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A word to
add to your vocabulary — mystagogia
PRAISED BE JESUS
CHRIST!
(Now and Forever)
The Rite for the Christian Initiation of Adults, the process by which
the unbaptized are led to full membership in the Catholic Church, is
rich in ceremonies focused on the Easter Vigil. However, there is a
post-vigil aspect to the RCIA. It is called mystagogia.
Mystagogia is the catechetical period immediately after the reception of
baptism by adults. In the ideal order, mystagogia extends from Easter to
Pentecost. It beckons people to reflect on the sacraments of initiation.
While intended for “converts,” it should not be ignored by cradle
Catholics. For that reason I plan to devote my column for the next
several weeks to a review of what many of us learned years ago (at least
in the ideal world of catechesis), but may not have thought about in
recent times. Hopefully, it will generate an attitude of gratitude
within us for the blessing we have in the sacraments.
Most understand that when a person is baptized, original sin, all
personal sins and the temporal punishment due to sin are removed. No
doubt a column could be devoted to each one of these categories. Having
acknowledged that, in baptism a person truly is reborn. However, there
remains the inclination to sin that is called concupiscence. This
“inclination to sin” shows itself in what is sometimes referred to as a
darkening of the mind and a weakening of the will. In other words, it is
the inability to know clearly the right or wrong of an action and/or the
lack of strength to resist temptation and always to do the right thing,
no matter how difficult. To counterbalance this concupiscence, the Lord
urges us to utilize the sacrament of penance, the sacrament of the
Eucharist and prayer, to develop a deepening spirituality, growth in
virtue and a wholehearted dependence upon God.
Those who are baptized become children of God and temples of the Holy
Spirit. They live in what theologians call the state of grace,
that is, they live in union with God, a union that is broken only by
mortal sin. God sanctifies the baptized. He makes them his holy people.
And, he continues to assist the baptized by many helps called “actual
graces,” that is, the ability to live and act under the guidance and
light of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This helps the baptized mature in
goodness through the practice of virtues such as prudence, justice,
temperance and fortitude.
Baptism also makes a person a member of the Church, the Body of Christ.
The Scriptures say of the baptized: “You are a chosen race, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce
the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous
light” (1 Pt. 2:9).
Baptism is a sacrament by which we are enlightened by the Holy Spirit
who moves us to answer Christ’s ongoing call to conversion and holiness.
In baptism, God asks us to walk by the light of Christ and trust in his
wisdom, to submit our hearts to Christ.
In the course of their lives, Catholics have many opportunities to
witness baptism. In most instances it is the baptism of their children,
grandchildren and members of their extended families. Many have served
as sponsors (godparents). Not all Christian churches practice infant
baptism, of course, but Catholics do. It has been the practice since
apostolic times. Jesus became a member of his faith community when he
was eight days old. In his case, that was celebrated in ritual
circumcision. Since there is no model greater than that of the Christ,
the Catholic position has always been that infants need to be welcomed
into the faith community which is the Church as infants so they will
have access to the means of salvation from their earliest years. That is
what baptism does. Moreover, Jesus clearly taught that baptism is
necessary for salvation. “No one can enter the Kingdom of God without
being born of water and the spirit,” he said (Jn. 3:5). The Church
entrusts children who die without baptism to the mercy of God, who wills
that all people be saved, and confidently hopes for the salvation of
children (as well as adults of good faith) who die without baptism.
Nonetheless, Christ made it clear baptism is important in his plan of
salvation.
The essential point is that parents, godparents and the parish community
where the baptism takes place pledge themselves in baptism to the
ongoing faith formation of the child. Parents deny their children the
priceless grace of being a child of God when they do not see to it that
their children are baptized shortly after birth.
A refresher on the eight major elements found in the baptismal ceremony
will follow next week. First, however, there is that sometimes
disturbing challenge made to us by people belonging to various
Protestant traditions: Have you been born again? As Catholics, we don’t
use that terminology. But, yes, we rejoice in the fact that we must have
(and do have) a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Non-Catholics who call themselves “born again” mean that they have
experienced a particularly intense moment of conversion that leads them
to want to dedicate their lives to God. It is a one-time action that is
not necessarily tied to any type of baptismal rite. While we Catholics
are born again as children of God in the sacrament of baptism, our
rebirth happens in and through the grace of the sacrament. Our rebirth
in baptism is also not a one-time event, but a lifelong process through
which we continually strive to die to sin and rise to new life in
Christ.
Those of us who were baptized in infancy must take personal
responsibility for the commitments made on our behalf by our parents and
godparents at the time of our baptism. We must develop a personal
relationship with Jesus Christ. But, we do that as members of a faith
community.
God, who is a community of persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), calls
us to relate to him as members of a community. This being the case,
unlike some Protestant Christians, we do not say we have taken Jesus
Christ as our personal Savior, but of course he is “our” Savior, Savior
of the faith community into which we are incorporated by baptism.
Finally, baptism seals us with an indelible spiritual mark that
proclaims we belong to Christ. St. Augustine likened this spiritual mark
to the distinctive brandings impressed upon soldiers and slaves during
Roman times which signified the commander or owner to whom they
belonged. Baptism marks us permanently as belonging to Christ, whose
image we bear, and it is through baptism that we are born again and
committed to lifelong growth in holiness.
In summary, baptism gives a person birth into a new life. It (as a
generalization) is necessary for salvation. The effects of baptism are
delivery from all sins, reception of the grace of divine adoption, a
temple of the Holy Spirit and initiation into the Church, which is the
Body of Christ. |
