Theology of Evangelization Course 3 – Lesson 6 Faith & Baptism

How Does it All Work?

In a previous segment, we explained the meaning of salvation, justification, and sanctification. We discussed them in terms of a transformation of a person, by the free gift of God’s grace, from a state of servitude to sin, death, and the devil, to a state of holiness and participation in the divine life of God, leading to eternal happiness in God’s presence.

The Gift of Faith

What activates this entire process is the gift of faith. Faith is an assent of man’s whole self to the God who reveals himself. It is “an assent of the intellect and will to the self-revelation God has made through his deeds and words.”¹ As the Baltimore Catechism writes, “Faith is a Divine virtue by which we firmly believe the truths which God has revealed.”² The Council of Trent tells us that faith is the origin and root of all justification.³ We can never enter Heaven, which is the divine family of God, without first embracing God by faith. And that faith is first given to us by the Holy Spirit.

There are two dimensions to Faith: personal and communal. The personal dimension is the voluntary response of an individual to the gift of grace that illuminates his intellect with God’s divine revelation. From there, this Faith necessitates a communal expression. Faith cannot exist in a vacuum or be isolated, as the Catechism teaches, “The believer [that] has received faith from others … should hand it on to others. Our love for Jesus and for our neighbor impels us to speak to others about our faith. Each believer is thus a link in the great chain of believers. I cannot believe without being carried by the faith of others, and by my faith I help support others in the faith.”⁴

Why is there an impetus to share this faith and to grow it within the community? Because it is only by faith that man can even begin to give his assent to God who reveals Himself. “…Sacred Scripture calls this human response to God, the author of revelation, the obedience of faith.”⁵ Without this first step, there is no speaking of all other aspects of the Christian life. Faith is where we begin. We owe our fellow man a debt of charity to share God’s revelation, that they, too, may come to give their assent to the God who beckons them to eternal life. Faith is the foretaste of Heaven. And Heaven is what this is all about. That is why Scripture tells us that “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”⁶

This life of faith demands repentance from one’s sins and the full embrace of Revelation. Faith requires, indeed necessitates conversion! Our Faith will see its perfection in Christ Himself. And we are called to be as Christ Himself is: Holy! So we run this race, we live this faith, with the inspiritment of the Saints in Heaven, that we may receive that eternal crown! It is precisely for this reason that Scripture exhorts us: “since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.”⁷

The Primacy of Baptism

Through the means of the sacred signs of the seven Sacraments, the Lord gives or increases sanctifying grace within us, which means that the Sacraments are important instruments for our sanctification and salvation. This is especially true of the Sacrament of Baptism because it is the first sacrament we receive and the gateway to the other sacraments. Baptism, in particular, corresponds to the moment of initial justification — it initiates us into the new life of grace, the participation in the life of God that we spoke about earlier.

To illustrate the meaning of baptism, the Catechism recounts for us a beautiful prayer of the Church from the Easter Vigil. In the liturgy of the Easter Vigil, during the blessing of the baptismal water, the Church solemnly commemorates the great events in salvation history that already prefigured the mystery of Baptism. Then it continues:

Father, you give us grace through Sacramental signs,

which tell us of the wonders of your unseen power.

In Baptism we use your gift of water,

which you have made a rich symbol

of the grace you give us in this Sacrament.⁸

Baptism is given a real place of primacy during the Easter Vigil liturgy. Here, we learn that at the beginning of the world, God created water as a humble, docile, wonderful, versatile creature, ordained to be a source of life and fruitfulness for man. In fact, the Book of Genesis tells us that the waters were overshadowed by the Spirit of God. The prayer of the Church tells us that:

At the very dawn of creation

your Spirit breathed on the waters,

making them the wellspring of all holiness.⁹

Within that imagery, the Church is depicted as the new Ark of Noah. The waters of the earth continue to purify the world, and the Church functions as this vessel that carries and saves mankind.

Furthermore, the waters of baptism represent dying to the old, sinful self through the cross of Jesus. The Catechism tells us that, “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.”¹⁰

Baptism also finds symbolism in the events surrounding the Exodus. When we look to the crossing of the Red Sea in the Book of Exodus, Israel experienced, in a literal sense, liberation from slavery. This liberation from physical slavery by means of crossing through the waters of the Red Sea correlates to liberation from the slavery and bondage of sin by means of being immersed in the waters of baptism. This is why the Easter Vigil liturgy praises God by saying:

You freed the children of Abraham from the slavery of Pharaoh,

bringing them dry-shod through the waters of the Red Sea,

to be an image of the people set free in Baptism.¹¹

The Church instructs us that the ordinary Ministers of baptism are Bishops, priests, and deacons. In particular circumstances of necessity, however, the Church recognizes that even a non-baptized person may confer upon another the gift of baptism so long as they utilize proper form (the right words) and matter (the right material – in this case, water), and possess the right intention – to baptize. The reason for this is so that the possibility of receiving this saving gift is made as wide as possible, while still respecting its role as a public act of liturgy.

Christ himself affirms that baptism is necessary for the salvation of mankind. In commanding his Gospel message to be proclaimed by his disciples to all nations, Christ also commands them to baptize all who listen to and accept the Gospel. The Church has continually, from the beginning, administered the gift of the Sacrament of baptism. Peter’s first homily to the crowd was a rousing call for repentance by means of baptism. The book of Acts tells us that Peter proclaims to the people, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”¹²

From that point on, we see that the apostles and all who followed them continue to administer this gift of the Sacrament of baptism to everyone who responded to the gospel with faith, be they Jew, or Gentile. To be even more concrete about this Sacrament, when asked by his jailer, “what must I do to be saved?, Paul tells him, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household”, and after preaching the word to him and his family, it says, “he was baptized at once, with all his family.”¹³

What this shows us is that the Sacrament of baptism is inseparable from the response of faith, and it suggests what the Catholic Tradition clearly affirms, that children and infants can be baptized when they are part of the “household” of adults who have come to believe. In these cases, it is necessary that the Church and the parents supply the faith required for the salvation of the infant, until they are old enough to make their own act of faith.

Baptism also signifies liberation from the old way of sin and even from its instigator and tempter, the devil. This is why in the rite of baptism, as the Catechism tells us, “one or more exorcisms are pronounced over the candidate. The celebrant then anoints him with the oil of catechumens, or lays his hands on him, and he explicitly renounces Satan. Thus prepared, he is able to confess the faith of the Church, to which he will be ‘entrusted’ by Baptism.”¹⁴

The Church declares baptism as the “Sacrament of faith.” It is literally Sacramental entry into the entirety of the life of faith. The Church has no other means to assure entry into eternal beatitude, at least, no means that is more concrete and visible than the reception of the Sacrament of Baptism. Because of this, the Church continues to fight across the ages to preserve her mission of conferring the gift of baptism on all who believe, and upon their children.

The Indelible Mark Given at Baptism

Baptism works a multifaceted grace in the person’s soul. A person who is baptized is conformed into the image of Christ. They receive the gift of what the Church calls an “indelible mark.” This gift, in Greek “sphragis,” is likened to a tattoo that a Roman soldier received upon being enlisted in the Roman army for life. It serves to identify him as belonging to this military corps, and therefore to this mission.

Spiritually speaking, Baptism does the same thing to the believer. It invisibly marks the individual as entirely belonging to Christ. Even were someone to lose faith and commit apostasy, this mark can never be erased from the soul, owing to its spiritual permanence. It has to be noted that the mark itself doesn’t guarantee salvation. It more accurately connotes being “set apart” for God. Furthermore, precisely because of the permanency of this mark, baptism can only be conferred once; it is an unrepeatable Sacrament that confers an absolutely indelible seal.

Because baptism is an assurance of salvation, we may trust in the reality that justification and salvation are not principally our work. They are, in fact, the work of God who begins it purely by His own initiative. There is a saying attributed to St. Frances Xavier Cabrini that elaborates well on this point, “We must pray without tiring, for the salvation of mankind does not depend on material success; nor on sciences that cloud the intellect. Neither does it depend on arms and human industries, but on Jesus alone.”¹⁵

The Holy Eucharist

In addition to Baptism, there are six other sacraments: Confirmation, Eucharist, Marriage, Confession, Anointing of the Sick and Holy Orders.¹⁶ Although Baptism is the gate to the other sacraments and initiates people into the Christian life,¹⁷ the Holy Eucharist is the “font and apex of the entire Christian life.”¹⁸ This sacrament is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present under the appearance of bread and wine. It was instituted by Christ at the Last Supper when He commanded His Apostles to eat His flesh and drink His blood in remembrance of Him.¹⁹

The Holy Eucharist fulfills all of the Old Testament sacrifices and its re-presentation at Mass perpetuates throughout time the one sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross.²⁰ Jesus tells His followers that “unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will have no life in you.”²¹ This is so that Christians may receive strength and grace from God in order to live the life of holiness to which all are called in the New Law of Grace. For those who have fallen into sin, the Sacrament of Penance helps to restore them to the divine life of grace.²²

Concluding Thoughts

In all this, what we always need to remember is that our work of salvation is really a miracle beginning in God’s free divine initiative. It is He who brings to us the gift of salvation. The Sacrament of Baptism itself is first and foremost a grace. It is a gratuitous gift from the divine heart of the Father. This is what compels the Apostle Paul to write in Ephesians 2:8 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Such is the heart of our Father, who will stop at nothing to work in us the gift of salvation. As mentioned in previous lesson segments, all that is required of us, is a response to this free divine initiative; a simple “Yes, Lord, I believe! I entrust my life to you!”