Previous reflections | The 16 Documents of Vatican II | Resolution |
LUMEN GENTIUM , 1964 |
Jesus taught that faith and baptism in his
Church are necessary to get to Heaven
Jesus said that anyone who hears his words
but deliberately refuses his invitation for baptism,
will not get to Heaven
But Jesus also said that people who minister
to him in the poor
will get to Heaven
Putting these ideas together leads to the
conclusion
that there is more than one way to be baptized
The ordinary way, as established by Jesus,
is by water in the Sacrament of Baptism in the Church
But if people have no opportunity to know
about water-baptism,
yet lead a life of charity,
they are baptized "by desire", as it's sometimes called
Which means:
good people who care for the poor, who lead a life of charity,
if they had the chance to know about and receive water-baptism,
would desire it
A sad reality: most people in the world don't
receive water-baptism.
Most people don't even know about it
When we get to Heaven,
we will probably find that most people there
were not water-baptized,
but desire-baptized
Does this mean we shouldn't worry about helping people know about water-baptism?
That's like saying
since it's possible
- to live without parents,
- to live without going to school,
- to live without going to a doctor,
then why bother living in a family? Why bother with parents, education,
medicine?
Living without parents, education, medicine,
should be a sad exception, not the rule
So too, living without water-baptism
should be a sad exception, not the rule
Jesus, are you happy
that 2,000 years after you set up your Church,
most people in the world have no real opportunity for water-baptism?
Jesus, such a situation must make you sad,
just as we are sad
when we reflect that millions of people in the world
have no access to education, medicine, clean water etc