J
jmcrae
Guest
The bottom line is that we are not members of the Church Universal (on Earth, in Purgatory, and in Heaven) until we are baptized in some manner, whether with water here on earth, or by desire, or by blood, which of course happen at the time of death, but not before.
There is no living person who is, at the same time, both unbaptized and a member of the Church that Christ founded.
Yes, they may be members of the Catechumenate, or less formally, they may be reading the Scriptures and attending some form of worship service and/or Sunday School classes, but the first Initiation Sacrament of the Church is Baptism.
It is by being baptized that we enter into the life of Christ, and become His disciples. Prior to that, yes, we may be learning things about Christ, and even praying to Him, but we are still strangers to Him - until we are baptized, at which point, we become children of God the Father and brothers and sisters of Christ - we become adopted into His spiritual family - that is, His disciples.
Constantine, for example, never attended the Liturgy of the Eucharist at Mass, or received Holy Communion during his life, because he was not baptized until he lay on his death bed. In those days, Catechumens were dismissed after the Liturgy of the Word, and in fact, back then, the Liturgy of the Word was actually referred to as “The Mass of the Catechumens” and the Liturgy of the Eucharist was referred to as “The Mass of the Faithful,” as though there were two distinctly different Masses taking place one right after the other, instead of these Liturgies being two movements of the same Mass.
Today, we no longer make that distinction, although many parishes are returning to the practice of dismissing those Catechumens who are participating in formal studies - but not all of the unbaptized are asked to leave - only those who are participating in the RCIA with a view to becoming Catholics at Easter time. (Which is very confusing to them, especially when they first start, since up until they made the decision to join the RCIA, they were welcome to attend the whole Mass, and now all of a sudden they are being dismissed half way through it.
)
There is no living person who is, at the same time, both unbaptized and a member of the Church that Christ founded.
Yes, they may be members of the Catechumenate, or less formally, they may be reading the Scriptures and attending some form of worship service and/or Sunday School classes, but the first Initiation Sacrament of the Church is Baptism.
It is by being baptized that we enter into the life of Christ, and become His disciples. Prior to that, yes, we may be learning things about Christ, and even praying to Him, but we are still strangers to Him - until we are baptized, at which point, we become children of God the Father and brothers and sisters of Christ - we become adopted into His spiritual family - that is, His disciples.
Constantine, for example, never attended the Liturgy of the Eucharist at Mass, or received Holy Communion during his life, because he was not baptized until he lay on his death bed. In those days, Catechumens were dismissed after the Liturgy of the Word, and in fact, back then, the Liturgy of the Word was actually referred to as “The Mass of the Catechumens” and the Liturgy of the Eucharist was referred to as “The Mass of the Faithful,” as though there were two distinctly different Masses taking place one right after the other, instead of these Liturgies being two movements of the same Mass.
Today, we no longer make that distinction, although many parishes are returning to the practice of dismissing those Catechumens who are participating in formal studies - but not all of the unbaptized are asked to leave - only those who are participating in the RCIA with a view to becoming Catholics at Easter time. (Which is very confusing to them, especially when they first start, since up until they made the decision to join the RCIA, they were welcome to attend the whole Mass, and now all of a sudden they are being dismissed half way through it.
)
