Can a person be saved by simply saying the sinners prayer and inviting Jesus in? Is there more that is required? Why did Jesus require baptism of his followers? Isn't this just a symbol or does the Bible teach that something else is taking place. Learn about the Sacrament of Baptism in this homily given by Father Mayer on January 9, 2022.
Can a person be saved by simply saying the sinners prayer and inviting Jesus in? Is there more that is required? Why did Jesus require baptism of his followers? Isn't this just a symbol or does the Bible teach that something else is taking place. Learn about the Sacrament of Baptism in this homily given by Father Mayer on January 9, 2022.
The journals of a pioneer priest from the late eighteen hundreds describe a family in North Dakota who traveled ten days on horseback, through rough territory, in the midst of the Sioux Indian War in order to get to the priest to have their child baptized. They risked being caught in the Sioux war and having their murdered bodies left for wolves to devour, all in order to have their child baptized. These were the type of sacrifices they were willing to make for the Sacrament of Baptism. Catholics throughout history have held baptism to be important enough to risk comfort, health, and even the lives of one’s family. Today, as we are celebrating the Baptism of Christ, and I would like to help you to understand the importance of the Sacrament of Baptism, the good news of the Baptism that Christ gave to us.
We as human beings have a sin problem. You can see this sin problem all around just by reading the news or by living with another person or by examining your own life. You and I deal with something called concupiscence. Concupiscence means the inclination to sin. You have this inclination on your own even without anyone teaching you, a wound that has been passed on down to you from others.
- I remember that at the age of four or five, growing up, I was at my Sunday school class at church and just as I went to sit down one of the kids behind me pulled my chair away and I fell to the ground. I was totally surprised and I remember that the kids behind me laughed and laughed and seeing me fall and my surprise. I of course did not think that it was funny. I remember that ground that I fell on feeling pretty hard. Of course I cannot say that I was any better. Most likely worse. I remember as a kid going out into the street and pressing nails into the soft tar so that the points would purposely stick up and poke into the tires of cars driving by. Terrible right? Nobody taught this to me. This was concupiscence. I had an inclination to sin. People do wicked and evil things without ever being taught how to do these things. This is preprogrammed.
- The Church teaches that all of this goes back to the woundedness that has been passed on down to us from our first parents. All of this comes from what is known as the original sin, the choice of Adam and Eve to turn away from God’s good and best for them and to choice to do things their own way. They chose disobedience over obedience and thus lost their original holiness, that is supernatural grace, their connection with God. Without this grace, you cannot be with God. Our first parents lost this not only for themselves, but for the whole human family and we all experience the results of this fall: an inclination to sin, suffering and death, all because of this first sin. //
- Now I understand that some people have a hard time with this notion of original sin. They say, “Yes, Adam and Eve might have sinned, but why do all of us have to pay for their sins? I get personal sin, you having to be responsible for your own sins, but corporate sins? Being responsible for someone else’s sins? That is not fair. Well, like it or not all of us live with the consequences of the actions and decisions of our ancestors, fair or not fair, these are the facts. You might have had a shrewd father or grandfather who put away money in an educational trust fund and as a consequence, all of your college was paid for. Or, perhaps your father was punished for breaking the law by being sent to jail. As a consequence you were raised without a father being present in your life. Did one person deserve a paid for college education and another deserve to be raised fatherless? No. Of course not. But, like it or not, we all live with the decisions of our ancestors, including the decisions of our first parents, Adam and Eve. They effect us.
So, this is the bad news: we have a sin problem and it’s not just a personal problem. This problem goes beyond you. It’s a corporate problem going back to our first parents who lost the state of grace on behalf of all of us. You cannot pass on what you yourself do not have. Sin effects all those around you. It effects the whole human family. We all deal with the wounds of sin, it, like it or not.
However, today, as we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord, there is good news. Through the life death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have been given the Sacrament of Baptism, a way of dealing with this sin problem, both personal and a corporate sins. It washes all of them away and gets you started on the path of grace.
- The fathers of the Church taught that when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, because he was sinless, he did not need to be baptized. He did not have a sin problem. He did not need the cleansing waters of baptism, but the water needed him. Through his baptism he sanctified the baptismal waters, empowering them to be used as a means of grace, as a way of applying his sacrifice on the cross to you and me for the purpose of washing away sins. If you have ever been to an Easter Vigil liturgy, you will see the priest take the very large pascal candle and plunge it into the baptismal waters, using it to bless those waters. This is a reminder of Christ who gave to us the Sacrament of Baptism when he went into those waters for us. Jesus transformed the waters. Then he taught that baptism was essential. Jesus himself said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). He said that it is impossible to enter the kingdom of God without baptism. The Catechism of the Catholic teaches that “Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament” (CCC 1257), of course, those who have never heard the gospel will be judged differently. Otherwise, everyone else needs to be baptized, even infants. The law of the church states that infants are to be baptized within the first few weeks.
- The interesting thing about baptism is that you cannot baptize yourself. It is impossible. It cannot happen. Someone else has to do the baptizing for you normally a bishop, priest, or deacon, though in an emergency it can be anyone really. It was other people who got you into this sin problem in the first place and interestingly, the way that the Lord designed it, it is through other people that that these sins get washed away, through water baptism applied by another person. You cannot baptize yourself. You cannot save yourself.
- Now, there are those that say. “No, actually that is not true. You can save yourself. You just need to say the sinner’s prayer. You just need to ask Jesus into your heart. Baptism doesn’t do anything. It’s just an outward display of what has already taken place in your heart.” I would offer that while these personal prayers are beautiful devotions and personally turning to the Lord is important, baptism is just as important. According to the Scriptures, baptism is not just a symbol but rather washes away sins and makes you into a child of God. On the day of Pentecost Peter stood up before all the people and proclaimed "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" (Acts 2:38). Peter was saying that baptism washes away sins and connects you with God. Ananias, who was called by God to bring Paul into the Church told Paul to " Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name" (Acts 22:16). St. Paul would go on to teach that through baptism a person dies to sin and comes alive in Christ. You can read about this in Romans 6:2-11. Peter wrote that "Baptism ... now saves you" through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:21). Yes, baptism is more than a symbol.
This is what we celebrate today, as we recall the baptism of the Lord: that although there is both personal sin in the world, and corporate sin, going back to our first parents, the Lord has provided a way, the Sacrament of Baptism, that both involves you personally, and others, so that you might be saved, so that your sins might be washed away.
So today, as we remember the sacrament of baptism recall first, your great need for baptism. That you entered this world without being in the state of grace. You and I did not do anything to deserve baptism, yet Christ, in his grace and mercy, came and gave us this sacrament. Next time you dip you fingers into the holy water as you enter the Church, thank the Lord for what he has done for you. Recall also that when you were baptized, you were really washed, you were immaculate. Baptism not only recalls for you what happened in the past, but reminds you of the saintly vocation that you have, the calling to holiness, so when you dip your hand into that holy water, remember not only your own baptism, but also that perfection to which you are called and ask the Lord for the grace and strength to live out your baptismal promises that God might be glorified. Amen.