Caring for a Child’s Spiritual Needs (Part 1): BAPTISM
“Suffer the Children”/“Let the Children Come Unto Me” by Carl Bloch, 1800s
Yesterday, we celebrated our daughter's second baptism birthday, 11 days after she turned two. We like to find a small way to make this day special for our kids—because it is. On their baptism day, they officially became a child of God. Just as we celebrate the day our children were born into this life and joined our physical family, so, too, we celebrate the day they were (re)born into life in Christ, joining the universal Christian family of heaven and earth through baptism.
We baptized our first two children as soon as possible after birth, and will do the same for this third child, when she arrives. Baptism is one of our responsibilities as parents: we must fully nurture each of our children in body, mind, and spirit. As a mother, I cannot imagine not feeding, bathing, dressing, protecting, hugging or educating my children. In the same way, I can’t imagine not baptizing my children, or continuing to care for their spiritual needs. The health of my child’s soul is at least as important as the health of his or her mind and body—arguably more so, because the soul must continue on into the afterlife, where it will spend eternity in heaven or hell. A child’s spiritual needs are very real—though easily overlooked because children are unable to clearly voice these needs, just as they can't voice many other needs. Every human soul needs Jesus, and craves His continued presence, including the youngest of children.
As parents, we do everything we can to make sure our kids will be as happy, healthy and holy as possible in this life. We want their souls to radiate the light and love of Christ. Baptism is the way Jesus is formally ushered into a soul. It gives Him full permission to live and work there, and confers a special form of grace called “justification” which enables spiritual growth and is unlocked by baptism. The grace of justification:
- enables a soul to believe in God, to hope in Him, and to love Him through the theological virtues;
- gives a soul the power to live and act under the prompting of the Holy Spirit through the gifts of the Holy Spirit;
- allows a soul to grow in goodness through the moral virtues. (CCC 1266)
More than earthly health and happiness, however, we desire eternal peace and joy for our children. We want them to spend forever with Christ, in heaven. Because we “know neither the day nor the hour” of death (Matthew 25:13), we do not wait longer than necessary to baptize our children. As parents, we have a right and duty to choose baptism for our children, immediately, because they cannot yet do this for themselves. Since the start of Christian times, baptism has been conferred upon infants and children. In the short span of days between birth and baptism, we half-jokingly refer to our newborns as “cute little pagan babies”—because, by definition, they are. The unbaptized are not members of the earthly or heavenly Christian family. Unbaptized souls are in very real danger of hell.
God has bound our eternal salvation to the sacrament of baptism (though He, Himself, is of course not bound to baptism). All Christian churches teach this: that one must be baptized with water “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" to be saved (without this formula, it is not a valid Christian baptism). For Jesus, Himself, said it, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16) and again, more emphatically, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). To be baptized is to have a chair reserved in heaven—assuming we do not later forfeit this seat by choice of head, heart, or a life lived outside His commands.
Baptism is not merely symbolic, it's salvific—it changes the actual state of the soul, not just the mind or heart. To be baptized is to have been made spiritually eligible for heaven. “Baptism… now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21). Through baptism the soul receives Christ and His gift of salvation. It is forever changed—washed and freed of all accumulated sin (including the original sin every human is born with as a descendent of Adam and Eve).
We do not delay or deny our children this critical form of spiritual care. We would never put their sweet little souls in jeopardy, by avoiding baptism. It’s my opinion that God, in His perfect mercy, would not hold a child responsible for not being baptized, but that He would, in His perfect justice, hold us—as parents and trusted guardians—responsible for this neglect.
Jesus has a special love for children. He wishes to draw them near to Himself. And He has particularly warned adults to never prohibit a child’s access to Him, “Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people; but Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:13-14). And so, because we deeply love both Jesus and our children, we bring them to Him right away in baptism—that He might be the Lord and Savior of their souls at the start of their lives, and stay with them always to the end, just as He promised.
Matthew 28:19-20
“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 lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”
