May 28 Wed
Why do we receive Baptism?
Baptism is a sacrament instituted by Christ, in which, through the washing with water and by invoking the three divine Persons, the spiritual regeneration of humanity is achieved. Baptism is “the sacrament of regeneration by water in the word.”
“In Baptism, our Father God has taken possession of our lives, has made us share in the life of Christ, and has given us the Holy Spirit.”
The mystery of Baptism was prefigured in some events of the Old Testament:
- Water is seen as the source of life. At the beginning of the world, “the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.” (Gen 1:2).
- Noah’s ark is a type of salvation through Baptism.
- Seawater is also a symbol of death and the mystery of the cross. Through the waters of the Red Sea, Israel was led out of slavery.
- After crossing through the waters of the Jordan River, the people of God entered the Promised Land, a symbol of eternal life.
- The most important of the prefigurations is the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan. With his Passion and Death, the waters of Baptism were available for all humanity. The water and blood flowing from his pierced side are respectively symbols of Baptism and the Eucharist.
The Lord, who gives us our life, also gave us Baptism, containing both life and death. The water fulfills the image of death, and the Spirit gives us the promise of life.
Hence, the answer to why the water was associated with the Spirit is clear. The reason is that baptism prefigures two things for us:
- The destroying of the body of sin, that it may never develop into eternal death; and,
- The birth of a new son in the Spirit, ripening to a new life, and traveling to holiness.
Like a tomb, the water receives the body, symbolizing death; then we are revived by the Spirit, who pours his grace on us, and renews our souls from the deadness of sin of the old man, into their original life of the newborn. This is what it is to be born again of water and of the Spirit, the water bringing the necessary death, while the Spirit creates life within us.
In three immersions (or pourings of water), and with three invocations, Baptism is performed. There is no grace in the water alone, but in the presence of the Spirit. Baptism is not the cleansing of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of the newborn towards God.
Through the Holy Spirit comes our restoration to paradise, our ascension into the kingdom of heaven, our return to the status of adopted sons, our liberty to call God our Father, our being made partakers of the grace of Christ, our being called children of light, our sharing in eternal glory – in a word, our being brought into a state of all fullness of blessing both in this world and in the world to come, of all the good gifts that are in store for us.
Through faith, we contemplate the presence of the Spirit’s grace, but we still have to wait and fight for the full enjoyment of the fruits of grace. If such is the promise, what will heaven be like? If these are the first fruits, what will be the complete fulfillment?