The Essential Rite Of The Sacrament Of Baptism

By DON FIER

As we launched into our consideration of the mystagogy surrounding the Church’s liturgical expression of Baptism last week, we saw that “the meaning and grace of the sacrament…are clearly seen in the rites of its celebration. By following the gestures and words of this celebration with attentive participation, the faithful are initiated into the riches this sacrament signifies and actually brings about in each newly baptized person” (Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC], n. 1234).
The eight major elements of the baptismal ceremony are full of meaning — each assists us in penetrating more deeply into the hidden spiritual reality that takes place during the conferral of this foundational sacrament of initiation, which is necessary for salvation.
The initial element in the celebration of Baptism, as we saw last week, consists in the giving of the candidate’s baptismal name and the declaration of the intent for Baptism and all that it entails. The celebrant traces the Sign of the Cross on the recipient’s forehead (repeated by the parents and godparents for infants) so as to recall the saving death of Christ and the redemption it wrought.
The second element entails proclamation of the Word in order to illuminate the minds of the gathered assembly with revealed truth and to enable their hearts to respond in faith.
Next, an exorcism prayer is recited over the candidate and he is anointed with oil to prepare him to renounce sin and be released from its bondage.
The fourth element of the baptismal ceremony, the point at which we left off last week, is the consecration of the baptismal water by a prayer of epiclesis (cf. CCC, n. 1238). This occurs at the Easter Vigil liturgy (shortly before those who have completed RCIA are brought into the Church), or at each celebration of the sacrament outside of the Easter Season.
In blessing the water, the celebrant recounts the rich symbolic meaning of God’s gift of water by mentioning many connections between what is taking place here and now and the events of salvation history as recorded in Sacred Scripture. In the person of the celebrant, “the Church asks God that through his Son the power of the Holy Spirit may be sent upon the water, so that those who will be baptized in it may be ‘born of water and the Spirit’ (John 3:5)” (CCC, n. 1238).
The next element of the baptismal ceremony is a formal and explicit renunciation of Satan and sin and a profession of faith by the candidate.
In the case of adults, those presenting themselves for Baptism are asked to freely reject Satan, all his works, and all his empty promises, and then to express firm belief in all the truths the Catholic faith teaches. In the case of infants, parents and godparents (along with all those present for the liturgy) are asked to do this on behalf of those who are unable to speak for themselves.
Interesting to note, as pointed out by Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, is that “in the early Church, the candidates made their renunciation of Satan facing west, the symbol of darkness, while their conversion to Christ was physically symbolized by their turning around toward the east” (Living the Catechism of the Catholic Church — The Sacraments, p. 63).
He goes on to explain that this “turning around” in our own time takes place when the candidate says “I renounce” and makes his profession of faith. “The point is that in baptism the candidate is delivered from the power of darkness and plunged into the light of Christ” (ibid.).
Immediately following the renunciation of sin and profession of faith is the essential rite of the sacrament, its actual conferral. Properly speaking, Baptism “signifies and actually brings about death to sin and entry into the life of the Most Holy Trinity through configuration to the Paschal mystery of Christ” (CCC, n. 1239). The Church’s commission to baptize and the use of the Trinitarian formula come directly from the words spoken by our risen Savior to His disciples near the end of the Gospel of St. Matthew:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19).
The Catechism goes on to point out that “Baptism is performed in the most expressive way by triple immersion in the baptismal water” (CCC, n. 1239). As explained in the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults (CCA), “the ritual of immersion . . . helps us understand that our sins are buried . . . as we die with Jesus, and we are filled with divine light and life as we rise from immersion in the water” (p. 186).
In fact, even today Baptism is always performed by a triple immersion in the Eastern tradition, except in the case of emergency. “However, from ancient times it has also been able to be conferred by pouring the water three times over the candidate’s head” (CCC, n. 1239); this is the practice most familiar to Latin rite Catholics.
The newly baptized person is now anointed for a second time with sacred chrism (olive oil mixed with balsam which was consecrated by the bishop on Holy Thursday). Whereas “the pre-baptismal anointing with the oil of catechumens signifies cleansing and strengthening” (CCC, n. 1294), this post-baptismal anointing signifies the gift of the Holy Spirit has been imparted. The new Christian has become a member of the Mystical Body of Christ; he has been “incorporated into Christ who is anointed priest, prophet, and king” (CCC, n. 1241).
In the liturgy of the Eastern Churches, in which all three sacraments of initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Eucharist) are received, this anointing is referred to as the Chrismation (i.e., Confirmation).
In the Latin rite, “the post-baptismal anointing announces a second anointing with sacred chrism to be conferred later by the bishop — Confirmation, which will as it were ‘confirm’ and complete the baptismal anointing” (CCC, n. 1242). At the initiation of adults into the Church at the Easter Vigil liturgy, Confirmation follows Baptism.
Following the anointing, the neophyte is clothed with a white garment to symbolize purity, that “the person baptized has ‘put on Christ’ (Gal. 3:27), has risen with Christ” (CCC, n. 1243). To be clothed in the white garment “is to be clothed in Christ’s protective love” (CCA, p. 187). To remind participants of this, the ceremony includes an admonition to bring it unstained by sin to the judgment seat of Jesus Christ.
A poignant description of the significance of a white robe is given in the Book of Revelation: “They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14).
Also included in this part of the baptismal liturgy is the presentation to the neophyte of a candle that is lit from the Paschal candle (which has been burning throughout the ceremony). It symbolizes that the baptized has been given the light of Christ, that he has been given the “flame of faith” that is to be kept alive in his or her heart. “Christ has enlightened the neophyte. In him the baptized are ‘the light of the world’ (Matt. 5:14)” (CCC, n. 1243).
An excellent practice that might laudably be cultivated within families is to keep and use the baptismal candle for important future events such as First Communion and Confirmation.
The symbolic meaning of the white garment and candle manifest themselves again as one baptized in Christ departs from this world: “[They] . . . appear again in the Latin Church’s funeral liturgy in the forms of a while pall covering the casket and the lighted Paschal Candle, which ordinarily stands near the casket. This is to remind us that the salvation and new life promised at Baptism can now be experienced fully by the one who has gone to God” (CCA, p. 187).

Rich Symbolism

The Catechism devotes the penultimate paragraph of its section on the mystagogy of the baptismal celebration to First Holy Communion:
“Having become a child of God clothed with the wedding garment, the neophyte is admitted ‘to the marriage supper of the Lamb’ (Rev. 19:9) and receives the food of the new life, the body and blood of Christ” (CCC, n. 1244). In the Latin Church — which reserves admission to Holy Communion to those who have attained the age of reason — this refers proximately only to adults who are entering the Church (especially at the Easter Vigil).
The Eastern Church, however, recalling the words of our Savior to “let the children come to me, do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:14), admits newly baptized and confirmed infants to their First Holy Communion.
The Latin tradition devotedly “expresses the orientation of Baptism to the Eucharist by having the newly baptized child brought to the altar for the praying of the Our Father” (CCC, n. 1244).
The richness contained in the symbolism in each of the major elements of the baptismal ceremony is unfathomable. What a great gift the Church has given us in her baptismal liturgy — a meditative consideration of the meaning of the matter and form, of the words and gestures, cannot help but draw one closer to the Author of this great sacrament.

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(Don Fier serves on the board of directors for The Catholic Servant, a Minneapolis-based monthly publication. He and his wife are the parents of seven children. Fier is a 2009 graduate of Ave Maria University’s Institute for Pastoral Theology. He is doing research for writing a definitive biography of Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ.)