Catholic Water Rituals Essay

Catholicism teaches catholics to worship their lord by following the seven sacraments. The seven sacraments include; Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony. The Catholic Church sees baptism as the first and basic sacrament of Christian initiation. Baptism is the act of sprinkling water onto a person's forehead or immersing them in water. Confirmation is done to seal the gift of the Holy Spirit and to strengthen someone's christian life. During conformation, a bishop anoints a person by using oil of Chrism to make the sign of the cross on their forehead. The sacrament of Penance (also known as Reconciliation) is the first sacrament of healing. During Penance catholics confess any sins they have committed after baptism, to a priest. There priest follows the four steps of forgiveness and forgives them for their sins. Anointing of the sick is the second sacrament of healing. It involves anointing those who are extremely sick and are highly likely to die. It is a rite that is performed to convey God’s grace to the recipient, through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is also likely to be the last sacrament that an individual's receives in their life. Holy Orders is the sacrament where a man is made a bishop, a priest, or a deacon, and carries out the image of Christ. Matrimony, or Marriage

Often held as a rite of passage and entrance into the Christian church, baptism is much more than just symbolic ritual. Baptism was commanded by Jesus Christ in the Great Commission recounted in the book of Matthew. Even though we are simplistically called to be obedient by being

Catholic Charities is a family and children’s human service agency under the Archdiocese of Hartford. Catholic Charities Archdiocese of Hartford has over 90 years experience providing a variety of services to children, teens, adults, and families without regard to race, religion, or economic circumstances.

Baptism has many inextricable ties to the beliefs that are held so very tightly by the Christian church and its adherents. It is one of the many traditions of the faith that seeks to express aspects of the religion that are essential to its practice. Baptism is linked to beliefs about: spiritual rebirth through Christ who seeks to cleanse and purify each individual from their sins, admission into the Christian Church and its mission, faith in the Holy Trinity, particularly in the power of the Holy Spirit which seeks to bring knowledge of God to the world as well as the need for salvation from eternal damnation as emphasised in Lewis Sperry Chafer’s book Major Bible Themes which states that: “...baptism when practiced can be no more than an expression of faith and the hope...that the child will ultimately be saved.” Baptism also highlights the Christian beliefs based on faith and repentance-reconciling with God and accepting one’s role as His son/daughter, participation in the life, death and resurrection of Christ by being able to partake in celebrating His sacrifice for mankind, and finally the forgiveness of sins- turning towards a life filled with God’s guidance and righteous presence.

Connection: The biblical story, Jonah and the Whale, is an example of Baptism. God gave Jonah a job, but he set off in another direction. Suddenly, there was a storm. The boat was tossing in the middle of the sea. No one on the boat knew what to do. Jonah knew that the storm was because of him. God was with him. Everyone prayed for forgiveness and they threw Johan into the water. The storm immediately stopped. God heard Jonah’s prayers and sent a fish to rescue him. Jonah lived in the fish’s stomach for three days. He prayed to God for help. When it was safe, the fish spit Jonah out onto the land. Jonah was cleansed when he returned back to the land. Being tossed into the water was symbolic. He was reborn after the incident.

It was finally here, and I was extremely excited! My family and I got up, got ready, and drove less than a mile down Old Hickory Boulevard to Forest Hills Baptist Church, like we had always done. Except, that day I packed my swimming trunks. On August 5th of 2007, I was baptized by a minister at my church. I was eager to get started. With both of us cloaked in white, the minster and I stepped into the baptism “tub” during the worship service. Colorful rays of light were beaming through the stained glass windows, the water was warm, and my mother was standing beside of me for comfort and reassurance; I was at peace. Out of the opening, I could see the watchful eyes of the choir, worship leader, congregation, and my family; I was at peace. As part of tradition, I was getting ready to be immersed into the water; I was at peace. While in the water, an extraordinary sensation of purification swept through my body. I, for the first time in my eight years of life, had truly felt cleansed from head to toe. This feeling was a direct action of the Holy Spirit entering and presiding in my vulnerable self permanently.

The sacrament of baptism is typically interpreted as a ceremony that accepts you into the church, however, it also gives us grace. Our job in the process is to accept the grace bestowed upon us in order to ease the pain we feel, gradually. Baptism cleanses us of Original Sin and gives us a clean slate because we will sin throughout life many times. Vaz explains the symbolism behind specific parts of the sacraments’ process. Infants are supposed to wear a white garment due to tradition. The color white symbolizes newness which is a synonym of the meaning of baptism, rebirth. The pouring of water, anointing with oil or chrism, and the spoken words have been used as a way to cleanse one of sin throughout history. Occasionally salt was put on the infant’s tongue to symbolize the ocean and immortality. The sacrament of baptism is a prerequisite for the other six religious sacraments, is needed for salvation, and is needed in order to enter Heaven. Saint Augustine stated that everyone is bound to sin after birth, and the grace of God is needed at the beginning of our life to fight our sinfulness.

The importance of “baptism” scenes is very clear in a lot of literature. It symbolizes a washing away of the old, a new start. A good example of this is in the book “Fahrenheit 451” by Thomas C. Foster. This book is not only about burning, it is also about rebirth. Guy Montag is in the middle of running away from his rebellion, being hunted for reading books that he is supposed to be burning and killing a man. Montag reaches a river and jumps in to protect himself from being caught. He quickly changes his clothes so the mechanical dog’s do not find him and hides, floats, and waits in the water. As he comes to land on the other side of the river and we see him change as a person. He was stripped of his old life burning books and started a fresh

The elements of this practice equip the individual to perform this ritual in a successful manner and allow adherents to be disciples of the Lord in the Christian community. The use of water signifies the spiritual cleansing of the individual and reflects the discussion of rebirth through water in the Gospel of John - “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water” (3:5). The use of water also unifies the individual with the ministry of Christ as we take part in the same ceremony as him. The bible highlights the eternal connection established with the Christian community as the word stresses the importance of this practice. Furthermore, the white garment symbolises the pure and virtuous nature of this ritual and signifies the releasing from the chains of sin and being reborn into a new life with Christ. Pope Francis’ statement that the “people of God have become missionary disciples” highlights the communal aspect of baptism and its contribution to Christianity as a living tradition as it is the individuals moral duty to baptise non-believers and unite them with the Christian community. The Gospel of John reinforces this obligation and the importance of baptism for the individual and the community as a whole in “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mttw

To begin, cleansing is acknowledged as a universal desire in religion. Each religion has In some newer, churches pool are built and filled with holy water. An individual is then dipped into the water after they pledge their love to God. "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit", as described in the bible. (Bible getaway, Matthew 28:19) Jesus commanded that his disciples must be baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The physical act of cleaning the body after pledging devotion acknowledges the removal of a person 's sins and makes them clear to start again before death. After death depending on the sins created the person is appointed a long lasting afterlife in heaven or hell.

Paedobaptism, Credobaptism, and Calvinism According to the theologian Michael Horton, baptism is not only a sacrament of Christians’ union with Christ; it is also a sacrament of their communion as the body of Christ. Baptism is a public declaration of one’s faith, symbolizing purification, regeneration, and admission into the catholic church. Baptism is a wide held belief throughout Christianity, with nearly every denomination practicing the custom. However, the tradition has different meanings for different denominations within Christianity, which leads to highly controversial practices such as infant baptism and believer’s baptism. These disparate traditions have been a source of many heated debates as the denominations have grown further

The word Baptism comes from the Hebrew Tevilah which means to abide immersed in water. Baptism was not originally a christian act, water Baptism has a deep root in Judaism. Baptism is not in Jewish rituals but their traditions and law have some similarities to water baptism. Baptism were immersion for purification, Its purpose is to endure ceremonially cleansed. The Mikvah tradition has been important part of the Judaism; Mikvah is a gathering of water. Both baptism and Tevilah share the concept of purification. The total purpose of going in the living water is to cleanse your body and soul, when a person dunks their body into to the water they are pure. For Tevilah a person

Just as Christ was crucified and died, our submersion in water symbolizes us too dying with him. In turn, our removal from the water symbolizes our rebirth and connection with Christ giving us our first divine-human encounter. The depth of such an act clearly portrays how vital of a part cleansing of sins by way of water is important and used in our faith since the beginning of time and an example of initiation into Christ’s life. Water has, since the beginning of time, been used to symbolize cleansing and new beginnings and in turn a major reason why this sign is seen as such in the symbolic ritual.

Baptism in the Early Church and Medieval Eras All Christians know about the Great Commission, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20, English Standard Version). In that command, Jesus tells us to baptize in the name of the Trinity. What does the word “baptism” mean? Baptimsa and sometimes baptismos, the Greek word origin of “baptism”, can translate to “immersion” or “bathing” without any religious implications (McGowan, 2014). Nearly every Christian church practices baptism with a religious implication; however, they do not agree on God’s activity in, the qualifications for admitting a person to, and methods of administering baptism. For instance, many churches do not baptize people until they become adults and make a profession of faith, while others encourage baptizing an infant soon after they are born. The practices and philosophy for baptism changed throughout its use in the New Testament, the Early Church, and the Medieval era.

4.1. The blessings of water. In the blessing of water, we are reminded of “The striking connection between the natural world and the world of the Spirit” because water is truly the source of life both natural and spiritual. God has blessed the water by the fact that He created