CathInfo.com

As started on another thread, I believe this deserves one of its own.

We know that the Sacrament of Baptism is necessary for salvation.  I agree that this does not exclude Baptism of Desire per se, since the Sacrament of Baptism is necessary (a sine qua non) for Baptism of Desire.

In order to avoid heresy, we must maintain that the Sacrament of Baptism operates through the votum, as the instrumental cause of justification.

How can the Sacrament of Baptism "work" on the Hindu in Tibet?

How, moreover, can it "work" its effects on an unbaptized Christian who doesn't even believe in Baptism?

What is this magical force of Baptism that somehow works without even the subject's knowledge to justify souls?

This is the theory of "αnσnymσus Baptism," where someone receives Baptism in voto without their even knowing about Baptism.

Please explain the metaphysics of how Baptism operates on souls.  This reminds me of the scientific debate about gravity, where scientists have absolutely no idea how gravity can "act at a distance".  How can Baptism "act" on souls at a distance, even when the soul doesn't know about it or believe in it?

So how does the Sacrament effect justification ex opere operato in anyone who doesn't believe in the Sacrament?

How, for that matter, does it effect justification even in someone who DOES believe in it?

It's funny that with a "defined dogma" like Baptism of Desire that there's no answer for how it works and what the conditions for it are, whether faith in the Sacrament is required or whether the Sacrament can reach through space and time and somehow magically wash those Hindus in Tibet of their sins.