The MOST scrupulous question you have ever heard-don't laugh

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MaeganFlinchum1

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ok heres the story…i am very scrupulous (always have been). and i don’t just mean scrupulous…i mean SCRUPULOUS…heres what happened:

i got very angry one day (as I tend to do) and to cool off before i said anything i shouldn’t i went to the bathroom and splashed some water on my face. as i was doing it my crazy scrupulous mind went off (plus being hot with anger) and the baptismal formula went through my head as i was splashing water on myself. that completely set my scrupuplositu off. i don’t think i intended to baptize myself. but i have never been baptized and will be baptized Easter vigil in march. (86 more days). but then later i read that it was impossible to baptize yourself (i wasnt educated in all the Catholic rules of baptism yet). but some protestants believe you can…and then i got all anxious and my anxiety has been through the roof the past couple days…wow i hope this doesn’t sound stupid. so have i done anything wrong? i’m not baptized am i? i don’t think so, but i felt like i had to check before Vigil Mass. Do i need to tell my RCIA instructors or priest? 😦
 
Just forget about.
  1. You can’t baptize yourself.
  2. You didn’t have the intention to baptize as the Church understands it.
So… no baptism and no sin.
 
You are okay Meagan. You did not baptize yourself. 🙂

How awesome though that you will indeed be baptized on Easter and confirmed as a true Catholic! That year in RCIA was such an amazing time in my life. Such anticipation leading up to that moment of confirmation. Being Catholic and walking with Christ is so great. Praise God!

Congrats, and welcome home! 👍
 
Think of it this way. Even Christ came forward and was baptized by somebody else. This tells us that we cannot baptize ourselves. You’re just fine. 🙂
 
It is more likely that your anger set your scrupulosity off than the splashing water. I suffer from this also, and it gets worse when I am under stress. Sometimes unwanted thoughts pop into my mind when I am angry. I understand the agony that you feel, and so does Jesus because He suffered much more than this in the Agony in the Garden. As others have said, you cannot baptize yourself and I’m pretty certain you didn’t try to with your full will. You likely have very little IF ANY culpability for the thought that popped into your mind. If you are about to be baptized, you can be sure that the devil will try to upset you b/c it sure isn’t anything HE wants to happen!!
 
MaeganFlinchum1 said:
splashed some water on my face. as i was doing it …] the baptismal formula went through my head
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Someone is looking forward to be baptized, huh? 😃 That is excellent, indeed.

This is no valid baptism by water, but it’s still a wonderful motion of the soul to seek sanctifying grace, even unconsciously.
MaeganFlinchum1 said:
so have i done anything wrong? i’m not baptized am i? i don’t think so, but i felt like i had to check
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Why are you so scared of the idea of having received sanctifying grace? 😃 Even in the hypothetical case that God had decided that your desire was enough, ex opere operantis, to grant you sanctifying grace even previous to your sacramental Baptism, you shouldn’t feel bad or anything 😃 Don’t worry, and if you want, do tell your priest that you really look forward to baptism: it will sure make him very joyful! As the prayer for priests of St. Therese of Lisieux goes, “may the souls to whom they minister be their joy and consolation here” 🙂

P.s.:–>:D not laughing, just smiling a lot…laughing would be this -->:rotfl: but there’s no reason to laugh to your post, unless it’s out of sheer joy for the love of God that shines from it…good Lord, I love catechumens, they give me hope for the world, no kidding.
 
Remember, even if you committed a sin, the sacrament of Baptism will wash it away.
 
Here you go:
  1. You can’t baptize yourself, only somebody else can, and only a priest can outside exceptional circumstances.
  2. The formula ran through your head, you did not intend to baptize. It is no different from your mind wandering to the lyrics from you favorite song from the '70s.
  3. You probably don’t need to tell a RCIA sponsor, but you should get a spiritual adviser to help with the scrupulocity.
 
Aeden said:
Here you go:
  1. You can’t baptize yourself, only somebody else can, and only a priest can outside exceptional circumstances.
  2. The formula ran through your head, you did not intend to baptize. It is no different from your mind wandering to the lyrics from you favorite song from the '70s.
  3. You probably don’t need to tell a RCIA sponsor, but you should get a spiritual adviser to help with the scrupulocity.
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Actually, a non-ordained person can baptize anyone, as long as they have water and baptize with the trinitarian formula and they intend to baptize the person into the Church. However, it is extremely illicit unless the person they baptized is in danger of death, in which case it is valid, licit, and commendable.
 
Inquiringperson said:
Actually, a non-ordained person can baptize anyone, as long as they have water and baptize with the trinitarian formula and they intend to baptize the person into the Church. However, it is extremely illicit unless the person they baptized is in danger of death, in which case it is valid, licit, and commendable.
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Thus the “exceptional circumstances” phrase.
 
Aeden said:
Here you go:
  1. You can’t baptize yourself, only somebody else can, and only a priest can outside exceptional circumstances.
Click to expand...
Or a Deacon 😃
MaeganFlinchum1 said:
ok heres the story…i am very scrupulous (always have been). and i don’t just mean scrupulous…i mean SCRUPULOUS…heres what happened:

i got very angry one day (as I tend to do) and to cool off before i said anything i shouldn’t i went to the bathroom and splashed some water on my face. as i was doing it my crazy scrupulous mind went off (plus being hot with anger) and the baptismal formula went through my head as i was splashing water on myself. that completely set my scrupuplositu off. i don’t think i intended to baptize myself. but i have never been baptized and will be baptized Easter vigil in march. (86 more days). but then later i read that it was impossible to baptize yourself (i wasnt educated in all the Catholic rules of baptism yet). but some protestants believe you can…and then i got all anxious and my anxiety has been through the roof the past couple days…wow i hope this doesn’t sound stupid. so have i done anything wrong? i’m not baptized am i? i don’t think so, but i felt like i had to check before Vigil Mass. Do i need to tell my RCIA instructors or priest? 😦
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I would have to say, for me, it’s a toss-up between this question, or the time someone asked if eating ice cream was a sin, for “most scrupulous question.”

Repeat what everyone else said: no sin, can’t baptize yourself, seek help for scrupulosity.
 
anp1215 said:
Or a Deacon 😃
Repeat what everyone else said: no sin, can’t baptize yourself, seek help for scrupulosity.
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A deacon can baptize people? Neat! Is it under certain circumstances or just the same circumstances as priests?
 
Aeden said:
A deacon can baptize people? Neat! Is it under certain circumstances or just the same circumstances as priests?
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Under the same circumstances as priests. Typically they baptize children under the age of reason, since they can’t celebrate Confirmation or First Holy Communion, as would be required for an adult or older child receiving baptism.
 
One of our Deacons baptized both his granddaughters-pretty cool!
 
Inquiringperson said:
The “exceptional circumstances” phrase may have implied that if a lay person baptized someone, it’s invalid.
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Well, valid baptism implies intention of the minister (who, I read, can even be a non-Christian or a child) to do what the Church does, valid disposition of the person receiving the baptism (if old enough), valid matter and valid form. At most, a non-exceptional circumstance may make it illicit, but I don’t know about invalid since the sacrament works ex opere operato…right?
 
I really enjoyed this post. Seeing converts like you get so excited makes me think back to my days in RCIA and the excitement I had leading up to the Easter Vigil. Being Catholic is so awesome!
 
Thanks!! I feel so much better and Im so excited for Easter Vigil!
 
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