Following Tradition

On the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Pope Benedict XVI continued a long-established tradition by baptizing 13 newborns in the Sistine Chapel. In doing so, he followed another tradition that he has actively encouraged both as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and as Pope--that of ad orientem celebration of Mass.

The altar in the Sistine Chapel is fastened to the wall, so Mass--even the Ordinary Form of the Mass, which the Holy Father used at this celebration--is celebrated with the priest and the congregation facing in the same direction, toward the Lord on the altar.

In the context of the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord and the baptism of the 13 infants, the orientation of celebration took on even greater meaning. When Jesus was brought by Mary and Joseph to the Temple in Jerusalem for the Presentation (a Jewish precursor to the Sacrament of Baptism), He would have been presented at the altar of sacrifice in the same manner--facing toward the Lord.

In his homily, Pope Benedict noted that, in Baptism, "we give back to God that which came from Him. A child is not the property of its parents, but is freely . . . entrusted to their responsibility by the Creator that they may help it become a free child of God. Only if parents achieve such an understanding can they strike the right balance between the desire to dispose of their children as if they were a personal possession, forming them on the basis of their own ideas and desires, and a libertarian attitude expressed in allowing children to grow up in complete autonomy satisfying their every desire and aspiration in the belief that this is a way to cultivate their personality."

Parents must educate their children in the Faith; they cannot regard the baptism of their children as the end of their duties, because, "Although with this Sacrament the newly-baptised become adoptive children of God, object of His infinite love which protects them and defends them from the dark forces of evil, it is still necessary to teach them to recognise God as their Father and to behave towards him as children."

Baptism gives children "the richness of divine life in which the true freedom of children of God is rooted; a freedom which then has to be educated and formed over the years, that they may become capable of making responsible individual decisions."

The sacraments are the foundation of the Christian life, but by themselves, they do not ensure that we lead a moral life. For that, Christian education, which correctly forms our consciences, is indispensable. That education is yet another way of integrating ourselves and our families into the traditions of the Faith.