“Baptism is when Jesus is born in my heart”.   This is what a five-year-old child said.   And it was really well seen. Indeed, he had made the equivalence:

 

1- By baptism, Jesus (God made man) comes to dwell in us, "to be born in our heart", where we love.

 

2- Baptism is at the same time our own birth into the life of God.

 

Baptism, as the child said, is the beginning of a new life, a birth: we are “immersed” in water, to symbolically represent the end of an old way of life and a new beginning.

 

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (no. 1.277), "Baptism constitutes the birth into new life in Christ".

 

The Bible mentions baptism for the first time in the accounts of John the Baptist.   It was under the old covenant, when baptism was intended for the remission of our sins.  “I baptize you in water, in view of conversion. But the one who comes behind me is stronger than me, and I am not worthy to take off his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Matthew 3, 11.   With the institution of the new covenant, thanks to the death of Jesus on the cross, baptism now means more than the forgiveness of sins, it is a commitment to live a life of discipleship before God.

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Contact the Pastoral Center (418-543-7734) or your Christian community for more information.