THREE FORMS OF BAPTISM – PART 3

3. Baptism by Desire: Part of Catholic theology is the Universal Salvific Will of God, which is just a fancy way of saying that God basically would like for everyone, all men and women, to join him in heaven. Men and women have free will, though, so he offers the gift of grace, but men and women must freely accept and then cooperate with it… People who lack any knowledge of Christ and his teachings are sometimes called anonymous Christians, and they don’t consciously, deliberately, and willingly reject Christ and his Catholic Church, so they aren’t responsible for not knowing the whole truth. Therefore, the Church believes in Baptism by desire, which allows salvation for non-Christians who, through no fault of their own, haven’t yet accepted Christ explicitly but nonetheless live good, moral lives as if already Christian. Only those who consciously, deliberately, and willingly reject Christ are considered liable. If people in their heart of hearts are sincerely disposed to God’s will but, through no fault of their own, don’t know about Jesus Christ  or they’ve never been shown by word and good example then the Church presumes that they possess an implicit desire to be baptized. If someone had told them and given good example, they would’ve freely and willingly embraced Christianity and asked for Baptism by water. God Bless!             Father Maria Joseph Kodiganti