.Please excuse the delay, for I was interrupted four times
today trying to post this and now, even though I might not
be quite done with it, I have to turn it in because I have run
out of energy with this.
So here Fr. Mueller offers a definition of so-called baptism
of desire that the Church has not dared to offer in, let's say,
the Council of Trent:
PostLESSON IV.
BAPTISM... . . . . [penultimate Q&A]
Q. What is baptism of desire? [/size]
[Trent does not define BoD at all, nor does Trent use the term,
"baptism of desire," even while all the relatively low-level
pundits who profess a nebulous authority over this topic claim
that Trent is the best source for the doctrinal basis for BoD.
This has been dealt with elsewhere. Suffice it to say that Trent
does no such thing, and to claim that it does is merely a
theological opinion.]
A. An earnest wish to receive baptism, or to do all
that God requires of us for our salvation, together
with a perfect contrition, or a perfect love of God. This is a highly defective definition, and you would never
see it in any definitive docuŠ¼ent from the Holy See, because
it is much too vague. For example, this definition can be
equally interpreted to mean any one of the following, to the
exclusion of any one or any combination of the others, up
to and including all of the others:
1) Baptism of desire is an earnest wish to receive baptism. This can be the
entirety of the definition, according to the
objective words of the Answer, above, because the next
word is "or," which means either what comes before, OR
what comes after the "or," (as "or" is an exclusive operator
in the English language), and therefore, this "1)..." only
makes use of what came before. By any reasonable
language standard, that would be just fine with this definition,
as it is written in the quoted text of Fr. Mueller.
This is to say that
"An earnest wish to receive baptism" is just
as accurate for a complete answer as is
"An earnest wish to
do all that God requires of us for our salvation, together with
a perfect contrition, or a perfect love of God," which
constitutes the remainder of the Answer, and an exclusive
alternative, as the Answer is here written. There are more
distinctions to be made in this complex second alternative
version, as shown below.
Returning to this first example,
"1) Baptism of desire is an
earnest wish to receive baptism":
But merely an earnest wish to receive baptism could not
possibly suffice without any wish to do the will of God and/or
to know and believe the truth, since it is the will of God for
all men to come to the knowledge of the truth; and a mere
desire to receive baptism (whatever that means) makes no
mention of the faith and/or knowledge of the truth, and so
does not necessarily comply with the will of God. It is this
case of the subject in question having no intention to
cooperate with God's will and therefore grace, but only to
receive baptism, that makes for a grave fault in any efficacy
that may have otherwise endured beyond the initial graces of
the sacrament (BoD is not a sacrament) to the effect of
having prevented the falling away from the Faith at a later
time.
This is not to say it CANNOT comply - but that is up to God
to judge and not up to us to judge. This is not something
that we should even be concerned with, because we cannot
know the subjective disposition of anyone's heart, let alone
the heart of a man who is dying without water baptism.
In any case, the desire to receive Baptism is insufficient on
its face even for the reception of the sacrament, for it is not
the desire for the sacrament which is most important but
the desire for the supernatural virtue of Faith that is
paramount. This is why the Church always asks the
catechumen, "What do you desire?" -and his answer is to
properly be "Faith." -not "Baptism." Any catechumen who
persists in answering "Baptism," even though he may think
it some kind of joke or game or frivolity, might, at the
discretion of the minister, be informed that his baptism has
been postponed. And this is not to be "mean" or "a nathty
sthtickler" (as +W may say), but to make sure that the
sacrament is not being abused. It could be a sign from God
that this catechumen is not ready for Baptism, or perhaps
he NEVER will be!
To think that is impossible is to judge the knowledge of God.
Do you suppose that God would not know when such a one
exists and is attempting to be baptized, perhaps with an
ulterior motive, such as to gain entry into some group or
club or party that requires a Baptismal record?
2) Baptism of desire is an earnest wish to do all that God
requires of us for our salvation, together with a perfect
contrition. If this is what the dying person has, perfect contrition (which
is next to impossible for even baptized Catholics to attain
unless they have either tremendous graces or else have spent
a lifetime of prayer and virtuous living directed at achieving
this most precious of goals), and an earnest wish to do all
that God requires of us for our salvation (a thing which is
easier believed possible given the former, perfect contrition),
then it would seem that the dying person has everything he
needs to evoke the most forthright act of God's providence
possible, and who are we to say this cannot happen?
But without first the former (perfect contrition), the latter
(an earnest wish to do all God reqires of us for our salvation)
has a miniscule chance of happening in the heart of a man
dying with all the snares and assaults of the devil that
invariably befall such a one at that time -- that is, unless the
person receives som unusual special grace such as that
promised by the Sacred Heart promises to St. Margaret Mary.
But how could an unbaptized person be familiar with and have
practiced such as the 9 First Saturdays Devotion without ever
being baptized?? How does one Communicate worthily
(under the normal conditions) on 9 consecutive months
without ever having fulfilled the very first normal condition,
which is water baptism????
3) Baptism of desire is an earnest wish to receive a
perfect love of God. -- A rather unlikely meaning, but nonetheless one that cannot
be objectively denied by the words of this answer, as written.
If this definition is true, it would have to be in any individual
case a tremendous miracle of grace, for one to die without
water baptism but only an earnest wish to receive a perfect
love of God. Far be it from us to pass judgment on that! But
as we have said so often, this is not a matter for us to judge,
but it is in the domain of God alone, who knows all such things.
4) Baptism of desire is an earnest wish to do all that God
requires of us for our salvation, together with a perfect love
of God. This is the one that others, above, have addressed by saying
that it is in the infinite providence of God to supply all that
God requires of us that acts upon us, such as water baptism.
For if God requires it (and according to the Council of Trent,
He does so require it) AND we truly wish to have it, THEN
God is wholly capable of supplying it, by whatever means He
chooses, be it miraculously, such as transporting a priest like
Padre Pio or St. Anthony of Padua, or St. Thomas the Apostle,
or the Cure d'Ars, all of whom are said to have been seen in
more than one location at the same time -- therefore, they were
given the power to appear to others far away to do whatever
God wanted them to do, such as baptize. In one case in
particular, St. Anthony raised a corpse from the dead just to
give him Holy Baptism, then the very fortunate man lay down
again, and his flesh returned to the former state of corruption
in death from whence it had come for a few minutes in order
to receive the life-giving waters. What would be the point of
such a miracle if water baptism were not necessary, as Trent
says, and if the dead man's desire alone was sufficient? For
the witnesses of this prodigy were thereby taught the value
of the sacrament and they were NOT taught the sufficiency of
NOT having any sacrament, since so-called baptism of desire
is not a sacrament. If you doubt that then you haven't bothered
to ask any priest about it. Even Modernist priests admit that
so-called baptism of desire is not a sacrament.
5) Baptism of desire is an earnest wish to receive baptism,
together with a perfect contrition. If that were the case, it would be great! How many Catholics
would long for the ability to achieve a perfectly contrite heart!
And what could be more pure than this combined with an
earnest wish to receive holy Baptism? But I have to say that
this term, BoD, has been all too often applied when there was
no such evidence of the subject having achieved this rare and
wonderful state of soul. In any case, it is a judgment for God
to make and not us.
6) Baptism of desire is an earnest wish to receive baptism,
together with a perfect love of God. The same goes for the rare and wonderful state of having
achieved a perfect love of God. This is the object of all our
desires as Catholics. And would that it is true that there are
many who have achieved this.
However, in these last two cases (5 & 6), how often would it
be that one who so desires and perfectly loves God and/or has
achieved a perfect contrition, would then later slip back into a
less admirable state, and perhaps even one of sin, if he
survives? But most of all, if such a one does not survive, who
is to say that God, Who knows all things, and for Whose power
and providence there is no limit, would not provide a minister
to baptize him before his death?
Topic: Problem with BOD - 20th Century Morphing (Read 5380 times)