What is Baptism?

 

Valid Baptism has a permanent effect on the soul, it embeds on it a seal, a hallmark, that never goes away, no matter what happens.

The one who has been baptized with water, with the words:

"I baptize you in the Name of The Father, and of The Son and of The Holy Spirit" becomes a Child of God.

 

Some might argue that we are all children of God, and it is true that we are all His creatures; God created all of us in the order of nature, through our parents, 

but Baptism gives us God's supernatural stamp, 

we become sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus. The love and fidelity to God Our Father, shown to us by Jesus, is implanted in us.

Baptism is necessary to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

 

The Sacrament of Baptism imparts on the baptized God's sanctifying grace; Divine Life. 

The 3 Persons of The Holy Trinity is grafted into the soul; this imprint grants supernatural strength and power which makes us children of God.

 

It washes away sins; for infants we are talking about original sin, but in the case of adult baptism it also washes away all actual sins committed.

 

The baptized becomes member of the Church, it is the entrance into the community of the universal Church, and all the other Sacraments of the Church depends on this first one. 

 

Baptism is a new birth, a regeneration; the person has been born into the world by natural birth parents, now the baptized is being born again, in the supernatural order, so it needs another set of parents; God parents.

 

The washing with running water which flows, in the same way as we wash ourselves, is because the ritual corresponds to the natural reality of washing our bodies, as we know it. 

 

Baptism is the visible sign that signifies what it produces and produces what it signifies.

 

Baptism is also a public proclamation of faith in Jesus Christ.  

What makes the devil happy

 

The devil's goal is always to break, divide, 

to destroy Love; The Source of Life, 

and instead to plant resentment,

un-forgiveness, jealousy, anger, etc.

The ways and methods to obtain it are many, 

but, as is well documented in The Bible;

the "love" of money and earthly possessions seems

to be the biggest stumbling block, which hinders 

and prevents us from inheriting the Kingdom of

God. This "love" is not love, of course, but 

prioritizing, putting in front of the rest, and it is 

a veritable stumbling block, a hindrance, and it 

always hurts pure unconditional Love, from 

where we all have our origin.

Because we can not follow two opposite masters

at the same time, we have to choose one.

 

Those who have a lively and authentic faith in God,

trusts God, who commands us to put Him first, 

quite literally and concretely; to trust in His providence

and to put Him before all other things.

We still have to take care of the rest, we have duties, 

obligations, work, studies, etc. which we have to

carry out with care, if we did not, we would not 

render to God nor Caesar what belongs to each of them.

 

The immorality around anything to do with money

is so ingrained and accepted, we accept this corruption

because it seems to be the norm, in Ireland anyway.

We even laugh at it, as if it doesn't really matter, 

but the truth is that we sell our souls to it, we loose 

the possibility to inherit the Kingdom of God, 

if we take this route.

 

"When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because 

he had great wealth."

 Matthew 19:22

 

But it is not only about having accumulated wealth throughout

a lifetime, which makes it so hard to let go of it, also those who 

have not acquired any wealth can be equally trapped in the 

adhesion to a belief that the only value there is can be measured 

in monetary terms and possessions. Even a poor person might be 

obsessed by money; thinking about it, his lack of it, jealous of 

what the others have, of greed, of meanness, this is equally

poisonous to his soul as the person who sits and guards his pot 

of gold.

To have good morals means doing the right thing in any given 

situation, because all our actions have consequences, even the 

smallest ones. What about faithfulness and loyalty? Do we treat and respect 

others the way they deserve? The ones that were always putting 

us first? Or do we only take into consideration our own selfish

wishes, what suits us best, regardless of what is right?

 

The truth is that God provides; through human beings, who

He made in His Image, He dwells at the center of our being, 

and with our cooperation through the use of our willpower,

He acts through us.

 

Without a shred of false humility I say that I am a poor sinner,

the only thing that I had, and still have, is an unfailing belief 

and trust in God.  

Regarding money; I always detested having anything to do with it.

I did not put it first, but to this day I have always had more than I 

ever needed, and in proportion to my growing faith and trust in God, 

the financial and material aspects of my life have fallen beautifully 

into place by itself, with very little contribution from me.

 

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away 

in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much 

more valuable than they?"

Matthew 6:26

 

God did it all.