Daily Meditation: Thursday, July 14, 2005

Baptism - lifelong work to enhance its effects

07/14/2005

The Church teaches that baptism is a purification by water, intended to wash away man’s original sin and admit him into the Christian community. There is of course nothing to be said against the sacrament of baptism, as long as its true meaning is understood. To baptize a child or an adult makes him a Christian, of course, but this does not mean that anyone who has not received a Christian baptism is a lost soul, wandering in the shadows. And anyone who has received it must not think that this is sufficient for his salvation; it is up to him to work his entire life to preserve and amplify the effects of his baptism. Let us say you have been baptized and your original sin has been washed away. This is all very well, but what the priest has placed within you at the moment of baptism, you must work to preserve throughout your life. If you do not work consciously, daily, and with all your heart and soul to cleanse and purify yourself, baptism will do you little good. It is up to you to contribute every day to your own salvation.