So what happened here?  Well, this child was cleansed from "original sin," reborn into new life in Christ, and adopted as a daughter of God.  An indelible mark of Christ was imprinted on her soul.  (see the CCC)

These days there seems to be much confusion regarding this Sacrament.  Many Fundamentalist/Evangelical churches have distorted or simply thrown out the Sacraments instituted by Jesus himself.  "Jesus wasn't baptized until he was an adult, and the Bible portrays countless adults being baptized"... so the argument goes.  It's heart-breaking to see so many well-intentioned Christian parents led astray on this issue, so I thought I'd use the occasion to share a few thoughts in search of the truth.

First, it must be recognized that the Bible does not include a single case of a child from Christian parents being baptized only after he/she had reached the "age of reason."  Second, of course Jesus and other adults weren't baptized as infants, because when they were infants the Sacrament didn't exist!  

So, adults were baptized in the first century... yes, the Church still does this today.  But there is no evidence that children had to wait until they could consciously "accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior" (and this was never taught until recent times).  Does Scripture indicate that infants were baptized from the beginning of Christianity?  The answer is yes.

Many times entire households or families were baptized (see Acts 2:39, 16:15,33; 1Cor 1:16).  In this age, what are the chances that none of these households included children "under the age of reason"?  

Jesus said that no one enters heaven unless they are born again of water and spirit (Jn 3:5).  So who is "eligible" for this rebirth through water?  According to Jesus, children belong to the kingdom of heaven (Mt 19:14, Lk 18:16).  Oh, but he must have meant those children who could "come to him" on their own accord, right?  Nope.  In this same passage, Luke uses the Greek word brepha, which means infants.  "They were bringing even infants to him" (Lk 18:15).  

While Jesus did not have the option of baptism as a child, he was circumcised at 8 days old and presented in the temple at 40 days, according to Jewish custom (Lk 2:21-22).  Circumcision was how you were sealed as a child of God under the old covenant.  And what, according to St. Paul, replaces circumcision under the new covenant?  Baptism!  (see Col 2:11-12)  In the Old Testament, if a man wanted to become a Jew, he had to believe in the God of Israel and be circumcised.  Those born into a Jewish family would be circumcised as infants in anticipation of the faith in which he will be raised.   The pattern holds true.  Rebirth for adults now requires faith in God/Jesus and the new rite of membership - baptism.  Babies from Christian families are baptized in anticipation of their upbringing in the faith.  This is why St. Paul refers to baptism as the "circumcision of Christ."  If he meant for infants to be excluded from Baptism, why would he compare it to circumcision?

If Scripture is not explicit enough, how about considering whether the next generations of Christians baptized infants?  What did the Apostles teach them?  Born in 140 A.D., an early Christian leader named Irenaeus wrote "He came to save us all through himself; all, I say, who through him are reborn in God:  infants, and children, and youths, and old men."  (Against Heresies, 189 A.D.)  His bishop was Polycarp - a personal disciple of John the Apostle!

A few years later, Hippolytus wrote, "Baptize first the children; and if they can speak for themselves, let them do so.  Otherwise, let their parents or other relatives speak for them." (The Apostolic Tradition, 215 A.D.)

These are just two examples of many early Christian writings confirming the importance of baptizing infants.  

This is why the Catholic Church teaches that "The sheer gratuitousness of the grace of salvation is particularly manifest in infant Baptism.  The Church and the parents would deny a child the priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer Baptism shortly after birth" (CCC 1250).  

After so many centuries, the question is not, "Why do the Catholics baptize infants?"  The real question is, "Why did any Christians ever stop?"

Any thoughts?