Sunday, February 17, 2013 - Litany Lane Blog:
Tempt, Psalms 91:1-15, Deuteronomy 26:4-10, Luke 4:1-13, Saint Alexis Falconieri, Sacrament of Baptism, Mystical City of God Book 5:6 Baptism of Christ, Catholic Catechism Part One Section 2 The Creeds Chapter 2 Article 4 Jesus Christ Suffered Under Pontious
Pilate, was Crucified, Died and was Buried
Good Day Bloggers! Wishing everyone a Blessed Week!
Year of Faith - October 11, 2012 - November 24, 2013
P.U.S.H. (Pray Until Serenity Happens). It has a remarkable way of producing solace, peace, patience and tranquility and of course resolution...God's always available 24/7.
The world begins and ends everyday for someone. We are all human. We all experience birth, life and death. We all have
flaws but we also all have the gift of knowledge and free will,
make the most of these gifts. Life on earth is a stepping stone to our eternal home in
Heaven. Its your choice whether to rise towards eternal light or lost to
eternal darkness. Material items, though needed for sustenance and
survival on earth are of earthly value only. The only thing that passes
from this earth to Purgatory and/or Heaven is our Soul, our Spirit...it's God's perpetual
gift to us...Embrace it, treasure it, nurture it, protect it...
"Raise not a hand to another unless it is to offer in peace and goodwill." ~ Zarya Parx 2012
Heed the Solemnity of Lent! This Lent instead of "Giving Up" something, why not "Give" by volunteering time to a worthy cause, or extending a simple act of kindness!
34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’(Matthew 25:34-40)
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Prayers for Today: Saturday in Lent
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Prayer For the Holy Election of Our New Pope
May the Lord preserve the sanctity of the enclave as they embark on electing our new Holy Father, give him life, and make him blessed upon earth, and deliver him not to the will of his enemies.
LET US PRAY:
O God, the Shepherd and Ruler of all the faithful, in Thy mercy look down upon Thy servant, (Our New Pope), whom Thou will appoint to preside over Thy Church, and grant we beseech Thee that both by word and example he may edify those who are under his charge; so that, with the flock entrusted to him, he may attain life everlasting. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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February 2, 2013 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:
"Dear children, love is bringing me to you - the love which I desire to
teach you also - real love; the love which my Son showed you when He
died on the Cross out of love for you; the love which is always ready to
forgive and to ask for forgiveness. How great is your love? My motherly
heart is sorrowful as it searches for love in
your hearts. You are not ready to submit your will to God's will out of
love. You cannot help me to have those who have not come to know God's
love to come to know it, because you do not have real love. Consecrate
your hearts to me and I will lead you. I will teach you to forgive, to
love your enemies and to live according to my Son. Do not be afraid for
yourselves. In afflictions my Son does not forget those who love. I will
be beside you. I will implore the Heavenly Father for the light of
eternal truth and love to illuminate you. Pray for your shepherds so
that through your fasting and prayer they can lead you in love. Thank
you."
January 25, 2013 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:
"Dear children! Also today I call you to prayer. May your prayer be as strong as a living stone, until with your lives you become witnesses. Witness the beauty of your faith. I am with you and intercede before my Son for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call."
"Dear children! Also today I call you to prayer. May your prayer be as strong as a living stone, until with your lives you become witnesses. Witness the beauty of your faith. I am with you and intercede before my Son for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call."
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Today's Word: tempt tempt [tempt]
Origin: 1175–1225; Middle English < Latin temptāre to probe, feel, test, tempt
verb (used with object)
1. to entice or allure to do something often regarded as unwise, wrong, or immoral.
2. to attract, appeal strongly to, or invite: The offer tempts me.
3. to render strongly disposed to do something: The book tempted me to read more on the subject.
4. to put (someone) to the test in a venturesome way; provoke: to tempt one's fate.
5. Obsolete . to try or test.
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Today's Old Testament Reading - Psalms 91:1-15
1 You who live in the secret place of Elyon, spend your nights in the shelter of Shaddai,
2 saying to Yahweh, 'My refuge, my fortress, my God in whom I trust!'
10 No disaster can overtake you, no plague come near your tent;
11 he has given his angels orders about you to guard you wherever you go.
12 They will carry you in their arms in case you trip over a stone.
13 You will walk upon wild beast and adder, you will trample young lions and snakes.
14 'Since he clings to me I rescue him, I raise him high, since he acknowledges my name.
15 He calls to me and I answer him: in distress I am at his side, I rescue him and bring him honour.
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Today's Epistle - Deuteronomy 26:4-10
4 'The priest will then take the basket from your hand and lay it before the altar of Yahweh your God.
5 In the presence of Yahweh your God, you will then pronounce these words: "My father was a wandering Aramaean, who went down to Egypt with a small group of men, and stayed there, until he there became a great, powerful and numerous nation.
6 The Egyptians ill-treated us, they oppressed us and inflicted harsh slavery on us.
7 But we called on Yahweh, God of our ancestors. Yahweh heard our voice and saw our misery, our toil and our oppression;
8 and Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with mighty hand and outstretched arm, with great terror, and with signs and wonders.
9 He brought us here and has given us this country, a country flowing with milk and honey.
10 Hence, I now bring the first-fruits of the soil that you, Yahweh, have given me." 'You will then lay them before Yahweh your God, and prostrate yourself in the presence of Yahweh your God.
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Today's Gospel Reading - Luke 4, 1-13
The temptations of Jesus.
Victory by means of prayer and the Bible
Luke 4, 1-13
Victory by means of prayer and the Bible
Luke 4, 1-13
1. LECTIO
a) Initial Prayer
Oh Lord, at the beginning of this Lenten
time you invite me to meditate, once more, on the account of the
temptations, so that I may discover the heart of the spiritual struggle
and, above all, so that I may experience the victory over evil. Holy Spirit, “visit our minds” because frequently, many thoughts
proliferate in our mind which make us feel that we are in the power of
the uproar of many voices. The fire of love also purifies our senses and
the heart so that they may be docile and available to the voice of
your Word. Enlighten us (accende lumen sensibus, infunde amorem cordibus) so
that our senses, purified by you, may be ready to dialogue with you.
If the fire of your love blazes up in our heart, over and above our
aridity, it can flood the true life, which is fullness of joy.
b) Reading of the Gospel:
1
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the
Spirit into the desert, 2 for forty days being put to the test by the
devil. During that time he ate nothing and at the end he was hungry. 3
Then the devil said to him, 'If you are Son of God, tell this stone to
turn into a loaf.' 4 But Jesus replied, 'Scripture says: Human beings
live not on bread alone.' 5 Then leading him to a height, the devil
showed him in a moment of time all the kingdoms of the world 6 and said
to him, 'I will give you all this power and their splendour, for it has
been handed over to me, for me to give it to anyone I choose. 7 Do
homage, then, to me, and it shall all be yours.' 8 But Jesus answered
him, 'Scripture says: You must do homage to the Lord your God, him alone
you must serve.' 9 Then he led him to Jerusalem and set him on the
parapet of the Temple. 'If you are Son of God,' he said to him, 'throw
yourself down from here, 10 for scripture says: He has given his angels
orders about you, to guard you, and again: 11 They will carry you in
their arms in case you trip over a stone.' 12 But Jesus answered him,
'Scripture says: Do not put the Lord your God to the test.' 13 Having
exhausted every way of putting him to the test, the devil left him,
until the opportune moment.
c) Moment of prayerful silence: To listen silence is necessary: of the
soul, of the spirit, of the sensibility and also exterior silence, with
the tension to listen to what the Word of God intends to communicate.
2. MEDITATIO
a) Key for the reading:
Luke with the refinement of a narrator
mentions in 4, 1-44 some aspects of the ministry of Jesus after His
Baptism, among which the temptations of the devil. In fact, he says that
Jesus “Filled with the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the
Spirit into the desert, for forty days” (Lk 4, 1-2). Such an episode
of the life of Jesus is something preliminary to his ministry, but it
can also be understood as the moment of transition of the ministry of
John the Baptist to that of Jesus. In Mark such an account of the
temptations is more generic. In Matthew, it is said that Jesus “was led
by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil” (Mt 4, 1),
these last words attribute the experience of the temptations to an
influence which is at the same time heavenly and diabolical. The
account of Luke modifies the text of Matthew in such a way as to show
that Jesus “filled with the Holy Spirit” , leaves the Jordan on his own
initiative and is led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days,
where “he is tempted by the devil” (4, 2). The sense which Luke wants
to give to the temptations of Jesus is that those were an initiative of
the devil and not a programmed experience of the Holy Spirit (S.
Brown). It is as if Luke wanted to keep clearly distinct the person of
the devil from the person of the Holy Spirit.
Another element to be kept in mind is the order with which Luke disposes the order of the temptations: desert – sight of the kingdoms of the world – pinnacle of Jerusalem. In Matthew, instead, the order varies: desert – pinnacle – high mountain. Exegetes
discuss as to which is the original disposition, but they do not
succeed in finding a unanimous solution. The difference could be
explained beginning with the third temptation (the culminating one): for
Matthew the “mountain” is the summit of the temptation because in his
Gospel he places all his interest on the theme of the mountain (we just
have to remember the sermon on the mountain, the presentation of Jesus
as “the new Moses”); for Luke, instead, the last temptation takes
place on the pinnacle of the temple of Jerusalem because one of the
greatest interests of his Gospel is the city of Jerusalem (Jesus in the
account of Luke is on the way toward Jerusalem where salvation is
definitively fulfilled) (Fitzmyer).
The reader can legitimately ask himself
the question: In Luke, just as in Matthew, were there possible
witnesses to the temptations of Jesus? The answer is certainly
negative. From the account of Luke it appears clearly that Jesus and
the devil are one in front of the other, completely alone. The answers
of Jesus to the devil are taken from Sacred Scripture, they are
quotations from the Old Testament. Jesus faces the temptations, and
particularly that of the worship which the devil intends from Jesus
himself, having recourse to the Word of God as bread of life, as
protection from God. The recourse to the Word of God contained in the
Book of Deuteronomy, considered by exegetes as a long meditation on the
Law, shows Luke’s intention to recall this episode of the life of
Jesus with the project of God who wishes to save mankind.
Did these temptations take place
historically? Why do some, among believers and non believers, hold that
such temptations are only some fantasy on Jesus, some invention of a
story? Such questions are extremely important in a context such as ours
which seeks to empty the accounts in the Gospel, from its historical
and faith content. Certainly, it is not possible to give a literary and
ingenuous explanation, nor to think that these could have happened in
an external way. That of Dupont seems to us to be sufficiently
acceptable: “Jesus speaks about an experience which He has lived, but
translated into a figurative language, adapted to strike the minds of
his listeners” (Les tentationes, 128). More than considering them as an
external fact, the temptations are considered as a concrete experience
in the life of Jesus. It seems to me that this is the principal reason
which has guided Luke and the other Evangelists in transmitting those
scenes. The opinions of those who hold that the temptations of Jesus
are fictitious or invented are deprived of foundation, neither is it
possible to share the opinion of Dupont himself, when he says that these
were “a purely spiritual dialogue that Jesus had with the devil”
(Dupont, 125). Looking within the New Testament (Jn 6, 26-34; 7, 1-4; Hb
4, 15; 5, 2; 2, 17a) it is clear that the temptations were an evident
truth in the life of Jesus. The explanation of R.E. Brown is
interesting and can be shared: “Matthew and Luke would have done no
injustice to historical reality by dramatizing such temptations within a
scene, and by masking the true tempter by placing this provocation on
his lips” (the Gospel According to John, 308). In synthesis we could
say that the historicity of the temptations of Jesus or the taking root
of these in the experience of Jesus have been described with a
“figurative language” (Dupont) or “dramatized” (R.E. Brown). It is
necessary to distinguish the content (the temptations in the experience
of Jesus) from its container (the figurative or dramatized language).
It is certain that these two interpretations are much more correct from
those who interpret them in a an ingenious literary sense.
Besides Luke, with these scenes intends
to remind us that the temptations were addressed to Jesus by an
external agent. They are not the result of a psychological crisis or
because He finds himself in a personal conflict with someone. The
temptations, rather, lead back to the “temptations” which Jesus
experienced in His ministry: hostility, opposition, rejection. Such
“temptations” were real and concrete in his life. He had no recourse to
His divine power to solve them. These trials were a form of
“diabolical seducing” (Fitsmyer), a provocation to use His divine power
to change the stones into bread and to manifest himself in eccentric
ways.
The temptations end with this
expression: “Having exhausted every way of putting him to the test, the
devil left Jesus (4, 13). therefore, the three scenes which contain
the temptations are to be considered as the expression of all
temptations or trials” which Jesus had to face. But the fundamental
point is that Jesus, in so far that He is the Son, faced and overcame
the “temptation”. and, even more: He was tested and tried in His
fidelity to the Father and was found to be faithful.
A last consideration regarding the third
temptation. In the first two temptations the devil provoked Jesus to
use His divine Filiation to deny the human finiteness: to avoid
providing for himself bread like all men; requiring then from Him, an
illusory omnipotence. In both of these, Jesus does not respond saying: I
do not want to! But appeals to the Law of God, His Father: “It is
written… it has been said…” A wonderful lesson. But the devil does not
give in and presents a third provocation, the strongest of all: to save
Himself from death. In one word, to throw himself down from the
pinnacle meant a sure death. The Devil quotes Scripture, Psalm 91, to
invite Jesus to the magic and spectacular use of divine protection, and
in last instance, to the denial of death. The passage of the Gospel of
Luke launches a strong warning: the erroneous use of the Word of God,
can be the occasion of temptations. In what sense? My way of relating
myself to the Bible is placed in crisis especially when I use it only
to give moral teachings to others who are in difficulty or in a state
of crisis. We refer to certain pseudo spiritual discourses which are
addressed to those who are in difficulty: “Are you anguished? There is
nothing else you can do but pray and everything will be solved”. This
means to ignore the consistency of the anguish which a person has and
which frequently depends on a biochemical fact or of a psycho-social
difficulty, or of a mistaken way of placing oneself before God. It
would be more coherent to say: Pray and ask the Lord to guide you in
having recourse to the human mediations of the doctor or of a wise and
knowledgeable friend so that they can help you in lessening or curing
you of your anguish. One cannot propose Biblical phrases, in a magic
way, to others, neglecting to use the human mediations. “The frequent
temptation is that of making a Bible of one’s own moral, instead of
listening to the moral teachings of the Bible” (X. Thévenot).
In this time of Lent I am invited to get
close to the Word of God with the following attitude: a tireless and
prayerful assiduity to the Word of God, reading it with a constant bond
of union with the great traditions of the Church, and in dialogue with
the problems of humanity today.
3. ORATIO
a) Psalm 119:
How blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the Law of Yahweh!
Blessed are those who observe his instructions,
who seek him with all their hearts,
who walk in the Law of Yahweh!
Blessed are those who observe his instructions,
who seek him with all their hearts,
Let us renew ourselves in the Spirit
And put on the new man
Jesus Christ, our Lord,
in justice and in true sanctity. (St. Paul).
And put on the new man
Jesus Christ, our Lord,
in justice and in true sanctity. (St. Paul).
and, doing no evil,
who walk in his ways.
You lay down your precepts
to be carefully kept.
who walk in his ways.
You lay down your precepts
to be carefully kept.
Let us follow Jesus Christ
and serve Him
with a pure heart and good conscience. (Rule of Carmel)
and serve Him
with a pure heart and good conscience. (Rule of Carmel)
May my ways be steady
in doing your will.
Then I shall not be shamed,
if my gaze is fixed on your commandments.
in doing your will.
Then I shall not be shamed,
if my gaze is fixed on your commandments.
Let us follow Jesus Christ
and serve Him
with a pure heart and good conscience. (Rule of Carmel)
and serve Him
with a pure heart and good conscience. (Rule of Carmel)
I thank you with a sincere heart
for teaching me your upright judgements.
I shall do your will;
do not ever abandon me wholly.
for teaching me your upright judgements.
I shall do your will;
do not ever abandon me wholly.
Let us renew ourselves in the Spirit
And put on the new man
Christ Jesus, our Lord,
created according to God the Father
in justice and in true sanctity. Amen (S. Paul).
And put on the new man
Christ Jesus, our Lord,
created according to God the Father
in justice and in true sanctity. Amen (S. Paul).
b) Final Prayer:
Lord, we look for you and we desire to
see your face, grant us that one day, removing the veil, we may be able
to contemplate it. We seek you in Scripture which speaks to us of you and under the veil of wisdom, the fruit of the search of people. We look for you in the radiant faces of our brothers and sisters, in the marks of your Passion in the bodies of the suffering. Every creature is signed by your mark, every thing reveals a ray of Your invisible beauty. You are revealed in the service of the brother, you revealed yourself
to the brother by the faithful love which never diminishes. Not the eyes but the heart has a vision of You, with simplicity and truth we try to speak with You.
4. CONTEMPLATIO
To prolong our meditation we suggest a reflection of Benedict XVI:
“Lent is the privileged time of an interior pilgrimage toward the One who is the source of mercy. It is a pilgrimage in which He himself accompanies us through the desert of our poverty, supporting us on the way toward the intense joy of Easter. Even in the “dark valley” of which the Psalmist speaks (Psalm 23, 4), while the tempter suggests that we be dispersed or proposes an illusory hope in the work of our hands, God takes care of us and supports us. […] Lent wants to lead us in view of the victory of Christ over every evil which oppresses man. In turning to the Divine Master, in converting ourselves to Him, in experiencing His mercy, we discover a “look” which penetrates in the depth of ourselves and which can encourage each one of us.”
“Lent is the privileged time of an interior pilgrimage toward the One who is the source of mercy. It is a pilgrimage in which He himself accompanies us through the desert of our poverty, supporting us on the way toward the intense joy of Easter. Even in the “dark valley” of which the Psalmist speaks (Psalm 23, 4), while the tempter suggests that we be dispersed or proposes an illusory hope in the work of our hands, God takes care of us and supports us. […] Lent wants to lead us in view of the victory of Christ over every evil which oppresses man. In turning to the Divine Master, in converting ourselves to Him, in experiencing His mercy, we discover a “look” which penetrates in the depth of ourselves and which can encourage each one of us.”
Reference: Courtesy of Order of Carmelites, www.ocarm.org.
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Featured Item of the Day from Litany Lane
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Saint of the Day: Saint Alexis (Alessio) Falconieri
Feast Day: February 17
Patron Saint: Order of Servites
Attributes: Founder of the Order of Servites
Alexis was the son of Bernard Falconieri, a merchant prince of Florence, and one of the leaders of the Republic. His family belonged to the Guelph party, and opposed the Imperialists whenever they could consistently with their political principles.
Alexis grew up in the practice of the most profound humility. He joined the Laudesi, a pious confraternity of the Blessed Virgin, and there met the six future companions of his life of sanctity. He was favoured with an apparition of the Mother of God, 15 August 1233, as were these companions. The seven soon afterwards founded the Order of the Servites. Alexis at once abandoned all, and retired to La Camarzia, a house on the outskirts of the town, and the following year to Mt. Senario.
With humility, he traversed, as a mendicant, in quest of alms for his brethren, the streets of the city through which he had lately moved as a prominent citizen. So deep and sincere was his humility that, though he lived to the great age of hundred and ten years, he always refused to enter the priesthood, of which he deemed himself unworthy.
His duties were confined principally to the material needs of the various communities in which he lived. In 1252 the new church at Cafaggio, on the outskirts of Florence, was completed under his care, with the financial assistance of Chiarissimo Falconieri. Saint Juliana Falconieri, his niece, was trained in sanctity under his personal direction.
The influence exerted on his countrymen by Alexis and his companions may be gathered from the fact that in a few years ten thousand persons had enrolled themselves under the banner of the Blessed Virgin in the Servite Order.
His body rests near the church of the Annunciation, in Florence. Clement XI declared Alexis worthy of the veneration of the faithful, 1 December 1717, and accorded the same honour to his six companions, 3 July 1725.
Pope Leo XIII canonized them all on 15 January 1888.
References
- Holweck, F. G., A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints. St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1924.
- Saint Alexis Falconieri at Patron Saints Index
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Today's Snippet I: Sacrament of Baptism
THE SACRAMENTS OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION
1212
The sacraments of Christian initiation - Baptism, Confirmation, and the
Eucharist - lay the foundations of every Christian life. "The sharing in
the divine nature given to men through the grace of Christ bears a certain
likeness to the origin, development, and nourishing of natural life. the faithful
are born anew by Baptism, strengthened by the sacrament of Confirmation, and
receive in the Eucharist the food of eternal life. By means of these sacraments
of Christian initiation, they thus receive in increasing measure the treasures
of the divine life and advance toward the perfection of charity."Paul VI, apostolic constitution, Divinae consortium naturae: AAS 63 (1971) 657; cf. RCIA Introduction 1-2
Article 1
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),Council of Florence: DS 1314: vitae spiritualis ianua. 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."Roman Catechism II, 2, 5; Cf. Council of Florence: DS 1314;
⇒ CIC, cann. 204 # 1;
⇒ 849; CCEO, can. 675 # 1.
I. What is This Sacrament Called?
1214
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."2 Cor 5:17; ⇒ Gal
6:15; Cf. Rom 6:34; ⇒ Col
2:12
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."Titus 3:5;
⇒ Jn 3:5
1216
"This bath is called enlightenment, because those who receive this
[catechetical] instruction are enlightened in their understanding. . . ."St. Justin, Apol. 1, 61, 12: PG 6, 421 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:Jn 1:9;
⇒ 1 Thess 5:5; ⇒ Heb
10:32; ⇒ Eph 5:8
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.St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oratio 40, 3-4: PG 36, 361C
II. Baptism in the Economy of Salvation
Prefigurations
of Baptism in the Old Covenant
1217
In the liturgy of the Easter Vigil, during the blessing of the baptismal water,
the Church solemnly commemorates the great events in salvation history that
already prefigured the mystery of Baptism:
Father, you give us grace
through sacramental signs which tell us of the wonders of your unseen power. In Baptism we use your gift of
water, which you have made a rich symbol of the grace you give us in this
sacrament.Roman Missal, Easter Vigil 42: Blessing of Water
1218
Since the beginning of the world, water, so humble and wonderful a creature,
has been the source of life and fruitfulness. Sacred Scripture sees it as
"oveshadowed" by the Spirit of God:Gen 1:2
At the very dawn of creation
your Spirit breathed on the
waters,
making them the wellspring of
all holiness.Roman
Missal, Easter Vigil 42: Blessing of Water
1219
The Church has seen in Noah's ark a prefiguring of salvation by Baptism, for by
it "a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through
water":1 Pet 3:20
The waters of the great flood
you made a sign of the waters
of Baptism,
that make an end of sin and a
new beginning of goodness. Roman
Missal, Easter Vigil 42: Blessing of Water
1220
If water springing up from the earth symbolizes life, the water of the sea is a
symbol of death and so can represent the mystery of the cross. By this
symbolism Baptism signifies communion with Christ's death.
1221
But above all, the crossing of the Red Sea, literally the liberation of Israel
from the slavery of Egypt, announces the liberation wrought by Baptism:
You freed the children of
Abraham from the slavery of Pharaoh,
bringing them dry-shod through
the waters of the Red Sea,
to be an image of the people
set free in Baptism.Roman Missal, Easter Vigil 42: Blessing of Water: "Abrahae
filios per mare Rubrum sicco vestigio transire fecisti, ut plebs, a Pharaonis servitute liberata, populum baptizatorum praefiguraret."
1222
Finally, Baptism is prefigured in the crossing of the Jordan River by which the
People of God received the gift of the land promised to Abraham's descendants,
an image of eternal life. the promise of this blessed inheritance is fulfilled
in the New Covenant.
Christ's
Baptism
1223
All the Old Covenant prefigurations find their fulfillment in Christ Jesus. He
begins his public life after having himself baptized by St. John the Baptist in
the Jordan.Mt 3:13 After his resurrection Christ gives this mission to his
apostles: "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, teaching them
to observe all that I have commanded you."Mt 28:19-20; cf.
⇒ Mk 16:15-16
1224
Our Lord voluntarily submitted himself to the baptism of St. John, intended for
sinners, in order to "fulfill all righteousness."Mt 3:15 Jesus'
gesture is a manifestation of his self-emptying.Phil 2:7 The Spirit who had
hovered over the waters of the first creation descended then on the Christ as a
prelude of the new creation, and the Father revealed Jesus as his "beloved
Son." Mt 3:16-17
1225
In his Passover Christ opened to all men the fountain of Baptism. He had
already spoken of his Passion, which he was about to suffer in Jerusalem, as a
"Baptism" with which he had to be baptized.Mk 10:38; cf.
⇒ Lk 12:50 The blood and
water that flowed from the pierced side of the crucified Jesus are types of
Baptism and the Eucharist, the sacraments of new life.Jn 19:34;
⇒ 1 Jn 5:6-8 From then on,
it is possible "to be born of water and the Spirit"Jn 3:5 in
order to enter the Kingdom of God.
See where you are baptized,
see where Baptism comes from, if not from the cross of Christ, from his death.
There is the whole mystery: he died for you. In him you are redeemed, in him
you are saved.St. Ambrose, De sacr. 2, 2, 6: PL 16, 444; cf.
⇒ Jn 3:5
Baptism in
the Church
1226
From the very day of Pentecost the Church has celebrated and administered holy
Baptism. Indeed St. Peter declares to the crowd astounded by his preaching:
"Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for
the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit."Acts 2:38 The apostles and their collaborators offer Baptism to
anyone who believed in Jesus: Jews, the God-fearing, pagans.Acts 2:41;
⇒ 8:12-13;
⇒ 10:48;
⇒ 16:15 Always,
Baptism is seen as connected with faith: "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and
you will be saved, you and your household," St. Paul declared to his
jailer in Philippi. and the narrative continues, the jailer "was baptized
at once, with all his family."Acts 16:31-33
1227
According to the Apostle Paul, the believer enters through Baptism into
communion with Christ's death, is buried with him, and rises with him:
Do you not know that all of us
who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were
buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised
from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of
life.Rom 6:3-4; cf.
⇒ Col 2:12
The
baptized have "put on Christ."Gal 3:27 Through the Holy Spirit,
Baptism is a bath that purifies, justifies, and sanctifies.1 Cor 6:11;
⇒ 12:13
1228
Hence Baptism is a bath of water in which the "imperishable seed" of
the Word of God produces its life-giving effect. Pet 1:23; cf. ⇒ Eph 5:26 St. Augustine says
of Baptism: "The word is brought to the material element, and it becomes a
sacrament."St. Augustine, In Jo. ev. 80, 3: PL 35, 1840
III. How is the Sacrament of Baptism
Celebrated?
Christian
Initiation
1229
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.
1230
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 catechumenal
preparation and culminated in the celebration of the sacraments of Christian
initiation.
1231
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.
1232
The
second Vatican Council restored for the Latin Church "the catechumenate
for adults, comprising several distinct steps."SC 64 The rites for
these stages are to be found in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults
(RCIA).Cf. RCIA The Council also gives permission that: "In mission
countries, in addition to what is furnished by the Christian tradition, those
elements of initiation rites may be admitted which are already in use among
some peoples insofar as they can be adapted to the Christian
ritual."SC 65; cf. SC
37-40
1233
Today
in all the rites, Latin and Eastern, the Christian initiation of adults begins
with their entry into the catechumenate and reaches its culmination in a single
celebration of the three sacraments of initiation: Baptism, Confirmation, and
the Eucharist.Cf. AG 14; ⇒ CIC, cann. 851;
⇒ 865; ⇒ 866 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.Cf. ⇒ CIC, cann. 851, ⇒ 20;
⇒ 868
The
mystagogy of the celebration
1234
The meaning and grace of the sacrament of Baptism 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.
1235
The sign of the cross, on the threshold of the celebration, marks with the
imprint of Christ the one who is going to belong to him and signifies the grace
of the redemption Christ won for us by his cross.
1236
The proclamation of the Word of God enlightens the candidates and the assembly
with the revealed truth and elicits the response of faith, which is inseparable
from Baptism. Indeed Baptism is "the sacrament of faith" in a
particular way, since it is the sacramental entry into the life of faith.
1237
Since Baptism signifies liberation from sin and from its instigator the devil,
one or more exorcisms are pronounced over the candidate. the celebrant then
anoints him with the oil of catechumens, or lays his hands on him, and he
explicitly renounces Satan. Thus prepared, he is able to confess the faith of
the Church, to which he will be "entrusted" by Baptism.Rom 6:17
1238
The baptismal water is consecrated by a prayer of epiclesis (either at this moment
or at the Easter Vigil). 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."Jn 3:5
1239
The essential rite of the sacrament follows: Baptism properly speaking. It
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.
Baptism is performed in the most expressive way by triple immersion in the
baptismal water. However, from ancient times it has also been able to be
conferred by pouring the water three times over the candidate's head.
1240
In the
Latin Church this triple infusion is accompanied by the minister's words:
"N., I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit." In the Eastern liturgies the catechumen turns toward the
East and the priest says: "The servant of God, N., is baptized in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." At the invocation
of each person of the Most Holy Trinity, the priest immerses the candidate in
the water and raises him up again.
1241
The anointing with sacred chrism, perfumed oil consecrated by the bishop,
signifies the gift of the Holy Spirit to the newly baptized, who has become a
Christian, that is, one "anointed" by the Holy Spirit, incorporated
into Christ who is anointed priest, prophet, and king.RBC 62
1242
In the liturgy of the Eastern Churches, the post-baptismal anointing is the
sacrament of Chrismation (Confirmation). In the Roman liturgy 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.
1243
The white garment symbolizes that the person baptized has "put on
Christ,"Gal 3:27 has risen with Christ. the candle, lit from the Easter
candle, signifies that Christ has enlightened the neophyte. In him the baptized
are "the light of the world."Mt 5:14; cf.
⇒ Phil 2:15 The newly baptized is now, in the only Son, a child of God entitled to say the
prayer of the children of God: "Our Father."
1244
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. the Eastern Churches maintain a lively awareness of the unity of
Christian initiation by giving Holy Communion to all the newly baptized and
confirmed, even little children, recalling the Lord's words: "Let the
children come to me, do not hinder them." Mk 10 14 The Latin Church,
which reserves admission to Holy Communion to those who have attained the age
of reason, 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.
1245
The solemn blessing concludes the celebration of Baptism. At the Baptism of
newborns the blessing of the mother occupies a special place.
IV. Who can Receive
Baptism?
1246
"Every person not yet baptized and only such a person is able to be
baptized."CIC, can. 864; cf. CCEO, can. 679
The Baptism
of adults
1247
Since the beginning of the Church, adult Baptism is the common practice where
the proclamation of the Gospel is still new. the catechumenate (preparation for
Baptism) therefore occupies an important place. This initiation into Christian
faith and life should dispose the catechumen to receive the gift of God in
Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist.
1248
The catechumenate, or formation of catechumens, aims at bringing their
conversion and faith to maturity, in response to the divine initiative and in
union with an ecclesial community. the catechumenate is to be "a formation
in the whole Christian life . . . during which the disciples will be joined to
Christ their teacher. the catechumens should be properly initiated into the
mystery of salvation and the practice of the evangelical virtues, and they
should be introduced into the life of faith, liturgy, and charity of the People
of God by successive sacred rites."AG 14; cf. RCIA
19; 98
1249
Catechumens "are already joined to the Church, they are already of the
household of Christ, and are quite frequently already living a life of faith,
hope, and charity."AG 14 # 5 "With love and solicitude mother Church
already embraces them as her own."LG 14 # 3; cf. ⇒ CIC, cann. 206; ⇒ 788 #
3
The Baptism
of infants
1250
Born with a fallen human nature and tainted by original sin, children also have
need of the new birth in Baptism to be freed from the power of darkness and brought
into the realm of the freedom of the children of God, to which all men are
called.Cf.
Council of Trent (1546): DS 1514; cf. ⇒ Col
1:12-14 The sheer gratuitousness of the grace of salvation is
particularly manifest in infant Baptism. the Church and the parents would deny
a child the priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer
Baptism shortly after birth.Cf.
⇒ CIC, can. 867; CCEO, cann. 681; 686, 1
1251
Christian parents will recognize that this practice also accords with their
role as nurturers of the life that God has entrusted to them.Cf. LG 11; 41; GS 48; ⇒ CIC, can. 868
1252
The
practice of infant Baptism is an immemorial tradition of the Church. There is
explicit testimony to this practice from the second century on, and it is quite
possible that, from the beginning of the apostolic preaching, when whole
"households" received baptism, infants may also have been
baptized.Cf. ⇒ Acts 16:15,
⇒ 33;
⇒ 18:8; ⇒ 1 Cor
1:16; CDF, instruction, Pastoralis actio: AAS 72 (1980) 1137-1156.
Faith and
Baptism
1253
Baptism is the sacrament of faith.Mk 16:16 But faith needs the community of
believers. It is only within the faith of the Church that each of the faithful
can believe. the faith required for Baptism is not a perfect and mature faith,
but a beginning that is called to develop. the catechumen or the godparent is
asked: "What do you ask of God's Church?" the response is:
"Faith!"
1254
For all the baptized, children or adults, faith must grow after Baptism. For
this reason the Church celebrates each year at the Easter Vigil the renewal of
baptismal promises. Preparation for Baptism leads only to the threshold of new
life. Baptism is the source of that new life in Christ from which the entire
Christian life springs forth.
1255
For the grace of Baptism to unfold, the parents' help is important. So too is
the role of the godfather and godmother, who must be firm believers, able and
ready to help the newly baptized - child or adult on the road of Christian
life.Cf. ⇒ CIC, cann. 872-874 Their task is a truly ecclesial function (officium).Cf. SC 67
The whole ecclesial community bears some responsibility for the development and
safeguarding of the grace given at Baptism.
V. Who can Baptize?
1256
The ordinary ministers of Baptism are the bishop and priest and, in the Latin
Church, also the deacon.CIC,
can. 861 # 1; CCEO, can. 677 # 1 In case of necessity, any person, even
someone not baptized, can baptize, if he has the required intention. the
intention required is to will to do what the Church does when she baptizes, and
to apply the Trinitarian baptismal formula. the Church finds the reason for
this possibility in the universal saving will of God and the necessity of
Baptism for salvation.1 Tim 2:4
VI. The Necessity of
Baptism
1257
The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation.Jn 3:5 He
also commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to
baptize them.Mt 28:19-20; cf. Council
of Trent (1547) DS 1618; LG 14; AG 5 Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom
the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for
this sacrament.Mk 16:16 The Church does not know of any means other than
Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care
not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who
can be baptized are "reborn of water and the Spirit." God has bound
salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his
sacraments.
1258
The Church has always held the firm conviction that those who suffer death for
the sake of the faith without having received Baptism are baptized by their
death for and with Christ. This Baptism of blood, like the desire for Baptism,
brings about the fruits of Baptism without being a sacrament.
1259
For catechumens who die before their Baptism, their explicit desire to receive
it, together with repentance for their sins, and charity, assures them the
salvation that they were not able to receive through the sacrament.
1260
"Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one
and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers
to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the
Paschal mystery."GS 22 # 5; cf. LG 16; AG 7 Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of
Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in
accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be supposed that
such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its
necessity.
1261
As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust
them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed,
the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus'
tenderness toward children which caused him to say: "Let the children come
to me, do not hinder them,"Mk 10 14; cf.
⇒ 1 Tim 2:4 allow us to hope that there is a way
of salvation for children who have died without Baptism. All the more urgent is
the Church's call not to prevent little children coming to Christ through the gift
of holy Baptism.
VII. The Grace of Baptism
1262
The different effects of Baptism are signified by the perceptible elements of
the sacramental rite. Immersion in water symbolizes not only death and purification,
but also regeneration and renewal. Thus the two principal effects are
purification from sins and new birth in the Holy Spirit.Acts 2:38;
⇒ Jn 3:5
For the
forgiveness of sins . . .
1263
By Baptism all sins are forgiven, original sin and all personal sins, as well
as all punishment for sin.Cf. Council of Florence (1439): DS 1316 In those who have been reborn nothing
remains that would impede their entry into the Kingdom of God, neither Adam's
sin, nor personal sin, nor the consequences of sin, the gravest of which is
separation from God.
1264
Yet certain temporal consequences of sin remain in the baptized, such as
suffering, illness, death, and such frailties inherent in life as weaknesses of
character, and so on, as well as an inclination to sin that Tradition calls
concupiscence, or metaphorically, "the tinder for sin" (fomes
peccati); since concupiscence "is left for us to wrestle with, it cannot
harm those who do not consent but manfully resist it by the grace of Jesus
Christ."Council of Trent (1546): DS 1515 Indeed, "an athlete is not crowned unless he
competes according to the rules."2 Tim 2:5
"A new
creature"
1265
Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes the neophyte "a
new creature," an adopted son of God, who has become a "partaker of
the divine nature," 2 Cor 5:17;
⇒ 2 Pet 1:4; cf. ⇒ Gal
4:5-7 member of Christ and coheir with
him,Cf. ⇒ 1 Cor 6:15;
⇒ 12:27; ⇒ Rom 8:17 and a temple of the Holy Spirit.1 Cor 6:19
1266
The Most Holy Trinity gives the baptized sanctifying grace, the grace of
justification:
- enabling them to believe in God, to hope in him, and to love him through the theological virtues;
- giving them the power to live and act under the prompting of the Holy Spirit through the gifts of the Holy Spirit;
- allowing them to grow in goodness through the moral virtues.
Thus the whole organism of the Christian's supernatural life has its roots in Baptism.
- enabling them to believe in God, to hope in him, and to love him through the theological virtues;
- giving them the power to live and act under the prompting of the Holy Spirit through the gifts of the Holy Spirit;
- allowing them to grow in goodness through the moral virtues.
Thus the whole organism of the Christian's supernatural life has its roots in Baptism.
Incorporated
into the Church, the Body of Christ
1267
Baptism makes us members of the Body of Christ: "Therefore . . . we are
members one of another."Eph 4:25 Baptism incorporates us into the
Church. From the baptismal fonts is born the one People of God of the New
Covenant, which transcends all the natural or human limits of nations,
cultures, races, and sexes: "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into
one body."1 Cor 12:13
1268
The baptized have become "living stones" to be "built into a
spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood."1 Pet 2:5 By Baptism they share
in the priesthood of Christ, in his prophetic and royal mission. They are
"a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that
[they] may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called [them] out of darkness
into his marvelous light."1 Pet 2:9 Baptism gives a share in the common
priesthood of all believers.
1269
Having become a member of the Church, the person baptized belongs no longer to
himself, but to him who died and rose for us.1 Cor 6:19;
⇒ 2 Cor 5:15 From now on, he is
called to be subject to others, to serve them in the communion of the Church,
and to "obey and submit" to the Church's leaders,Heb 13:17 holding
them in respect and affection.Cf. ⇒ Eph 5:21;
⇒ 1 Cor 16:15-16; ⇒ 1
Thess 5:12-13; ⇒ Jn 13:12-15 Just as Baptism is the source of
responsibilities and duties, the baptized person also enjoys rights within the
Church: to receive the sacraments, to be nourished with the Word of God and to
be sustained by the other spiritual helps of the Church.Cf. LG 37; ⇒ CIC, cann. 208 223; CCEO,
can. 675:2
1270
"Reborn as sons of God, [the baptized] must profess before men the faith
they have received from God through the Church" and participate in the
apostolic and missionary activity of the People of God.LG 11; cf. LG
17; AG 7; 23
The
sacramental bond of the unity of Christians
1271
Baptism constitutes the foundation of communion among all Christians, including
those who are not yet in full communion with the Catholic Church: "For men
who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in some, though
imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church. Justified by faith in Baptism,
[they] are incorporated into Christ; they therefore have a right to be called
Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers by the children of
the Catholic Church."UR 3 "Baptism therefore constitutes the
sacramental bond of unity existing among all who through it are reborn."UR 22 # 2
An
indelible spiritual mark . . .
1272
Incorporated into Christ by Baptism, the person baptized is configured to
Christ. Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark
(character) of his belonging to Christ. No sin can erase this mark, even if sin
prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation.Cf.
⇒ Rom 8:29; Council of Trent (1547): DS 1609-1619 Given once for
all, Baptism cannot be repeated.
1273
Incorporated into the Church by Baptism, the faithful have received the sacramental
character that consecrates them for Christian religious worship.Cf. LG 11 The
baptismal seal enables and commits Christians to serve God by a vital
participation in the holy liturgy of the Church and to exercise their baptismal
priesthood by the witness of holy lives and practical charity.Cf. LG 10
1274
The Holy Spirit has marked us with the seal of the Lord ("Dominicus
character") "for the day of redemption."St.
Augustine, Ep. 98, 5: PL 33, 362; ⇒ Eph 4:30; cf.
⇒ 1:13-14; ⇒ 2 Cor
1:21-22 "Baptism
indeed is the seal of eternal life."St. Irenaeus,
Dem ap. 3: SCh 62, 32 The faithful Christian who
has "kept the seal" until the end, remaining faithful to the demands
of his Baptism, will be able to depart this life "marked with the sign of
faith,"Roman Missal, EP
I (Roman Canon) 97 with his baptismal faith, in expectation of the blessed
vision of God - the consummation of faith - and in the hope of resurrection.
IN BRIEF
1275 Christian initiation is
accomplished by three sacraments together: Baptism which is the beginning of
new life; Confirmation which is its strengthening; and the Eucharist which
nourishes the disciple with Christ's Body and Blood for his transformation in
Christ.
1276 "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, teaching them to observe all that I have
commanded you" (⇒ Mt 28:19-20).
1277 Baptism is birth into
the new life in Christ. In accordance with the Lord's will, it is necessary for
salvation, as is the Church herself, which we enter by Baptism.
1278 The essential rite of
Baptism consists in immersing the candidate in water or pouring water on his
head, while pronouncing the invocation of the Most Holy Trinity: the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
1279 The fruit of Baptism, or
baptismal grace, is a rich reality that includes forgiveness of original sin
and all personal sins, birth into the new life by which man becomes an adoptive
son of the Father, a member of Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit. By this
very fact the person baptized is incorporated into the Church, the Body of
Christ, and made a sharer in the priesthood of Christ.
1280 Baptism imprints on the
soul an indelible spiritual sign, the character, which consecrates the baptized
person for Christian worship. Because of the character Baptism cannot be
repeated (cf. DS 1609 and DS 1624).
1281 Those who die for the
faith, those who are catechumens, and all those who, without knowing of the
Church but acting under the inspiration of grace, seek God sincerely and strive
to fulfill his will, are saved even if they have not been baptized (cf. LG 16).
1282 Since the earliest times,
Baptism has been administered to children, for it is a grace and a gift of God
that does not presuppose any human merit; children are baptized in the faith of
the Church. Entry into Christian life gives access to true freedom.
1283 With respect to children
who have died without Baptism, the liturgy of the Church invites us to trust in
God's mercy and to pray for their salvation.
1284 In case of necessity,
any person can baptize provided that he have the intention of doing that which
the Church does and provided that he pours water on the candidate's head while
saying: "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Spirit."
●▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬♥▬●▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬♥▬●▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬●
Today's Snippet II: The Mystical City of God,
The Divine History and Life of The Virgin Mother of God
Book 5, Chapter 6
BAPTISM OF CHRIST. HIS FAST. MARY'S DOINGS DURING THESE
EVENTS.
Leaving his beloved Mother in the poor dwelling at Nazareth,
our Redeemer, without accompaniment of any human creature, but altogether taken
up with the exercise of his most ardent charity, pursued his journey to the
Jordan, where, in the neighborhood of a town called Bethany, otherwise called
Betharaba, on the farther side of the river, his Precursor was preaching and
baptizing. At the first steps from the house, our Redeemer, raising his eyes to
the eternal Father, offered up to Him anew with an infinite love, whatever He
was now about to begin for the salvation of mankind: his labors, sorrows,
passion and death of the Cross, assumed for them in obedience to the eternal
Will, the natural grief at parting as a true and loving Son from his Mother and
at leaving her sweet company, which for twenty-nine years He had now enjoyed.
The Lord of all creation walked alone, without show and ostentation of human
retinue. The supreme King of kings and Lord of lords (Apoc. 19, 16), was unknown
and despised by his own vassals, vassals so much his own, that they owed their
life and preservation entirely to Him. His royal outfit was nothing but the
utmost poverty and destitution.
While proceeding on his way to the Jordan our Savior
dispensed his ancient mercies by relieving the necessities of body and soul in
many of those whom He encountered at different places. Yet this was always done
in secret; for before his Baptism He gave no public token of his divine power
and his exalted office. Before appearing at the Jordan, He filled the heart of
saint John with new light and joy, which changed and elevated his soul.
Perceiving these new workings of grace within himself, he reflected upon them
full of wonder, saying: "What mystery is this? What presentiments of
happiness? From the moment when I recognized the presence of my Lord in the womb
of my mother, I have not felt such stirring of my soul as now! Is it possible
that He is now happily come, or that the Savior of the world is now near
me?" Upon this enlightenment of the Baptist followed an intellectual
vision, wherein he perceived with greater clearness the mystery of the
hypostatic union of the person of the Word with the humanity and other mysteries
of the Redemption. In the fulness of this intellectual light he gave the
testimonies, which are recorded by saint John in his Gospel and which occurred
while the Lord was in the desert and afterwards, when He returned to the banks
of the Jordan. The Evangelist mentions one of these public testimonies as
happening at the interpellation of the Jews, and the other when the Precursor
exclaimed: "Behold the lamb of God," as I shall narrate later
on (John 1, 36). Although the Baptist had been instructed in great mysteries,
when he was commanded to go forth to preach and baptize; yet all of them were
manifested to him anew and with greater clearness and abundance on this
occasion, and he was then notified that the Savior of the world was coming to be
baptized.
The Lord then joined the multitude and asked Baptism of saint
John as one of the rest. The Baptist knew Him and, falling at his feet,
hesitated, saying: "I have need of being baptized, and Thou, Lord, askest
Baptism of me?" as is recorded by saint Matthew. But the Savior answered:
"Suffer it to be so now. For so it becometh us to fulfill all
justice."
When saint John had finished baptizing our Lord, the heavens
opened and the Holy Ghost descended visibly in the form of a dove upon his head
and the voice of his Father was heard: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I
am well pleased" (Matth. 3, 17). Many of the bystanders heard this voice,
namely, those who were not worthy of such a wonderful favor; they also saw the
Holy Ghost descending upon the Savior. This was the most convincing proof which
could ever be given of the Divinity of the Savior, as well on the part of the
Father, who acknowledged Him his Son, as also in to the nature of the testimony
given; for without any reserve was Christ manifested as the true God, equal to
his eternal Father in substance and in perfection. The Father himself wished to
be the first to testify to the Divinity of Christ in order that by virtue of his
testimony all the other witnesses might be ratified. There was also another
mystery in this voice of the eternal Father: it was as it were a restoration of
the honor or Son before the world and a recompense for his having thus
humiliated Himself by receiving the Baptism of the remission of sins, though He
was entirely free from fault and never could have upon Him the guilt of (Heb. 7,
26).
Let us return now to the main subject of this history,
namely, to the occupations of our great Queen and Lady. As soon as her most holy
Son was baptized, although She knew by the divine light of his movements, the
holy angels who had attended upon their Lord brought Her intelligence of all
that had happened at the Jordan; they were those that carried the ensigns or
shields of the passion of the Savior, as described in the first part. To
celebrate all these mysteries of Christ's Baptism and the public proclamation of
his Divinity, the most prudent Mother composed new hymns and canticle of praise
and of incomparable thanksgiving to the Most High and to the incarnate Word. All
his actions of humility and prayers She imitated, exerting Herself by many acts
of her own to accompany and follow Him in all of them. With ardent charity She
interceded for men, that they might profit by the sacrament of Baptism and that
it might be administered all over the world. In addition to these prayers and
hymns of thanksgiving, She asked the heavenly courtiers to help Her in
magnifying her most holy Son for having thus humiliated Himself in receiving
Baptism at the hands of one of his creatures.
Without delay Christ our Lord pursued his journey from the
Jordan to the desert after his Baptism. Only his holy angels attended and
accompanied Him, serving and worshipping Him, singing the divine praises on
account of what He was now about to undertake for the salvation of mankind. He
came to the place chosen by Him for his fast: a desert spot among bare and
beetling rocks, where there was also a cavern much concealed. Here He halted,
choosing it for his habitation during the days of his fast (Matth. 4, 1). In
deepest humility He prostrated Himself upon the ground which was always the
prelude of his prayer and that of his most blessed Mother. He praised the
eternal Father and gave Him thanks for the works of his divine right hand and
for having according to his pleasure afforded Him this retirement. In a suitable
manner He thanked even this desert for accepting his presence and keeping Him
hidden from the world during the time He was to spend there. He continued his
prayers prostrate in the form of a cross, this was his most frequent occupation
in the desert; for in this manner He often prayed to the eternal Father for the
salvation of men.
After the Savior had begun his fast He persevered therein
without eating anything for forty days, offering his fast to the eternal Father
as a satisfaction for the disorder and sins to which men are drawn by the so
vile and debasing, yet so common and even esteemed vice of gluttony. Just as our
Lord overcame this vice so He also vanquished all the rest, and He made
recompense to the eternal Judge and supreme Legislator for the injuries
perpetrated through these vices by men. According to the enlightenment
vouchsafed to me, our Savior, in order to assume the office of Preacher and
Teacher and to become our Mediator and Redeemer before the Father, thus
vanquished all the vices of mortals and He satisfied the offenses committed
through them by the exercises of the virtues contrary to them, just as He did in
regard to gluttony. Although He continued this exercise during all his life with
the most ardent charity, yet during his fast He directed in a special manner all
his efforts toward this purpose.
A loving Father, whose sons have committed great crimes for
which they are to endure the most horrible punishment, sacrifices all his
possessions in order ward off their impending fate: so our most loving Father
and Brother, Jesus Christ, wished to pay our debts. In satisfaction for our
pride He offered his profound humility; for our avarice, his voluntary poverty
and total privation of all that was his; for our base and lustful inclinations,
his penance and austerity; for our hastiness and vengeful anger, his meekness
and charity toward his enemies; for our negligence and laziness, his ceaseless
labors; for our deceitfulness and our envy, his candid and upright sincerity and
truthfulness and the sweetness of his loving interactions. In this manner He
continued to appease the just Judge and solicited pardon for us disobedient and
bastard children; and He not only obtained this pardon for them, but He merited
for them new graces and favors, so that they might make themselves worthy of his
company and of the vision of his Father and his own inheritance for all
eternity. Though He could have obtained all this for us by the most
insignificant of his works; yet He acted not like we. He demonstrated his love
so abundantly, that our ingratitude and hardness of heart will have no excuse.
In order to keep informed of the doings of our Savior the
most blessed Mary needed no other assistance than her continual visions and
revelations; but in addition to all these, She made use of the service of her
holy angels, whom She sent to her divine Son. The Lord himself thus ordered it,
in order that, by means of these faithful messengers, both He and She might
rejoice in the sentiments and thoughts of their inmost hearts faithfully
rehearsed by these celestial messengers; and thus They each heard the very same
words as uttered by Each, although both Son and Mother already knew them in
another way. As soon as the great Lady understood that our Redeemer was on the
way to the desert to fulfill his intention, She locked the doors of her
dwelling, without letting any one know of her presence; and her retirement
during the time of our Lord's fast was so complete, that her neighbors thought
that She had left with her divine Son. She entered into her
oratory and remained there for forty days and nights without ever leaving it and
without eating anything, just as She knew was done by her most holy Son. Both of
them observed the same course of rigorous fasting. In all his prayers and
exercises, his prostrations and genuflections She followed our Savior, not
omitting any of them; moreover She performed them just at the same time; for,
leaving aside all other occupations, She thus profited by the information
obtained from the angels and by that other knowledge, which I have already
described. Whether He was present or not, She knew the interior operations of
the soul of Christ. All his bodily movements, which She had been wont to
perceive with her own senses, She now knew by intellectual vision or through her
holy angels.
While the Savior was in the desert He made every day three
hundred genuflections, which also was done by our Queen Mary in her oratory; the
other portion of her time She spent in composing hymns with the angels, as I
have said in the last chapter. Thus imitating Christ the Lord, the Holy Queen
co-operated with Him in all his prayers and petitions, gaining the same
victories over the vices, and on her part proportionately satisfying for them by
her virtues and her exertions. Thus it happened, that, while Christ as our
Redeemer gained for us so many blessings and abundantly paid all our debts, most
holy Mary, as his Helper and our Mother, lent us her merciful intercession and
became our Mediatrix to the fullest extent possible to a mere creature.
Christ the Savior permitted Lucifer to remain under the false
impression, that He was a mere human creature though very holy and just; He
wished to raise his courage and malice for the contest, for such is the effect
of any advantages espied by the devil in his attacks upon the victims of his
temptations. Rousing his courage by his own arrogance, he began this battle in
the wilderness with greater prowess and fierceness than the demons ever
exhibited in their battles with men. Lucifer and his satellites strained all
their power and malice, lashing themselves into fury against the superior
strength which they soon found in Christ our Lord. Yet our Savior tempered all
his actions with divine wisdom and goodness, and in justice and equity concealed
the secret source of his infinite power, exhibiting just so much as would
suffice to prove Him to be a man so far advanced in holiness as to be able to
gain these victories against the infernal foes. In order to begin the battle as
man, He directed a prayer to the eternal Father from his inmost soul, to which
the intelligence of the demon could not penetrate, saying: "My Father and
eternal God, I now enter into battle with the enemy in order to crush his power
and humble his pride and his malice against my beloved souls. For thy glory, and
for the benefit of souls I submit to the daring presumption of Lucifer. I wish
thereby to crush his head in order that when mortals are attacked by his
temptations without their fault, they may find his arrogance already broken. I
beseech Thee, my Father, to remember my battle and victory in favor of mortals
assailed by the common enemy. Strengthen their weakness through my
triumph, let them obtain victory; let them be encouraged by my example, and let
them learn from Me how to resist and overcome their enemies.
During this battle the holy angels that attended upon Christ
were hidden from the sight of Lucifer, in order that he might not begin to
understand and suspect the divine power of our Savior. The holy spirits gave
glory and praise to the Father and the Holy Ghost, who rejoiced in the works of
the incarnate Word. The most blessed Virgin also from her oratory witnessed the
battle in the manner to be described below. The temptation of Christ
began on the thirty-fifth day of his fast in the desert, and lasted to the end
of the fast, as related by the Evangelists. Lucifer assumed the shape of a man
and presented himself before the Lord as a stranger, who had never seen or known
Him before. He clothed himself in refulgent light, like that of an angel, and
conjecturing that the Lord after his long fast must be suffering great hunger,
he said to Him: "If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be
made bread (Matth. 4, 3). By thus cunningly resting his advice on the
supposition of his being the Son of God, the demon sought some information on
what was giving him the greatest concern. But the Savior of the world answered
only in these few words: "Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every
word that proceedeth from mouth of God."
Lucifer found himself repulsed by the force or answer and by
the hidden power which accompanied it; but he wished to show no weakness, nor
desist from the contest. The Lord allowed the demon to continue in his
temptation and for this purpose permitted Himself carried by the devil bodily to
Jerusalem and to be placed on the pinnacle of the temple. Here the Lord could
see multitudes of people, though He himself was not seen by anybody. Lucifer
tried to arouse in the Lord, the vain desire of casting Himself down from this
high place, so that the crowds of men, seeing Him unhurt, might proclaim Him as
a great and wonderful man of God. Again using the words of the holy Scriptures,
he said to Him: "If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down, for it is
written (Ps. 90, 11): that He hath given his angels charge over Thee, and in
their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest perhaps Thou dash thy foot against a
stone" (Matth. 4, 6). The heavenly spirits who accompanied their King, were
full of wonder that He should permit Lucifer to carry Him bodily in his hands,
solely for the benefit of mortal man. With the prince of darkness were gathered
innumerable demons; for on that occasion hell was almost emptied of its
inhabitants in order to furnish assistance for this enterprise. The Author of
wisdom answered: "It is also written: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy
God" (Deut. 6, 16). While giving these answers the Redeemer of the world
exhibited a matchless meekness, profoundest humility, and a majesty so superior
to all the attempts of satan, as was of itself alone sufficient to crush
Lucifer's arrogance and to cause him torments and confusion never felt before.
Being thus foiled, he attacked our Lord in still another way,
seeking to rouse his ambition by offering Him some share in his dominion. For
this purpose he took the Lord upon a high mount, from whence could be seen many
lands, and said to Him with perfidious daring: "All these will I give to
Thee, if falling down, Thou wilt adore me" (Matth. 4, 9). Exorbitant
boldness, and more than insane madness and perfidy! Offering to the Lord what he
did not possess, nor ever could give, since the earth, the stars, the kingdoms,
principalities, riches and treasures, all belong to the Lord, and He alone can
give or withhold them when it serves and pleases Him! Never can Lucifer give
anything, even not of the things of the earth, and therefore all his promises
are false. The King and Lord answered with imperial majesty: "Begone, satan,
for it is written: The Lord thy God thou shalt adore, and Him only shalt thou
serve." By this command, "Begone satan," Christ the Redeemer took
away from Lucifer permission further to tempt Him, and hurled him and all his
legions into the deepest abysses of hell. There they found themselves entirely
crushed and buried in its deepest caverns, unable to move for three days. When
they were permitted again to rise, seeing themselves thus vanquished and
annihilated, they began to doubt whether He, who had so overwhelmed them, might
not be the incarnate Son of God. In this doubt and uncertainty they remained,
without ever being able to come to certain conviction until the death of the
Savior. Lucifer was overcome by hellish wrath at his defeat and was almost
consumed in his fury.
Our divine Conqueror Christ then sang hymns of praise and
thanks to the eternal Father for having given Him this triumph over the common
enemy of God and man; and amid the triumphal songs of a multitude of angels, He
was borne back to the desert. They carried Him in their hands, although He had
not need of their help, since He could make use of his own divine power; but
this service of the angels was due to Him in recompense for enduring the
audacity of Lucifer in carrying to the pinnacle of the temple and to the
mountaintop the sacred humanity of Christ, in which dwelt substantially and
truly the Divinity itself. It would never have entered into the thoughts of man,
that the Lord should give such a permission to satan, if it had been made known
to us in the Gospels.
Let us return to Nazareth, where, in her oratory, the
Princess of the angels had witnessed the battles of her most holy Son. She had
seen them all by the divine light already described and by the uninterrupted
messages of her angels, who brought them back and forth between the Savior and
the blessed Queen. She repeated the same prayers as the Lord and at the same
time! She entered likewise into the conflict with the dragon, though invisibly
and spiritually. From her retreat She anathemized and crushed Lucifer and his
followers co-operating in all the doings of Christ in our favor. When She
perceived that the demon carried the Lord from place to place, She wept
bitterly, because the malice of sin reduced the King of kings to such misusage.
In honor of all the victories, which He gained over the devil, She composed
hymns of praise to the Divinity and the most holy humanity of Christ, while the
angels set them to music and were sent with them to congratulate Him for the
blessings won for the human race. Christ on his part sent back the angels with
words of sweet consolation and rejoicing on account of his triumphs over
Lucifer.
The Master directed his most faithful steps toward the
Jordan, where his great Precursor saint John was still preaching and baptizing.
By his presence and appearance there He wished to secure new testimony of his
mission and Divinity through the mouth of saint John. Moreover He was drawn by
his own love to see and speak with him, for during his Baptism the heart of the
Precursor had become inflamed and wounded by the divine love of the Savior,
which so resistlessly attracted all creatures. In the hearts which were well
disposed, as was that of saint John, the fire of love burned with so much the
greater ardor and violence. When the Baptist saw the Savior coming to him the
second time, his first words were those recorded by the Evangelist: "Behold
the Lamb of God, behold Him who taketh away the sin of the world." Saint
John gave this testimony while pointing out the Lord with his finger to those
who were listening to his instructions and were receiving Baptism at his hands.
He added: "This is He of whom I said: after me there cometh a Man, who is
preferred before me; because He was before me. And I knew Him not; but that He
may be made manifest in Israel, therefore I am come baptizing with water."
The two first disciples of Christ who were with saint John at
the time, heard this testimony and, moved by it and by the light and grace
interiorly imparted to them began to follow the Lord. Benignantly turning to
them the Lord asked them, what they sought (John 1, 38). They answered that they
wished to know where He lived; and the Lord bade them follow. They were with him
that day as saint John tells us. One of them, he says, was saint Andrew, the
brother of saint Peter; the other he does not mention. But I was made to
understand that it was saint John himself, who in his great modesty, did not
wish to give his name. These two, then, saint John and saint Andrew, were the
first of the Baptist's apostolate, being the first of the disciples of
the Baptist who followed the Savior in consequence of his express testimony and
without being outwardly called by the Lord. Saint Andrew immediately sought his
brother Simon and took him along, saying that he had found the Messias, who
called Himself Christ. Looking upon Peter He said: "Thou art the son of
Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is interpreted Peter." All this
happened within the confines of Judea and on the next day the Lord entered
Galilee. There He found saint Philip and called him to his following. Philip
immediately sought Nathanael and brought him to Jesus, telling him what had
happened and that they had found the Messias in the Person of Jesus of Nazareth.
Nathanael, having spoken with the Lord as recorded in the first chapter of saint
John's Gospel, joined as the fifth of the disciples of Christ.
With these five disciples, the first stones in the foundation
of the new Church, Christ, the Savior, entered Galilee for the purpose of
beginning his public preaching and baptizing. In the Apostles thus called He
enkindled, from the moment of their joining the Master, a new light and fire of
divine love and showered upon them the sweetness of his blessings (Ps. 20, 4).
It is not possible worthily to describe the labors undergone by the divine
Teacher in the vocation and education of these and of the other disciples, in
order to found upon them the Church. He sought them out with great diligence and
solicitude; He urged them on frequently by the powerful and efficacious help of
his grace; He enlightened their hearts and enriched them with incomparable gifts
and blessings; He received them with admirable kindness; He nourished them with
the sweetest milk of his doctrines; He bore with them with invincible patience;
He caressed them as a most loving Father caresses his tender and darling sons.
As our nature is base and uncouth material for the exalted and exquisite
aspirations of the Spirit, and as they were to not only perfect disciples, but
consummate masters of perfection in the world and in the Church, the work of
transforming and raising them from their rough natural state into such a
heavenly and divine position by his instructions and example, necessarily was a
vast enterprise. In the performance of this work the Lord has left a most
exalted example of patience, and charity for all the prelates, princes and
whoever is charged with the guidance of subjects. Not less significant for us
sinners are the proofs of his fatherly kindness: for He was not satisfied with
simply bearing with their faults and defects, their natural inclinations and
passions but He allowed his tender kindness to overflow thus wonderfully toward
them, in order that we might be cheered on to trust Him and not permit ourselves
to be dismayed amidst the countless imperfections and weaknesses natural to our
earthly existence.
By the means already mentioned the Queen of heaven was
informed of all the wonderful doings of our Savior in the vocation of the
Apostles and disciples and in his public preaching. She gave thanks to the
eternal Father for these the first disciples, acknowledging and admitting them
in imitation of her Son as her spiritual children, and offering them to the
divine Majesty with new songs of praise and joy. On this occasion of the choice
of the first disciples She was favored by a new revelation of the Most High in
which She was informed again of his holy and eternal decree concerning the
Redemption of man and of the manner in which it was to be executed in the
preaching of his most holy Son.
The five disciples of the Lord begged Him to grant them the
consolation of seeing and reverencing his mother. In accordance with their
petition, He journeyed directly to Nazareth through Galilee, continuing to
preach and teach publicly on the way and proclaiming Himself as the Master of
truth and eternal life. Many, carried away by the force of his doctrines and by
the light and grace overflowing into their hearts, began to listen to Him and to
follow Him; though He did not, for the present, call any more to be his
disciples. It is worthy of notice that though the five disciples had conceived
such an ardent devotion to the heavenly Lady and though they saw with their own
eyes how worthy She was of her eminent position among creatures, yet they all
maintained strict silence about their thoughts.
The Savior then pursued his way to Nazareth instructing his
new children and disciples not only the mysteries of faith, but in all virtues
by word and example, as He continued to do during the whole period of his
evangelical preaching. With this in view He searched out the poor and afflicted,
consoled the sick and sorrowful, visited the infirmaries and prisons, performing
miracles of mercy as well for body as for soul. Yet He did not profess Himself
as the Author of miracles until he attended the marriage feast at Cana as I
shall relate in the next chapter. While the Savior proceeded on his journey his
most holy Mother prepared to receive him and his disciples at Nazareth; for She
was aware of all that happened, and therefore hospitably set her poor dwelling
in order and solicitously procured the necessary victuals beforehand for their
entertainment. Thus, just as the Son had in absence instilled into their minds
the reverence for the dignity of his Mother, so the most prudent and faithful
Mother, in the presence of her Son, wished to instruct them in regard to the
worship due to their divine Master, as to their God and Redeemer. The profound
humility and worship with which the great Lady received Christ the Savior filled
the disciples with new devotion and reverential fear for their divine Master;
henceforth She served them as an example and model of true devotion, entering at
once into her office as Instructress and spiritual Mother of the disciples of
Christ by showing then how to converse with their God and Redeemer. They were
immediately drawn toward their Queen and cast themselves on their knees before
Her, asking to be received as her sons and servants. The first to do this was
saint John, who from that time on distinguished himself in exalting and
reverencing Mary before all the apostles, while She on her part received him
with an especial love; for, besides his excelling in virginal chastity, he was
of a meek and humble disposition.
The great Lady received them all as her guests, serving them
their meals and combining the solicitude of a Mother with the modesty and
majesty of a Queen, so that She caused admiration even in the holy angels. She
served her divine Son on her knees in deepest reverence. At the same time She
spoke of the Majesty of their Teacher and Redeemer to the Apostles instructing
them in the great doctrines of the Christian faith. During that night, when the
Apostles had retired, the Savior betook himself to the oratory of his purest
Mother as He had been wont to do, and She, the most Humble among the humble,
placed Herself at his feet as in the years gone by. In regard to the practice of
humility, all that She could do seemed little to the great Queen, and much less
than She ought to in view of his infinite love and the immense gifts received at
his hands. She confessed Herself as useless as the dust of the earth. The Lord
lifted Her from the ground and spoke to Her words of life and eternal salvation,
yet quietly and serenely. For at this period He began to treat Her with greater
reserve in order to afford Her a chance of merit, as I have mentioned when I
spoke of this departure for the desert and for his Baptism.
WORDS OF THE QUEEN. (The Virgin Mary speaks to Sister Mary of
Agreda, Spain.)
My daughter, I see thee much moved to emulation and desire by
the great happiness of the disciples of my most holy Son, and especially that of
saint John, my favored servant. It is certain that I loved him in a special
manner; because he was most pure and candid as a dove; and in the eyes of the
Lord he was very pleasing, both on account of his purity and on account of his
love toward me. His example should serve thee as a spur to do that which my Son
and I expect of thee. Thou art aware, my dearest, that I am the most pure Mother
and that I receive with maternal affection those who fervently and devoutly
desire to be my children and servants in the Lord. By the love which He has
given me, I shall embrace them with open arms and shall be their Intercessor and
Advocate. Thy poverty, uselessness and weakness shall be for me only a more
urgent motive for manifesting toward thee my most liberal kindness.
Therefore, I call upon thee to become my chosen and beloved daughter in the holy
Church.
I shall, however, make the fulfillment of my promise depend
upon a service on thy part: namely, that thou have a true and holy emulation of
the love with which I loved saint John, and of all the blessings flowing from
it, by imitating him as perfectly as thy powers will allow. Hence, thou must
promise to fulfill all that I now command thee, without failing in the least
point. I desire, then, that thou labor until all love of self die within thee,
that thou suppress all the effects of the first sin until all the earthly
inclinations consequent upon it are totally extinguished; that thou seek to
restore within thee that dove-like sincerity and simplicity which destroys all
malice and duplicity. In all thy doings thou must be an angel, since the
condescension of the Most High with thee was so great as to furnish thee with
the light and intelligence more of an angel than that of a human creature. I
have procured for thee these great blessings and, therefore, it is but
reasonable on my part to expect thee to correspond with them in thy works and in
thy thoughts. In regard to me thou must cherish a continual affection and loving
desire of pleasing and serving me, being always attentive to my counsels and
having thy eyes fixed upon me in order to know and execute what I command. Then
shalt thou be my true daughter, and I shall be thy Protectress and loving
Mother.
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Catechism of the Catholic Church
Part One: Profession of Faith, Sect 2 The Creeds, Ch 2 Art 3:2
CHAPTER TWO
I BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST, THE ONLY SON OF
GOD
Article 4
"JESUS CHRIST SUFFERED UNDER PONTIUS
PILATE, WAS CRUCIFIED, DIED AND WAS BURIED"
571
The Paschal mystery of Christ's cross and Resurrection stands at the centre of
the Good News that the apostles, and the Church following them, are to proclaim
to the world. God's saving plan was accomplished "once for
all"Heb 9:2 by the redemptive death of his Son Jesus Christ.
572
The Church remains faithful to the interpretation of "all the
Scriptures" that Jesus gave both before and after his Passover: "Was
it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his
glory?"Lk 24:26-27,
⇒ 44-45 Jesus' sufferings took their historical, concrete form
from the fact that he was "rejected by the elders and the chief priests
and the scribes", who handed "him to the Gentiles to be mocked and
scourged and crucified".Mk 8:31;
⇒ Mt 20:19
573
Faith can therefore try to examine the circumstances of Jesus' death,
faithfully handed on by the Gospels DV 19 and illuminated by other
historical sources, the better to understand the meaning of the Redemption.
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