Why is it so important to get your baby baptized?
From the moment of conception, parents begin to experience all of the emotions that come with welcoming a new life into this world. Though there is plenty of joy and excitement, there can also be feelings of uncertainty and fear. Almost immediately new parents feel the need to protect and provide for the tiny child that is entrusted to their care.
The responsibilities of parenting are immense and go far beyond meeting the basic needs of every human. In addition to providing food and shelter, parents need to be the source of comfort, discipline, and love for our children. We will be called to give of ourselves in ways that we could never have imagined.
Though the job is difficult, there are few things in life that bring as much happiness into our lives as the gift of children. They have a remarkable way of teaching us what it truly means to love and be loved. Just one hug makes all the sleepless nights worth it.
It is because we love them so much that we want to give them the very best. To really provide the best possible life for our children, it is necessary to teach them to have a relationship with God and the first step in doing that is getting your baby baptized.
Baptism
This beautiful video on Baptism produced by Saint Dominic’s parish in Panama City, Florida offers exceptional insight into the reasons that we should choose to baptize our children. Using this video and the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1213-1284, we present 7 reasons to get your baby baptized.
7 Reasons to Get Your Baby Baptized
Your child will officially be a Child of God.
“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.
Your child will receive the Baptismal grace and freed from original sin.
“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.”
Your child will be a part of the Church community.
“Baptism, therefore, constitutes the sacramental bond of unity existing among all who through it are reborn.”
Your child will share in the priesthood of Christ.
The baptized have become “living stones” to be “built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood.” 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.”
Your child will have an “indelible spiritual mark.”
“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.83 Given once for all, Baptism cannot be repeated.
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.“
Your child will be marked by the Holy Spirit with the seal of the Lord.
“The Holy Spirit has marked us with the seal of the Lord (“Dominicus character”) “for the day of redemption.”86 “Baptism indeed is the seal of eternal life.”87 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,”88 with his baptismal faith, in expectation of the blessed vision of God – the consummation of faith – and in the hope of resurrection.”
Your child will receive the graces necessary to:
“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.”
Inspire someone else…Share with us in the comments why you chose to get your child baptized!
More Catholic Baptism Resources
What’s The Big Deal About Baptism?
The Sacrament of Baptism | Word on Fire
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