Baptism

The sacrament of Baptism is the beginning of life—supernatural life.  Because of original sin, we come into the world with a soul which is supernaturally dead. We come into the world with only the natural endowments of human nature. The supernatural life which is the result of God’s personal and intimate indwelling, is absent from the soul.

Original sin is not, in the strict sense, a “blot” upon the soul. Indeed, original sin is not a “something” at all. It is the absence of something that should be there. It is a darkness where there ought to be light. Jesus instituted the sacrament of Baptism to apply to each individual soul the atonement which He made on the Cross for original sin.

Jesus will not force His gift upon us, the gift of supernatural life for which He paid. He holds the gift out to us hopefully, but each of us must freely accept it.  We make that acceptance by receiving the sacrament of Baptism.

When the sacrament of Baptism is administered, the spiritual vacuum which we call original sin disappears as God becomes present in the soul, and the soul is caught up into that sharing of God’s own life which we call sanctifying grace.

The sacrament of Baptism not only give us sanctifying grace:  it also makes us adopted children of God and heirs of heaven.  We say "adopted" children because God the Father has one begotten Son—Jesus Christ. He is God’s only Son through generation; the rest of us become God’s children by adoption.  As children of God, we receive our inheritance at the very moment of our adoption, at the very moment of Baptism. Our inheritance is eternal union with God, and we have that inheritance now, once we are baptized.

The Sacrament of Baptism signals the means by which we are born to new life in Christ.  Please contact the Parish Office at 860-684-2705 for information.

Baptism Information Form