Through Baptism the faithful become members of the Church, can take part in Christian worship and are sealed with the Holy Spirit

At the General Audience of Wednesday, 25 March, the Holy Father continued his weekly catechesis on the mystery of the Church. In the 26^th talk of the series the Pope spoke about the Church as a priestly and sacramental community as a result of Baptism. Here is the Holy Father's address, which he gave in Italian.

1. We read in Vatican II's Constitution Lumen gentium: "The sacred nature and organic structure of the priestly community is brought into operation through the sacraments and the exercise of virtues" (Lumen gentium, n. 11). This means that the exercise of the universal priesthood is connected with the sacraments, which certainly play a fundamental role in Christian life. But the Council joins "sacraments" with "virtues". This significant association shows, on the one hand, that the sacramental life cannot be reduced to a set of words and ritual gestures: the sacraments are expressions of faith, hope and love. On the other hand, it emphasizes that the development of these virtues and all others in the Christian life arises from the sacraments. Therefore, we can say that in the Catholic conception sacramental worship has its natural continuation in the flourishing of Christian life.

The Council first of all refers to Baptism the sacrament which constitutes the human person as a member of the Church and thus brings him into the priestly community. We read: "Incorporated into the Church by Baptism, the faithful are appointed by their baptismal character to Christian religious worship; reborn as children of God, they must profess before all the faith they have received from God through the Church" (ibid.). It is a text rich in doctrine derived from the New Testament and developed in the tradition of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church. In this catechesis we want to grasp the essential points.

Christian life begins with the grace of Baptism

2. The Council begins by stating that Baptism brings us into the Church, the Body of Christ. This is an echo of St Paul, who wrote: "In one Spirit we were all baptized into one body" ( I Cor 12: 13).

It is important to underscore the role and value of Baptism for entering the ecclesial community. Even today there are some who refuse to recognize this role, avoiding or delaying Baptism, particularly of children. According to the Church's established tradition, however the Christian life does not simply begin with human dispositions, but with a sacrament endowed with divine efficacy. Baptism as a sacrament, i.e., as a visible sign of invisible grace, is the door through which God acts in the human soul—even in the soul of a newborn— to unite it to himself in Christ and the Church. He makes it share in redemption. He infuses "new life" into it. He makes it part of the communion of saints. He opens the way to the other sacraments, which serve to develop the Christian life fully. For this reason Baptism is like a rebirth by which a child of man becomes a child of God!

3. The Council, in fact, says that the baptized are "reborn as children of God". In this we hear an echo of the Apostle Peter, who blesses God the Father because "in his great mercy he gave us a new birth" (I Pt 1:3). Here we find the teaching of Jesus himself, recorded by St John in his account of the conversation with Nicodemus: "Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit" (Jn 3:5).

Jesus teaches us that the new birth is produced by the Spirit. The Letter to Titus emphasizes this by saying that God has saved us "through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he richly poured out on us through Jesus Christ our Saviour" (Ti 3:5). The Baptist had already proclaimed Baptism in the Spirit (cf. Mt 3:11). And Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit "gives life" (Jn 6:63). We profess our faith in this revealed truth when we say in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed: "Et in Spiritum Sanctum Dominum et vivicantem". It is a question of the new life by which we become children of God in the sense intended by the Gospel: it is Christ who shares with believers his divine Sonship through Baptism, which he instituted as Baptism in the Spirit.

In this sacrament, the spiritual birth to new life which is the result of the redeeming incarnation takes place: the sacrament enables human beings to live the same life of the risen Christ. This is the soteriological dimension of Baptism, about which St Paul states: "We who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death ... so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead, ... we too might live a new life" (Rom 6:3-4). This passage from the Letter to the Romans allows us to understand clearly the priestly aspect of Baptism. It demonstrates that receiving Baptism means being personally united to the paschal mystery of Jesus, the one priestly sacrifice which is truly perfect and pleasing to God. As a result of this union every baptized person is able to make his entire life a priestly offering united to that of Christ (cf. Rom 12:1; I Pt 2:4-5).

Baptism enables Christians to lead a holy life

4. With Christ's life Baptism fills the soul with his holiness, as the new condition of belonging to God through liberation and purification, as St Paul reminds the Corinthians: "You have had yourselves washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God"(l Cor 6:11).

Also according to the Apostle's teaching, Christ purifies the entire Church "by the bath of water with the word": she becomes "holy and without blemish" in her members, since they receive Baptism (Eph 5:26), which is deliverance from sin and also benefits the entire community, for which it is the basis of a continual process of spiritual growth (cf. Eph 2:21). It is clear that from baptismal sanctification Christians—individuals and the community—obtain the ability and the obligation of leading a holy life. According to St Paul, the baptized are "dead to sin", and must reject the life of sin (Rom 6:2). He says: "You must think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living in Christ Jesus" (Rom 6:11). In this sense Baptism enables us to share in the death and resurrection of Christ, in his victory over the forces of evil.

This is the meaning of the baptismal rite, in which the candidate is asked: "Do you reject Satan?" He is asked to make a personal commitment to total freedom from sin, and thus- from the power of Satan: the commitment to fight, throughout his earthly life, against the seductions of Satan. It will be a "good fight", which will make the individual more worthy of his heavenly calling, but also more perfect as a human person. For this double reason, the request and acceptance of this obligation ought also to be made at the Baptism of an infant, who replies through his parents and godparents. In the power of this sacrament he is purified and sanctified by the Spirit, who fills him with new life as a participation in Christ's life.

5. In addition to the life-giving and sanctifying grace of the Spirit, one also receives in Baptism the impress of a seal which is called the character, about which the Apostle says to Christians: "You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit" (Eph 1:13; cf. 4:30; 2 Cor 1 :22).

The character (in Greek sphragí s) is a sign of belonging: the baptized person, in fact, becomes the property of Christ, the property of God, and in this belonging his fundamental and definitive holiness is put into effect. For this reason St Paul called Christians "saints" (Rom 1:7, I Cor 1:2 2 Cor 1:1, etc.). This is the holiness of tee universal priesthood of the Church's members. In the Church the ancient promise is fulfilled in a new way: "You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation" (Ex 19:6). This means a definitive and permanent consecration, effected by Baptism and secured by an indelible character.

Baptism gives the faithful a character which appoints them to Christian worship

6. The Council of Trent expressed Christian tradition in defining that the character is an "indelible and spiritual sign", impressed upon the soul by three sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders (DS 1609). This does not mean a visible sign, although in many baptized persons certain of its effects are visible, such as the sense of belonging to Christ and the Church, which is shown in the words and deeds of truly faithful Christians, both priests and laity.

One of the ways this sense is shown is in zeal for divine worship. In fact, according to the beautiful Christian tradition mentioned and confirmed by the Second Vatican Council, the faithful are "appointed by their baptismal character to Christian religious worship", i.e., to worship God in Christ's Church. St Thomas Aquinas maintained this on the basis of that tradition. According to him the character is a "spiritual power' (Summa Theol., III, q. 63, a. 2), which enables the baptized to participate in the Church's worship as her recognized and assembled members, especially in the Eucharistic sacrifice and the entire sacramental life. This capacity is inalienable and cannot be taken away, since it arises from an indelible character. There is cause for joy in discovering this other aspect of the mystery of the "new life" begun in Baptism, the first sacramental source of the "universal priesthood" whose fundamental duty is to worship God!

At this point, however, I must add that the capacity involved in the character entails a mission and, thus, a responsibility: whoever has received the holiness of Christ must show it to the world "in every aspect of his conduct" (I Pt 1:15) and therefore, he must nourish it with the sacramental life, more particularly, through participation in the Eucharistic banquet.

7. The grace of the Holy Spirit, infused by Baptism, makes the character alive. In its dynamism this grace brings about the entire development of the life of Christ the Priest in us: of Christ who gives the Father perfect worship in the incarnation, on the cross and in heaven, and allows the Christian to share his priesthood in the Church, which was established primarily to renew his sacrifice in the world.

And just as Christ conformed his entire life to the demands of his priestly sacrifice while on earth, so too his followers —as individuals and as a community— are called to translate this sacrificial capacity received with the character into a behaviour which belongs to the spirit of the universal priesthood which they are part of through Baptism.

The baptized must profess their faith before all the world

8. The Council especially underscores growth in giving witness to the faith: "Reborn as children of God, they must profess before all the faith they have received from God through the Church".

According to St Paul, in fact, Baptism has the effect of enlightenment: "Christ will give you light" (Eph 5:14, cf. Heb 6:4; 10:32). The baptized, having left the ancient night, must live in this light: "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light" (Eph 5:8).

This life in the light is also expressed in the public profession of faith demanded by Jesus: "Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father" (Mt 10:32). This is a personal confession which the Christian makes in the power of baptismal grace: a profession of faith "received from God through the Church", as the Council says (Lumen gentium, n. 11). Therefore, it is part of the confession of the universal Church, which everyday repeats in chorus her I believe "in deed and truth" (1 Jn 3:18).