Learning to be Quick to Listen

From the very earliest days of Christianity, the Church has practiced the baptism of infants , entrusting little ones to the boundless grace of God. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 1250), Born with a fallen human nature and tainted by original sin, children also have need of the new birth in Baptism to be freed from the power of darkness and brought into the domain of the freedom of the children of God, to which all men are called. Because original sin affects all humanity, infants are baptized not to earn salvation through their own profession of faith, but to receive the foundational gift of new life in Christ, becoming temples of the Holy Spirit and members of His mystical Body, the Church. Infant baptism is firmly rooted in sacred Scripture and apostolic tradition, mirroring how entire households—including children—were baptized in the New Testament (such as in Acts 16:15 and 16:33). Just as ancient Israel welcomed infants into the covenant community through...