Congratulations! In cooperation with God's creative love, you have given your child breath and now you wish to give them REAL LIFE through the sacrament of Baptism.
You will be your child's first teacher in the ways of Faith. During your pregnancy, to help you prepare for this responsibility, you are requested to participate in a Baptismal Preparation Class.
Baptismal Formation for Parents & Godparents will be held on the First Sunday of each month at 12:15 pm in the Daily Mass Chapel.
The Sacrament of Baptism will be celebrated on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month.
Those who will be sponsors for Baptism need certificates of eligibility. Please call the Parish Life Center at (610) 459-2502 to learn how to obtain them. These should be brought to the class.
The Rite of Baptism
From the earliest times, the Church, to which the mission of preaching the Gospel and of baptizing was entrusted, has baptized not only adults but children as well. Our Lord said:
"Unless a man is reborn in water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."
The Church has always understood these words to mean that children should not be deprived of baptism, because they are baptized in the faith of the Church, a faith proclaimed for them by their parents and godparents, who represent both the local Church and the whole society of saints and believers: "The whole Church is the mother of all and the mother of each."
In the celebration of baptism, the father and mother have special parts to play. They listen to the words addressed to them by the celebrant, they join in prayer along with the congregation, and they exercise a genuine ministry when:
- they publicly ask that the child be baptized;
- they sign their child with the sign of the cross after the celebrant;
- they renounce Satan and recite the profession of faith;
- they (and especially the mother) carry the child to the font;
- they hold the lighted candle;
- they are blessed with the prayers formulated specifically for mothers and fathers.
The rite begins with the reception of the children. This is to indicate the desire of the parents and godparents, as well as the intention of the Church, concerning the celebration of the sacrament of baptism. These purposes are expressed in action when the parents and the celebrant trace the sign of the cross on the foreheads of the children.
Then the liturgy of the word is directed toward stirring up the faith of the parents, godparents, and congregation and toward praying in common for the fruits of baptism before the sacrament itself. This part of the celebration consists of the reading of one or more passages from holy Scripture; a homily, followed by a period of silence; the general intercessions, with its concluding prayer, drawn up in the style of an exorcism, to introduce either the anointing with the oil of catechumens or the laying on of hands.
In the celebration of the sacrament, the immediate preparation consists of:
the solemn prayer of the celebrant, which, by invoking God and recalling his plan of salvation, blesses the water or makes reference to an earlier blessing;
and
the renunciation of Satan on the part of the parents and godparents and their profession of faith, to which is added the assent of the celebrant and the community; and the final interrogation of the parents and godparents.
The sacrament itself consists of the washing in water by way of immersion or infusion, depending on local custom, and the invocation of the blessed Trinity.
The completion of the sacrament consists, first, of the anointing with chrism, which signifies the royal priesthood of the baptized and enrollment into the company of the people of God; then of the ceremonies of the white garment, lighted candle, and the ephphetha (the last of which is optional).
Before the altar to prefigure the future sharing in the eucharist, the celebrant introduces and all recite the Lord's Prayer, in which God's children pray to their Father in heaven.
Finally, a prayer of blessing is said over the mothers, fathers, and all present, to ask the outpouring of God's grace upon them.
More information on the Sacrament of Baptism
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