St. John of the Cross Parish welcomes you and your child to the Sacrament of Baptism.

Learn About the Sacrament of Baptism

Baptism is a sacrament of initiation, cleansing, strengthening, and welcoming. Baptism welcomes us into the community of Christian believers. It offers us a new life in which we become the adopted children of God, followers of Christ, and temples in which the Holy Spirit dwells. Baptism leaves a permanent spiritual mark on our soul that makes us holy and opens us to salvation and eternal life with God.

Like any sacrament, Baptism makes visible an invisible reality. In other words, we use physical signs and rituals to express our experience of God and his grace in our lives. The symbols you see at Baptism will include the following:

• The Sign of the Cross is traced on the forehead of the one being baptized. This ritual action expresses that the mystery of the cross is at the heart of our faith.
• The pouring of water on of the one being baptized reminds us that we die with Jesus to conquer sin and rise with him so we might enter into new life. In this action we are reminded of how Moses led the Hebrews on their escape from Egypt and how he parted the waters of the Red Sea as the gateway to liberation, away from slavery and into the Promised Land. We also recall Jesus’ death and Resurrection, which free us from sin and bring us into a new way of living.
• “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” are spoken while the water is poured. These words reveal that God in the Trinity is both the source of life and our life’s goal.
• The newly baptized is anointed with sacred oil to signify that the Holy Spirit dwells within the heart of this new Christian. It’s also a sign of being anointed to a mission to live and love as Jesus lived.
• A white garment reflects that in Baptism we “put on Christ,” taking our new and truest identity as a son or daughter of God.
• A Baptismal candle, lit from the Easter candle by the godparent, represents the one true light of Christ, a light to guide the new believer throughout his or her life.

As a parish community, we rejoice with you as we welcome a new child of God into our faith community and once again celebrate the mysteries of God's love for us and of our salvation. As a community of faith, we also pledge to support you in raising your child to know and love Jesus Christ and to joyfully engage the world on behalf of the Gospel.