Andrea del Sarto, 1524
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The New Evangelization
Revisiting the Sacraments
“Evangelization tells us that God is close: God has
shown himself to us. In this period of history, is this
not the mission that the Lord entrusts to us: to
proclaim the newness of the Gospel, like Peter and Paul
when they reached our city? Should we not today too show
the beauty and reasonableness of faith, carry God’s
light to the people of our time, with courage, with
conviction, with joy? There are many people who have not
encountered the Lord: special pastoral care should be
dedicated to them. Beside the children and young people
of Christian families who ask to begin the process of
Christian initiation, there are adults who have not
received Baptism or who have drifted away from the faith
and from the Church. This pastoral attention is
especially urgent today and asks us to commit ourselves
with confidence, sustained by the certainty that God’s
grace works in the human heart today too. Every year I
myself have the joy of baptizing several young people
and adults at the Easter Vigil and of incorporating them
in the body of Christ, in communion with the Lord, and
thus in communion with God's love.
However, who is the messenger of this joyful
proclamation? Certainly, it is every baptized person.
Especially parents, whose task it is to ask for Baptism
for their children. How great is this gift which the
liturgy calls the gateway to our salvation, the
beginning of life in Christ, the source of new humanity
(cf. Preface of Baptism)! All fathers and mothers are
called to cooperate with God in the transmission of the
inestimable gift of life and also to make known the One
who is Life. And life is not really transmitted if one
does not know the foundation and the perennial source of
life as well. Dear parents, the Church, as a loving
mother, wishes to support you in your fundamental task.
Children stand in need of God from an early age, because
people need God from the beginning and have the ability
to perceive his greatness, they know how to appreciate
the value of prayer — to speak to this God — and the
rites and thus how to discern the difference between
good and evil. May you therefore be able to guide them,
accompanying them in the faith, in this knowledge of
God, in this friendship with God, and in this knowledge
of the difference between good and evil. Accompany them
in faith from the most tender age.”
[OPENING
OF THE ECCLESIAL CONVENTION OF THE DIOCESE OF ROME (JUNE
13-16, 2011) ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI]
THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM
1213 Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian
life, the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae
spiritualis ianua),4
and the door which gives access to the other sacraments.
Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons
of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated
into the Church and made sharers in her mission:
"Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water
in the word."5
This sacrament is called Baptism, after the central rite
by which it is carried out: to baptize (Greek baptizein)
means to "plunge" or "immerse"; the "plunge" into the
water symbolizes the catechumen's burial into Christ's
death, from which he rises up by resurrection with him,
as "a new creature."6
1215 This sacrament is also called "the washing of
regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit," for it
signifies and actually brings about the birth of water
and the Spirit without which no one "can enter the
kingdom of God."7
1216 "This bath is called enlightenment, because those
who receive this [catechetical] instruction are
enlightened in their understanding
. . . ."8
Having received in Baptism the Word, "the true light
that enlightens every man," the person baptized has been
"enlightened," he becomes a "son of light," indeed, he
becomes "light" himself:9
Baptism is God's most beautiful and magnificent
gift....We call it gift, grace, anointing,
enlightenment, garment of immortality, bath of rebirth,
seal, and most precious gift. It is called gift because
it is conferred on those who bring nothing of their own;
grace since it is given even to the guilty; Baptism
because sin is buried in the water; anointing for it is
priestly and royal as are those who are anointed;
enlightenment because it radiates light; clothing since
it veils our shame; bath because it washes; and seal as
it is our guard and the sign of God's Lordship.10
[Catechism
of the Catholic Church
(Section Two, The Seven Sacraments of the Church]
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