The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 168: The Celebration of Baptism (2024)

Episode Date: June 16, 2024

We continue our examination of the Sacrament of Baptism, specifically how we celebrate the sacrament and the different elements that must always be present in Baptism. Fr. Mike emphasizes that while infant Baptism has become the “form in which this sacrament is usually celebrated,” post-baptismal formation and instruction is necessary in order for the full flowering of the graces received in the Sacrament of Baptism. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1229-1233. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in scripture and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a Year is brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity in God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is Day 168. We are reading paragraphs 12-29 to 12-33.

As always, I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the Foundations of Faith approach, but you can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. You can also follow along by downloading your own Catechism in a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y. Wow! You can also, I don't know if you know this, little known fact that people can click follow your own catechism in a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash c i y wow you can also i don't know if you know this little known fact that people can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates daily notifications because today i say 168 you know we've talked

about baptism and the question today leading into this whole new section is how is the sacrament of baptism celebrated and we're talking today specifically about Christian initiation, meaning like how have people been initiated into the Catholic Church? How have people been initiated into Christianity? And so we're going to go all the way back to the very beginning and talk about how did the church originally bring people in and also how that's developed

over the course of roughly 2,000 years until we have the right of Christian initiation for adults that we have now also What do you do when you baptize kids? Like how do you bring them? How do you initiate them because baptism is initiation, but it's not the only part of initiation There's other aspects of initiation So we're looking at those today in paragraphs 1229 to 1233 before we get started though. Let's or as we're starting. Let's pray I can't ask the Lord the God of love the God of life God who has loved us loved us into life to be with us now as we pray father in heaven We thank you and we give you praise in the name of your son Jesus Christ receive our praise receive our thanks this day

Lord God in the midst of sorrow in the midst of joy in the midst of sorrow, in the midst of joy, in the midst of suffering, and in the midst of strength, we just give you praise. We ask that you please hear our prayer and pour your Holy Spirit upon all of us that those of us who are on our way into full initiation with the Catholic Church may get to that place with great joy and great love. And for those who have been initiated into the church, into your church, we ask that you awaken in our hearts and enliven in our lives your grace.

Your grace is new every morning. Your mercies are new every morning. And you are here with us now. Bring those graces to life. Ignite them like a smoldering wick or burning ember. Let them become a roaring flame. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. It is day 168. We are reading paragraphs 12-29 to 12-33. How is the sacrament of baptism celebrated? Christian initiation. From the time of the apostles, becoming a Christian has been accomplished by a journey and initiation in several stages.

This journey can be covered rapidly or slowly, but certain essential elements will always have to be present. Proclamation of the Word, acceptance of the Gospel entailing conversion, profession of faith, baptism itself, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and admission to Eucharistic communion. This initiation has varied greatly through the centuries according to circumstances. In the first centuries of the Church, Christian initiation saw considerable development. A long period of catechumenate included a series of preparatory rites which were liturgical

landmarks along the path of catechuminal preparation and culminated in the celebration of the sacraments of Christian initiation. Where infant baptism has become the form in which this sacrament is usually celebrated, it has become a single act encapsulating the preparatory stages of Christian initiation in a very abridged way. By its very nature, infant baptism requires a post-baptismal catechumenate. Not only is there a need for instruction after baptism, but also for the necessary flowering of baptismal grace in personal growth. The catechism has its proper place here.

The Second Vatican Council restored for the Latin Church the catechumenate for adults, comprising several distinct steps. The rites for these stages are to be found in the Right of Christian Initiation of Adults – RCIA. The Council also gives permission that, in mission countries, in addition to what is furnished by the Christian tradition, those elements of initiation rights may be admitted which are already in use among some peoples insofar as they can be adapted to the Christian ritual. Today in all the rites, Latin and Eastern, the Christian initiation of adults begins with their entry into the Ketekumenet and

reaches its culmination in a single celebration of the three sacraments of initiation, baptism, confirmation, and the Eucharist. In the Eastern rites, the Christian initiation of infants also begins with baptism followed immediately by confirmation and the Eucharist, while in the Roman Rite, it is followed by years of catechesis before being completed later by confirmation and the Eucharist, the summit of their Christian initiation. Okay, there we have it. Five short paragraphs, but also talking about how is it that people have been brought into the Church. This is something we talked about right away, right? I think at the very beginning Of reading this catechism in a year

We talked about that process originally when the church came into the world, right? Jesus Christ find that founds a church of course on Pentecost Peter preached a sermon that Convicted people to the hearts and they said what must we do to be saved and Peter said? Repent to be baptized every one of you. So thousands of people were baptized that day. As the church continued to spread, it became very, very clear that there needed to be a more thorough process. Now the people who were baptized right away were Jewish.

And so the thing there was they were prepared, right? They had been shaped by the Old Testament. They've been shaped by the covenants. And so their step into accepting Jesus as the Messiah made sense, right? That so their step into accepting Jesus as the Messiah made sense, right? That's a short step. But as the church continued to expand,

we recognized that there were people that heard the gospel and came to faith in Jesus, but their minds weren't shaped to like the idea of, I don't know, one God. Their minds weren't shaped to the reality that we're made in God's image and likeness. Their minds weren't shaped to the reality that were made in God's image and likeness their minds weren't shaped to the reality that Male and female are created equal like all of these things involve a drastic and dramatic conversion

And so because it involves a massive and dramatic conversion. It's not just a matter of well, here's what I do now on Sunday mornings It was a matter of I have to see the world through a biblical lens I have to see the world through the lens of Jesus. And that's a big conversion. And so, as it says here in the Catechism, that would take a lot of times a long time. It said, the journey can be covered rapidly or slowly. In the church, many times it's covered slowly.

But there are always certain essential elements that have to be present. So number one, there has to be the proclamation of the word. Like, the gospel has to be proclaimed. Then the acceptance of the gospel entailing conversion. So I don't just assent to the gospel, I accept it, of course, but it also entails conversion. I have to live a different life. Third, the profession of faith.

This is something that I actually declare. I profess. This is something that I not only internally keep and believe to myself, but I must proclaim it to the world as well. The profession of faith. Then, baptism itself. I need to be baptized. Then the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And lastly, admission to the Eucharistic Communion. And so this is going to be, these are these distinct and essential elements and aspects of this Christian initiation process. So keep that in mind. Now, obviously, it says in 1221, 1231, where infant baptism has become the form. So a lot of times in the West, especially in the Catholic Church

and the Orthodox Church, baptism happens right away, right? There's a we're brought into the church before the age of reason brought into into the church sometimes as soon as possible. So because of that, there must be a post-baptismal catechumenate. So remember in the ancient church, and now when someone is adult, they're grown but they haven't been baptized yet, there is a pre-baptismal catechumenate.

But where all of those people, which might be you and me, which me for sure, I'll tell you that right now, I was baptized on March 1st, 1975, that they're required, I needed a post baptismal kettucuminate. And so there's a need for instruction after baptism, but also, and I love this, it's the second to last line in 1231, but also for the necessary flowering of baptismal grace and personal growth. So think of this, we have religious ed, we have Sunday school, and usually that happens again after baptism, at least in the West.

So there's not just the teaching of the data, but also the necessary flowering of baptismal grace and personal growth. What has to happen in the church is we have to not only impart the faith, but also elicit faith out of those people, like as they force that, but really to call forward, that's what I mean by elicit, to call forward faith to the flowering of baptismal grace and personal growth. And so that means what? That means obviously not just teaching,

that means through relationship, you know, discipling. And teaching and discipling, if there was a Venn diagram, they'd overlap each other. But teaching and discipling are also distinct. Teaching, I basically share the data with you, right? I share the information with you. Discipline, I share the information with you, but also I share my very life. And that's what St. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians.

So we did not only share the gospel of God with you, we also shared our very lives. And there's something in that, there's something in that relational ministry that allows for the flowering of baptismal grace and personal growth. Now in 1232 it says that the church has established in the Second Vatican Council a renewal of the right of Christian initiation for adults. So this process, what had happened in my understanding is what had happened a lot of ways, if someone became a Catholic in their adulthood, they would oftentimes meet with the priest or meet

with someone that the priest had kind of delegated or authorized to be able to teach. And so that's wonderful. That's great. But you go through one at a time, again, which is not bad because you have one-on-one time. You get to have your questions answered by the priest or by that teacher. Wonderful. But the church realized that there actually is a right of Christian initiation of adults. That there can be a way in which if we're being brought into the family of God, why don't we journey as a family? And so, not only is there a thorough explanation, a thorough teaching education in the right of Christian initiation of adults, but also we're admitted into these rituals in a public way, right? So there are typically times during Lent when there's like a thing like inquiry and the

people who are coming into the church are getting baptized. They're kind of brought before the whole church and the church gets to realize, oh, these are our future brothers and sisters. And not only here they are and they're making these professions of faith or taking these steps of faith, but also here's the church that's gathered around them that gets to pray for them and gets to say, okay, these are the, you're joining us and there's something really good and communal, something really good and churchy, you know, about that. I mean, churchy, not in the sense of it happening at church, but I mean in the sense that the

body of Christ kind of surrounds these people as they're on those last stages of their journey as they come into the Catholic Church, typically at the Easter Vigil. Now, last little note, and this might be a point of trivia for you, but maybe it's a point of more than trivia, 1233. It says, in all the rites, Latin and Eastern, the Christian initiation of adults begins with their entry into the catechumenate, right? So that's if you're not baptized, but you're on the process of becoming a Catholic, you're called a catechumen. You're in the catechumenate. And it reaches its culmination typically on Easter, at Easter vigil, but it doesn't have to be, it's not exclusive to that, in the celebration of the three sacraments of initiation, baptism, confirmation, and the Eucharist. So that's what happens as adults in the Eastern rites. When they baptize infants, they also have confirmation and the Eucharist right away. And yet here in my, in the rite that

I'm part of, the Roman rite, the Latin rite, usually you're baptized as an infant or whenever right away. And then later on you'll go to your first communion and first holy first reconciliation and first holy communion, and then ultimately be confirmed. And that is, that's, that's an ongoing question of like, what, what's the best way to have these, these rights unpacked and unfolded in a person's life in the East right away, baptized, confirmed and receive holy communion. And then in the West typically baptized few years later, first communion, few years later, confirmation.

But, you know, this is how we do it. And the church continues to ask the question, what is the best way to initiate those who are baptized as infants? The big question you and I get to ask is, if we've been baptized, what has our post-baptismal catechumen look like? How, in what way has God unpacked

and given fruit to the graces that he gave to you if you were baptized as an infant? Or maybe later in life, if you were baptized later in life, what are those graces, what are those fruits that God has brought forth in your life since your baptism? That's one of the questions we get to ask, even in prayer. Not like, have I done amazing things? But have I walked in faith?

Have I lived in hope? Do I choose to love? These are the big questions we get to ask in our prayer. And to say, because if we have, if we walked in faith, we live in hope, if we choose to love, those are great signs of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Those are great signs that there is a flowering of baptismal grace in your life and in my life.

Does that make sense? I hope it does. Anyways, we are gonna conclude today because we're on a roll. As we keep talking about the sacraments and baptism, it's just such an incredible gift. Tomorrow, I will see you, but today, I'll pray for you. I am praying for you. Please pray for me.

My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.