy if another is sick, so the healthy parts help the sick parts. One part cannot say to the other part “I don’t need you; I am better off alone,” so neither can the parts of Jesus’ mystical Body. And above all, all the parts have to be connected to the head in order to survive.
So how do we stay connected to the Head? Chiefly by prayer, all kinds of prayer. Prayer together in Church. Prayer together in our families and prayer groups. Private prayer. Scripture reading and study. Whatever focuses our attention on relating to God and learning to love more.
Also we need to stay closely related to one another in generous ways. Simple kindnesses. Willingness to make sacrifices for one another. This may involve money, but probably more often it involves giving patiently our attention, our talents, and our time. We can never outdo God in generosity. It also often means providing good examples of love and trust of God, who IS love, love pointed at US.
If this is true of us all, for parents it also means being good examples to our children. “Do as I say, not what I do” has never been a viable attitude toward children. Children may be baptized, but they won’t understand it, and how to live it, unless they learn what it means from their parents’ attitudes and actions. Thus, baptism is not the end of the parents’ duty but the beginning.
The same for adults: the saying “Use it or lose it” can describe it: we need to keep advancing or we will fall back and maybe starve spiritually.
These days many people who used to identify as Christians now say that they are “spiritual but not religious.” Probably that means something like “I’ll be my own guide and make my own rules.” How sad. Without connection to the believing community, they can so easily go astray.
HAVING YOUR CHILD BAPTIZED AT HOLY ROSARY PARISH
To help parents feel part of a community, to help them to explore their own faith and to help all adults involved to understand the Rite of Baptism, Holy Rosary Parish has a three step Baptism process. We hope above all it is relational.
Step One: Parents or a single mother, approaches one of the priests or deacons of the parish after Mass to say they are expecting or have had a child they hope to have baptized. The priest or deacon will take a note of the parent(s) contact details at that first conversation. The couple are encouraged to attend Sunday Mass after that first meeting and to approach the same or another priest or deacon each time to say hello and to get known.
Step Two: The priest or deacon will plan a meeting with the parent(s) and some parishioners who have children in formation. This meeting allows the new parents to: a) have an opportunity to discuss their own faith journeys and hopes for their child; b) to have any questions answered.
Step Three: The couple and the godparent(s) attend the formation session on the Rite of Baptism. Godparent(s) who live further away can take a formation session at their home parish and have that parish write formally to Holy Rosary.
When these three steps are complete parents can plan a day for the Baptism and whether the Baptism will be at a Sunday Mass or at another time outside Mass.
The purpose of these three steps are to: enable us to start conversations about baptism having just celebrated Mass together; to respond to requests for baptism within personal interactions, allowing documents and certificates to follow those interactions and; that parents will avail of the opportunity to talk frankly about their own faith and how they hope to grow in it with their child.
Step One: Parents or a single mother, approaches one of the priests or deacons of the parish after Mass to say they are expecting or have had a child they hope to have baptized. The priest or deacon will take a note of the parent(s) contact details at that first conversation. The couple are encouraged to attend Sunday Mass after that first meeting and to approach the same or another priest or deacon each time to say hello and to get known.
Step Two: The priest or deacon will plan a meeting with the parent(s) and some parishioners who have children in formation. This meeting allows the new parents to: a) have an opportunity to discuss their own faith journeys and hopes for their child; b) to have any questions answered.
Step Three: The couple and the godparent(s) attend the formation session on the Rite of Baptism. Godparent(s) who live further away can take a formation session at their home parish and have that parish write formally to Holy Rosary.
When these three steps are complete parents can plan a day for the Baptism and whether the Baptism will be at a Sunday Mass or at another time outside Mass.
The purpose of these three steps are to: enable us to start conversations about baptism having just celebrated Mass together; to respond to requests for baptism within personal interactions, allowing documents and certificates to follow those interactions and; that parents will avail of the opportunity to talk frankly about their own faith and how they hope to grow in it with their child.