BAPTISM AS AN INSPIRATION TO UNDERTAKE SPIRITUAL STRUGGLE IN THE LIFE OF SECULAR CATHOLICS Cover Image

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BAPTISM AS AN INSPIRATION TO UNDERTAKE SPIRITUAL STRUGGLE IN THE LIFE OF SECULAR CATHOLICS

Author(s): Henryk Szmulewicz
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion
Published by: Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II - Wydział Teologii
Keywords: Baptism; spiritual struggle; redemption; love; mercy; evangelization; morality; inspiration; motivation; sin; forgiveness

Summary/Abstract: The sacrament of Baptism does not contradict the truth about the freedom of man towards God’s redemptive plans, but just the opposite, it confirms it. Owing to the grace of revival received in this sacrament, man is summoned to a voluntary response to the gifts of God. In everyday life, this response is marked by one-of-a-kind struggle which we usually define as spiritual struggle. Within the framework of the theological analysis of the source, effects and fruits of the sacrament of Baptism, this study emphasizes the motivational dimension of this sacrament. It tries to justify why from the moment of Baptism, when taking subsequent sacraments, man is supposed to live a deep spiritual life, and thus lead persistent and victorious spiritual struggle. Moreover, in the text of the article we can find references to the community dimension of the aforementioned struggle. In the pastoral service of the Church, the sacrament of Baptism should be shown both as an inspiration to undertake spiritual struggle by all those who believe in Christ, and as a theological source of the general justification of the permanent Christian formation in the perspective of the tasks the Church is facing today as a community, coming to the contemporary world with the joyful address about the paschal victory of Christ.

  • Issue Year: 8/2014
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 109-126
  • Page Count: 18