Do we need to be reborn?

1
Do we need to be reborn?
2
Do we need to be reborn?

• In his encounter with the Pharisee named
  Nicodemus, Jesus said
• Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the
  kingdom of God without being born from above.
  (John 33)
• Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the
  kingdom of God without being born of water and
  Spirit. (John 35)
• For God so loved the world that he gave his only
  Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not
  perish but may have eternal life. (John 316)

3
Do we need to be reborn?

• One enters the new People of God, the Church,
• through faith and Baptism.
• Baptism is birth into the new life in Christ.
• In accordance with the Lords will,
• it is necessary for salvation,
• as is the Church herself,
• which we enter by Baptism.
• -Catechism of the Catholic Church CCC, no. 1277
• What possibilities for new life does your
  Baptism offer you?

4
Do we need to be reborn?

• Through the graces of Baptism we can . . .
• resist the power of sin and live a new
• life in Christ
• be truly free from the power of sin.
• The essential elements of the Rite of Baptism
• The candidate is immersed into the water of the
  baptismal pool or font three
  times, or, in the case of an infant, is placed
  in the water and lifted out of it three times,
  or water is poured over the persons head three
  times, as the minister invokes the Holy Trinity,
  praying, I baptize you in the name of the
  Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

5
The life-giving waters of Baptism

• The sacred authors of Scripture used the
  symbolism of water to point to Gods life-giving
  work in the world.
• At the well, Jesus said to the Samaritan woman
• Everyone who drinks of this water will be
  thirsty again
• but those who drink of the water that I will give
  them
• will never be thirsty. The water that I will give
  
• will become in them a spring of water
• gushing up to eternal life.
• John 41314
• Baptism is the source of new life in Christ
• from which the entire Christian life springs
  forth (CCC, no. 1254).

6
The life-giving waters of Baptism

• These Old Testament stories prefigure the
  Sacrament of Baptism
• The first account of Creation . . . a wind
  from God swept over the face of the waters
  (Genesis 12). The wind represents the Spirit of
  God bringing forth creation and it prefigures the
  Holy Spirit bringing forth the new creation in
  Christ through water and the Spirit at Baptism.
• The Great Flood and Noahs Ark The Church reads
  this story as prefiguring the Church (the Ark)
  and the saving action of God in Baptism. As the
  flood waters led to a new beginning of goodness,
  the waters of Baptism conquer the power of sin
  and bring about newness of life in Christ.
• The Exodus Crossing the waters of the Red Sea
  and the River Jordan prefigure our journey from
  slavery to sin to freedom and new life in Christ.
  Through the waters of Baptism, God liberates us
  from the slavery of Original Sin and personal
  sins.

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Baptism in the early Church

• All four accounts of the Gospel speak of Jesus
  baptism by John the Baptist.
• As he approached the banks of the Jordan River,
  Jesus asked John to baptize him.
• At first John refused, saying that it was Jesus
  who should be baptizing him.
• Jesus nevertheless persuaded John, and John
  baptized him.
• What stories and memories of your Baptism has
  your family shared with you?

8
Baptism in the early Church

• By his baptism, Jesus revealed
• his solidarity, or oneness, with
• humanity and the nature of his
• saving mission.
• The Son of God became incarnate
• in Jesus.
• He emptied himself in order to be
• fully one with humanity.
• He freely sacrificed his life on the
• Cross and suffered the death-bearing
• consequences of sin for the salvation of
  humanity.

9
Baptism in the early Church

• Baptism?the gift of new life in Christ
• Through Baptism we die with Christ and we receive
  the gift of new life in Christ.
• Through Baptism the Holy Trinity gifts us with
  the holiness that Adam and Eve lost by Original
  Sin.
• We receive the gift of sanctifying grace, which
  enables us to live with God and to act by his
  love.

10
Baptism in the early Church

• Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA)
  This is the title of the process designed to
  prepare adults for entrance into the Catholic
  Church by the reception of the Sacraments of
  Christian Initiation.
• -United States Catholic Catechism for Adults
  (USCCA), 525
• Mystagogy This is the period of time immediately
  after the reception of the Sacraments of
  Christian Initiation. It is a time for the
  community and the neophytes those newly
  initiated into the Church together to grow in
  deepening their grasp of the paschal mystery and
  in making it part of their lives through
  meditation on the Gospel, sharing in the
  Eucharist, and doing the works of charity.
• Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults RCIA,
  no. 244

11
Weve only just begun

• The Baptism of infants and young children. . .
• Parents take on the responsibility of bringing up
  their children in the practice of the faith . .
  . to keep Gods commandments as Christ taught us,
  by loving God and our neighbor (Rite of Baptism
  for Children).
• Godparents also accept the responsibility to play
  a pivotal role in the faith formation of their
  godchild.
• The Church requires that a godparent
• be at least sixteen years old
• be a Catholic who has received the Sacraments of
  Initiation
• practices the Catholic faith
• can be a role model in living as a disciple of
  Jesus.

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St. Charles Lwanga (1865-86) and the Uganda
Martyrs

• St. Charles Lwanga is the patron of youth in
  tropical Africa.
• Lwanga was one of twenty-two Catholic and
  Anglican martyrs who died for their faith in
  Uganda on June 3, 1886.
• Charles openly instructed others in the faith of
  the Catholic Church against the opposition of
  King Mwanga.
• The king summoned Charles and his companions and
  demanded that they deny their faith and give him
  their allegiance.
• Lwanga and the others refused and proclaimed
  their intention to remain Christian.
• King Mwanga reacted violently and condemned
  Lwanga and his companions to death by execution.