Mystical Baptism?

[CSJ]

Anyone ever heard of Mystical Baptism? A friend mentioned it to me the other day. He said that only two individuals had received this type of baptism (baptism in the womb) and they were John the Baptist and St. Joseph. Anyone have any thoughts to share?

CSJ

 

[InspiritCarol]

Hunh. Can’t account fot the different def.

Here’s what I see:

catholicplanet.com/RCC/mystical-baptism.htm

the Church has also always taught that it is possible to receive sanctifying grace apart from the formal Sacrament of Baptism (i.e. without the water and words form of Baptism). This other form of Baptism, which lacks the external ritual of water and words, is properly called a mystical Baptism.

 

[opusAquinas]

Mystical baptism is something unique. St. Joseph received it and John the Baptist as well as the prophet Jeremiah: “Before you were born I consecrated you.”

The Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived without sin. John the Baptist was conceived in sin but his original sin was washed away in the womb by the Holy Spirit (presumably under the consent of Elizabeth his mother).

So was St. Joseph or John the Baptist a “horny” teenager. Did mystical baptism confer on them a special grace other than simply their original sin being forgiven. My answer is yes.
Ordinary men cannot love God. They feel God’s love for them: they feel loved but cannot themselves feel love for God. But those who receive mystical baptism: can feel love for God. They feel love for others and for themselves. Not like most men who can barely like themselves or others.
It was this love for God that prompted Joseph to be an upright spouse and for John the Baptist to leave a cushy job as a potential priest for the wilderness.