Day 168: The Celebration of Baptism (2025) - The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)

Podcast Summary: The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – Day 168: The Celebration of Baptism

Introduction

In Day 168 of Ascension’s The Catechism in a Year podcast, Fr. Mike Schmitz delves into the profound sacrament of Baptism, exploring its role in Christian initiation and its evolution over centuries. Drawing from paragraphs 1229-1233 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Fr. Mike provides a comprehensive overview of how Baptism is celebrated and understood within the Catholic tradition.

Understanding Christian Initiation

Fr. Mike begins by outlining the fundamental components of Christian initiation, emphasizing that becoming a Christian is a transformative journey encompassing several essential elements:

Proclamation of the Word: The Gospel must be proclaimed to inspire faith.
Acceptance of the Gospel and Conversion: Embracing the Gospel requires a profound personal transformation.
Profession of Faith: Publicly declaring one’s faith is crucial.
Baptism: The sacrament that marks entry into the Christian community.
Outpouring of the Holy Spirit: Receiving the Holy Spirit strengthens and guides believers.
Admission to Eucharistic Communion: Participating in the Eucharist completes the initiation.

Fr. Mike states, “These are distinct and essential elements and aspects of this Christian initiation process,” highlighting the structured pathway into the faith (06:45)

Historical Development of Christian Initiation

Tracing back to the early Church, Fr. Mike explains that initial Christian initiation involved a prolonged catechumenate with multiple preparatory rites. This extended period allowed individuals to deeply assimilate the faith before receiving Baptism. However, as the Church expanded, especially beyond Jewish communities, the initiation process adapted to accommodate believers from diverse cultural backgrounds who required a more extended period of conversion and understanding.

He remarks, “As the church continued to spread, it became very, very clear that there needed to be a more thorough process,” emphasizing the necessity for a robust initiation framework (12:00).

Transition to Infant Baptism and Post-Baptismal Catechumenate

With the rise of infant baptism, the initiation process became more abbreviated. Baptizing infants necessitated a post-baptismal catechumenate, focusing on instruction and the development of baptismal grace after the sacrament. Fr. Mike explains, “In the Western tradition, baptism happens right away... because of that, there must be a post baptismal catechumenate” (17:30).

This shift underscores the Church’s commitment to nurturing faith beyond the sacramental act, ensuring that baptized individuals grow spiritually and integrate fully into the Christian community.

Second Vatican Council’s Renewal of the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults

Fr. Mike highlights the significant reforms introduced by the Second Vatican Council, which revitalized the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA). This renewal emphasizes a communal journey towards initiation, encouraging the Church to embrace rituals that resonate with diverse cultures, especially in mission territories.

“...if we're being brought into the family of God, why don't we journey as a family?” Fr. Mike poses, illustrating the communal and inclusive spirit fostered by the RCIA (21:10).

Comparing Eastern and Roman Rites

Exploring the differences between Eastern and Roman rites, Fr. Mike notes that in Eastern traditions, infant baptism is immediately followed by Confirmation and Eucharist. In contrast, the Roman rite typically spaces out these sacraments:

Eastern Rites: Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist are administered together, reflecting an immediate and holistic initiation.
Roman Rite: Baptism is often administered in infancy, with Confirmation and Eucharist received years later, allowing for personal maturation and deeper understanding.

He reflects, “...the church continues to ask the question, what is the best way to initiate those who are baptized as infants?” (25:00), highlighting ongoing discussions about optimizing the initiation process.

The Importance of Post-Baptismal Catechesis and Personal Growth

Central to Fr. Mike’s discussion is the role of post-baptismal catechesis in fostering personal growth and the flourishing of baptismal grace. He emphasizes that true initiation extends beyond doctrinal instruction to encompass a transformative relationship with faith:

“Teaching and discipling are also distinct teaching. I basically share the data with you... but also I share my very life,” Fr. Mike explains (29:15), underscoring the relational aspect of Christian formation.

Manifesting Baptismal Grace in Daily Life

Fr. Mike encourages listeners to introspect on how baptismal grace manifests in their lives. He poses reflective questions such as:

Have I walked in faith?
Do I live in hope?
Do I choose to love?

These inquiries serve as markers of a living faith, indicating the active presence of the Holy Spirit and the personal growth that Baptism aims to inspire.

Conclusion

Fr. Mike concludes by reaffirming the sanctity and transformative power of Baptism. He reminds listeners of Baptism’s role as the gateway to the Christian life and its enduring significance as a divine gift. Ending with a personal note, Fr. Mike shares his commitment to prayer and community support, fostering a sense of connection and ongoing spiritual journey for his audience.

Key Takeaways

Christian Initiation is a multifaceted journey involving proclamation, acceptance, profession of faith, Baptism, the Holy Spirit, and Eucharistic communion.
Historical Evolution shows a shift from prolonged catechumenate to the inclusion of infant Baptism, necessitating post-baptismal catechesis.
Second Vatican Council revitalized adult initiation through the RCIA, emphasizing communal and culturally adaptive rituals.
Eastern vs. Roman Rites differ in the sequencing and timing of initiation sacraments, reflecting diverse theological and pastoral approaches.
Post-Baptismal Catechesis and Personal Growth are essential for nurturing faith, encouraging a living and active Christian life.
Manifesting Baptismal Grace involves living out faith through actions rooted in belief, hope, and love.

Fr. Mike Schmitz's insightful exploration in this episode provides listeners with a deeper understanding of Baptism's pivotal role in the Catholic faith, bridging historical practices with contemporary application to foster a vibrant and enduring spiritual life.

Transcript

Father Mike Schmitz (0:06)

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us revealed in Scripture and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a Year is brought to you by ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity in God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day 168. We are reading paragraphs 201229 to 1233. As always, I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the Foundations of Faith approach. But you can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. You can also follow along by downloading your own Catechism in a Year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com ciy wow. You can also I don't know if you know this little known fact that people can click follow or subscribe on your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. Because Today it's day 168. You know, we've been talking about baptism. And the question today leading into this whole new section is how the sacrament of baptism celebrated. And we're talking today specifically about Christian initiation. Meaning, like how how have people been initiated into the Catholic Church? How how people have been initiated into Christianity. And so we're going to go all the way back to the very beginning and talk about how did the Church originally bring people in and also how that's developed over the course of, you know, roughly 2,000 years until we have the Rite of Christian Initiation for adults that we have now. Also, what do you do when you baptize kids? Like, how do you bring them? How do you initiate them? Because baptism is initiation. But it's not the only part of initiation. There's other aspects of initiation. So we're looking at those today in paragraphs 1229-1233. Before we get started though, let's or as we're starting, let's pray. Let us ask the Lord, the God of love, the God of life, God who has loved us into life to be with us now as we pray. Father in heaven, we thank you and we give you praise in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Receive our praise. Receive our thanks this day, Lord God, in the midst of sorrow, in the midst of joy, in the midst of suffering, and in the midst of strength, we just give you praise. We ask that you please hear our prayer and pour out your Holy Spirit upon all of us, that those of us who are on our way into full initiation with the Catholic Church may get to that place with great joy and great love. And for those who have been initiated into the Church, into your Church, we ask that you awaken in our hearts and enliven in our lives your grace. Your grace is new every morning. Your mercies are new every morning. And you are here with us now. Bring those graces to life. Ignite them like a smoldering wick or burning ember. Let them become a roaring flame. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. It is day 168. We are reading paragraphs 1229-1233. How is the Sacrament of Baptism celebrated? Christian INITIATION from the time of the Apostles, becoming a Christian has been accomplished by a journey and initiation in several stages. This journey can be covered rapidly or slowly, but but certain essential elements will always have to be proclamation of the Word, acceptance of the Gospel, entailing conversion, profession of faith, baptism itself, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and admission to Eucharistic communion. This initiation has varied greatly through the centuries according to circumstances. In the first centuries of the Church, Christian initiation saw considerable development. A long period of catechumenate included a series of preparatory rites which were liturgical landmarks along the path of catechumenal preparation. Preparation and culminated in the celebration of the sacraments of Christian initiation. Where infant baptism has become the form in which this sacrament is usually celebrated, it has become a single act encapsulating the preparatory stages of Christian initiation in a very abridged way. By its very nature, infant baptism requires a post baptismal catechumenate. Not only is there a need for instruction after baptism, but also for the necessary flowering of baptismal grace in personal growth. The catechism has its proper place here. The Second Vatican Council restored for the Latin Church the catechumenate for adults, comprising several distinct steps. The rites for these stages are to be found in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. The Council also gives permission that in mission countries, in addition to what is furnished by the Christian tradition, those elements of initiation rites may be admitted which are already in use among some peoples insofar as they can be adapted to the Christian ritual today. In all the rites, Latin and Eastern, the Christian initiation of adults begins with their entry into the catechumenate and reaches its culmination in a single celebration of the three sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and the Eucharist. In the Eastern rites, the Christian initiation of infants also begins with baptism, followed immediately by confirmation and the Eucharist, while in the Roman rite, it is followed by years of catechesis before being completed later by confirmation and the Eucharist, the summit of their Christian initiation. Okay, there we have it. Five short paragraphs. But also talking about how is it that people have been brought into the church. This is something we talked about right away, right? I think at the very beginning of reading this catechism, in a year, we talked about that process originally when the church came into the world, right? Jesus Christ founds a church. Of course, on Pentecost, Peter preached a sermon that convicted people to the hearts. And they said, what must we do to be saved? And Peter said, repent and be baptized, every one of you. So thousands of people were baptized that day. As the church continued to spread, it became very, very clear that there needed to be a more thorough process. Now, the people who were baptized right away were Jewish. And so the thing there was, they were prepared, right? They had been shaped by the Old Testament, they'd been shaped by the covenants. And so their step into accepting Jesus as the Messiah made sense, right? That's a short step. But as the church continued to expand, we recognized that there were people that heard the gospel and came to faith in Jesus. But they, their minds weren't shaped to like the idea of, I don't know, one God. Their minds weren't shaped to the reality that were made in God's image and likeness. Their minds weren't shaped to the reality that male and female are created equal. Like all of these things involve a drastic and dramatic conversion. And so because it involves a massive and dramatic conversion, it's not just a matter of, well, here's what I do now on Sunday mornings, it was a matter of, I have to see the world through a biblical lens. I have to see the world through the lens of Jesus. And that's a big conversion. And so, as it says here in the catechism, that would take a lot of times, a long time. It said, the journey can be covered rapidly or slowly in the church. Many times it was covered slowly. But there are always certain essential elements that have to be present. So number one, there has to be the proclamation of the Word, like the gospel has to be proclaimed, then the acceptance of the gospel entailing conversion. So I don't just assent to the gospel, I accept it, of course, but it also entails conversion. I have to live a different life. Third, the profession of faith. This is something that I actually declare, I profess. This is something that I not only internally keep and believe to myself, but I must proclaim it to the world as well. The profession of faith, then baptism itself, I need be baptized, then the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, then, and lastly, admission to the Eucharistic communion. And so this is going to be. These are these distinct and essential elements and aspects of this Christian initiation process. So keep that in mind. Now, obviously it says in 1231 where infant baptism has become the form. So a lot of times in the west, especially in the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, baptism happens right away, right? We're brought into the church before the age of reason, brought into the church, sometimes as soon as possible. So because of that, there must be a post baptismal catechumenate. So remember, in the ancient church and now when someone is adult and you know, they're grown, but they haven't been baptized yet, there is a pre baptismal catechumenate. But where all of those people like, which might be you and me, which me for sure, I tell you that right now, I was baptized on March 1, 1975, that they're required. I needed a post baptismal catechumenate. And so there's a need for instruction after baptism, but also, and I love this, it's the second to last line in 12:31, but also for the necessary flowering of baptismal grace and personal growth. So think of this. We have religious ed, we have Sunday school, and usually that happens again after baptism, at least in the West. So there's not just the teaching of the data, but also the necessary flowering of baptismal grace and personal growth. What has to happen in the Church is we have to not only impart the faith, but also elicit faith out of those people like as they force that. But you know, really to call forward, that's what I mean by elicit. To call forward faith to the flowering of baptismal grace and personal growth. And so that means what that means, obviously, not just teaching. That means through relationship, you know, discipling and teaching and discipling. If there was a Venn diagram, they'd overlap each other. But teaching and discipling are also distinct teaching. I basically share the data with you, right? I share the information with you. Discipling, I share the information with you, but also I share my very life. And that's what St. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians. So we did not only share the Gospel of God with you. We also shared our very lives. And there's something in that, there's something in that relational ministry that allows for the flowering of baptismal grace and personal growth. Now in 1232, it says that the Church has established in the Second Vatican Council a renewal of the Rite of Christian Initiation for adults. So this process, what had happened in my understanding, is what had happened in a lot of ways. If someone became a Catholic in their adulthood, they would oftentimes meet with the priest or meet with someone that the priest had kind of delegated or authorized to be able to teach. And so that's wonderful, that's great. But you go through one at a time again, which is not bad because you have one on one time. You get to have your questions answered by the priest or by that teacher. Wonderful. But the church realized that there actually is a rite of Christian Initiation of adults, that there can be a way in which if we're being brought into the family of God, why don't we journey as a family? And so not only is there a thorough explanation, a thorough teaching, education, and the rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, but also we're admitted into these rituals in a public way. Right? So there are typically times during Lent when there's like a thing like inquiry and the people who are coming into the church are getting baptized, they're kind of brought before the whole church. And the church gets to realize, oh, these are our future brothers and sisters. And not only here they are, and they're making these professions of faith, they're taking these steps of faith. But also here's the church that's gathered around them, that gets to pray for them and gets to say, okay, these are the, you're joining us. And there's something really good and communal, something really good and churchy. You know about that. I mean, churchy, not in the sense of it happening in a church, but I mean in the sense that the body of Christ kind of surrounds these people as they're on those last stages of their journey, as they come into the Catholic Church, typically at the Easter vigil. Now, last little note, this might be a point of trivia for you, but maybe it's a point of more than trivia. 1233, it says in, in all the rites, Latin and Eastern, the Christian initiation of adults begins with their entry in the catechumen, right? So that's. If you're, you're not baptized, but you, you're on the process of becoming a Catholic, you're called a catechumen, you're in the catechumenate. And it reaches its culmination typically on Easter vigil. But it doesn't have to be. It's not exclusive to that in the celebration of the three sacraments of initiation, Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist. So that's what happens as adults in the Eastern rites, when they baptize infants, they also have confirmation and the Eucharist right away. And yet here in the rite that I'm part of, the Roman rite, the Latin rite, usually you're baptized as an infant or whenever, right away, and then later on you'll go to your First Communion and first Holy or first Reconciliation and first Holy Communion, and then ultimately be confirmed. And that is, that's, that's an ongoing question of, like what, what's the best way to have these, these rites unpacked and unfolded in a person's life? In the east, right away, baptized, confirmed and receive Holy Communion, and then in the west, typically baptized a few years later, first Communion, few years later, confirmation. But, you know, this is how we do it. And the church continues to ask the question, what is the best way to initiate those who are baptized as infants? The big question you and I get to ask is, if we've been baptized, what has our post baptismal catechumena look like? How, in what way has God unpacked and given fruit to the graces that he gave to you? When, if you were baptized as an infant or maybe later in life, if you're baptized later in life, what are those graces? What are those fruits that God has brought forth in your life since your baptism? That's one of the questions we get to ask even in prayer, not, not like, have I done amazing things, but have I walked in faith? Have I lived in hope? Do I choose to love? These are the big questions we get to ask in our prayer and to say, because if we have, if we walked in faith, if we live in hope, if we choose to love, those are great signs of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Those are great signs that there is a flowering of baptismal grace in your life and in my life. Does it make sense? I hope it does. Anyways, we are going to conclude today because we're on a roll roll as we keep talking about the sacraments and baptism. It's just such, such an incredible gift. Tomorrow I will see you, but today I'll pray for you. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. Go, Sam.