Why do we baptize our children?
Acts 8:5-8, 14-17; Ps 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20; 1 Pt 3:15-18; Jn 14:15-21
“Why should we baptize our child?” That was one of the first serious questions I was asked as a newly ordained priest. I “knew” the answer, which means that I knew the theology of baptism, captured succinctly in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “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. … 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” (CCC 1250).
I remember offering some abbreviated version of this statement, to which the mother asked skeptically: “So … if we don’t baptize our baby, then the church is going to deny our baby the ‘priceless grace of becoming a child of God?’”
I awkwardly fumbled through this discussion for a painful hour, realizing that I didn’t fully appreciate the practical impact of what baptism accomplishes, what it “looks like,” or why and how it “works.”
Such basic questions might be neglected by a divinity student in favor of seemingly more profound metaphysical explorations of sacramental theology. But they are precisely the sort of questions that any curious parent would naturally wonder about.
My ability to field such questions has improved considerably, but they still always challenge me to reflect on just exactly how the graces of baptism show themselves. If you met a stranger, after talking for a few minutes would you have any idea about whether or not they had been baptized?
No one can deny the joyful excitement of a newly baptized catechumen at the Easter Vigil Mass, or the beaming smiles of parents holding their baby over the baptismal font. But how is that baptismal grace manifested after the water dries, the candles are extinguished and the years go by?
The grace itself doesn’t diminish. What you received as a baby is more than enough to last your entire lifetime.
The accounts of baptisms in the Acts of the Apostles offer a powerful witness of how this sacrament can take hold and transform lives, whether for an individual or an entire community.
In our first reading, we find that many in Samaria had been told about Jesus and they were moved to “great joy” (Acts 8:5). This was accompanied by signs of physical and spiritual healing.
Yet, there was still something lacking. Even though the Samaritans had been “baptized in the name of Jesus” (Acts 8:17), they lacked the Holy Spirit.
What did their community look like after they received the Spirit? From an earlier description we can imagine that they lived in communion, at peace, with shared resources and common prayer (Acts 2:42-47).
A similar dynamic appears with the conversion of Saul. First, he encounters Jesus, who asks Saul why he has been persecuting him, and follows up by blinding him. Only then does he receive the Holy Spirit and is able to see and to proclaim about Jesus Christ.
A lesson for us is that we are prepared for baptism, it is not a spontaneous event. Long before the Spirit arrives in Samaria, disciples of Jesus are present, talking about Jesus and living in their midst as Jesus lived. In this way they become receptive to the Spirit, who will never be forced upon anyone. The Spirit must be received in freedom.
Whether it’s parents preparing to have their baby baptized or an adult progressing through OCIA, baptism is the fruit of intentional acts of love and the desire that the baptized should receive God’s grace.
It is no exaggeration to say that preparation for the reception of the Spirit is a big part of what makes baptism “work.” As that preparation is lived out by both the baptized and those who are preparing them, it bears recognizable fruit: a loving family, a community that shares concerns and cares, and so forth.
So yes, we should baptize babies because, through the sacrament, they will be “freed from the powers of darkness.” But we will know that is happening because they are surrounded by the “powers of love” — and that looks like something we can all recognize.