Why Baptizing Your Baby Is the Most Important Thing You Can Do

Why does the Catholic Church baptize babies rather than wait until they are older and capable of choosing this sacrament for themselves?

Salvation requires faith, and it can be challenging to understand how an infant accepts the truths of the Catholic Faith at the moment of Baptism.

Today Fr. Mike uses an example from Mark’s Gospel to help us understand how the profession of faith by our parents at the moment of our Baptism prepares us to receive the gift of salvation later in our lives.

❓ Have ideas for future videos ❓ Topics you want to hear about ❓ Questions you want answered ❓ Make sure to put #AskAscension in your comment 👍

— MORE FROM ASCENSION —

— SOCIAL MEDIA —

— BULLDOG CATHOLIC —

[MissLauraSquared]

My daughter was supposed to be baptized on 12/28/19 just before she turned 2 months old. On 12/27/19, however, she was ambulanced to our state’s major children’s hospital for seizures. I remember calling the priest crying, letting him know we wouldn’t be able to have the baptism the next day. I was heartbroken. After my daughter’s health continued to decline and it seemed like we were going backwards instead of forwards in terms of figuring everything out medically, I decided on 1/5/20 we would have her baptized in the hospital on the next day. (On Epiphany!) I was so sad because I had always envisioned a big celebration at the church where we attended and having tons of friends there, my daughter getting to wear a special baptismal gown, etc. and all of those dreams were dashed because of the issue of only allowed to have so many people in the NICU. Even though this was before the pandemic, everyone in the room had to wear masks and medical robes and only a few people could be physically in the room. Even though it wasn’t what I envisioned, her baptism was beautiful and special in its own way. The important thing was she was getting baptized. After her baptism, although she didn’t get better immediately, we started to get answers and things started improving from then. I am happy to say she is happy and healthy now and a beautiful 3-year old little girl. I am so happy with the decision I made to have her baptized in the hospital. Such a special gift.

[DeMolay]

I am a Christian but not part of the Catholic faith but I love listening to Priest Mike to learn more about the Catholic faith. He is a great representation of Christianity as a whole and we need more men like him in God’s Army. I disagree with aspects of the Catholic religion but have nothing but love for them. We are all of the same team against Satan. Keep up the good work brothers and sisters. Much love :)

[Lauren-sebu]

I was baptised as an adult and I do get what Fr Mike says about being tempted to think how great you are for converting. It was a gift from God, not my own doing. Every asset, including my faith, is a gift from God.

[ukulelebutterfly]

The birth of my son was part of my spiritual rebirth. When I held him in my arms, I knew instinctively to have him baptized. I was responsible for his spiritual growth as well as his physical. What a blessing. 🦋

[simple_naildesigns]

Amen! One of my boys was born prematurely, lungs didn’t fully develop and with his health declining we decided to baptize him in NICU. His health improved soon after baptism and he is now a strong and healthy 6 year old boy. 🥰🙏🏽

[jaimemarks]

Being baptized as an infant; having God inside me ALWAYS, has literally saved my life in so many ways!

[jahbee]

I'm a protestant and never held to the belief of baptizing infants. This video gave a very compelling and well thought out argument.

[sonicshooter]

Thank you. I needed to hear that. I go to a nondenominational church called Faith Promise. I learned a lot about scripture because of them but most of them don’t believe in infant baptisms because the infants don’t have full awareness of what is happening and haven’t made the conscious decision to follow Jesus. I got baptized as a baby in the United Methodist Church and was contemplating getting re-baptized but I always felt some pull away from it. Now I know why. It was my family’s faith that got me started as a baby and years later I made conscious decision to fully accept Jesus.

[dawnlapka]

My oldest daughter and her husband recently went to Canada with people from the Lincoln Diocese to see the Pope. She and her husband received a Papal blessing. They are pregnant with their first child. That gives me 4 grandchildren. Blessed. Thanks for the subject Father Mike.

[Zetchzie]

I thank my mother for having me baptized as an infant and Jesus for saving me.

[nicoleyoshihara]

Love baptism! I had an emergency baptism in the hospital the day I was born and I was a premie born around 3 months early at around 1 something pounds. So grateful for that gift. It was a miracle and I believe through baptism, all the prayers and God's will that I am here today with no complications. I was born on my aunt's birthday ^_^ Thank you God!^_^🙏❤

[dramaqueen]

My older sister had a baby but she’s not a practicing catholic so I’m praying that she’ll reconsider baptizing my nephew and raising him in the faith

[sierradavisdottir]

I love this video. I’m in a lot of mom groups and someone said that they were waiting until their babies first birthday to get them baptized so that they could combine the birthday party and the baptism celebration. I told them that they really should try to get the baby baptized as soon as they can, since it’s such a dire thing, if you truly believe in the power of it, but she said “tHaT’s NoT wHaT i WaS aSkInG aBoUt!!!!“ (in all fairness, she was asking about party decorations)

Ugh. So many lukewarm Catholics and Catholics by name only who don’t understand why we do what we do (or don’t really believe in the things we do)

[chumn]

Thank you so much for what you do for the betterment of humanity. I am so thankful for your presence on YouTube and for your daily sharing of the word.

[roxannaramirez]

Im Protestant but I love your scriptural explanation of the importance of baptism. I feel this is a lacking of emphasis among Protestants. Even as an adult, baptism really does change things spiritually. It’s always beneficial to follow the precepts set forth in the Bible, and if Jesus did there certainly must be a profoundness to it. And I agree that as a parent your faith for your children is of importance. Thanks for your explanation. Love this and it’s so beautiful,

[jhernandezrm]

I genuinely feel like it’s up to a person to come to God in their time, when they decide . Because my mom had my sister do the repentance prayer a couple years back and nothing happened. But 2 weeks ago my sister asked and wanted to do the repentance prayer and she felt the Holy Spirit come into her . She cried as she felt something lift off of her and she hasn’t been the same since . Same with me a couple months back . One has to confess when they desire to do so . Babies do not understand what sin is . Baptized or not, whether they believe it will help them they will still fall and learn sin . But they need to still confess with their lips and understand what it means to give your life to God and turn away from sin . And that they need a savior . A baby does not know that . Even my sister didn’t fully know what it means to need a savior until she herself came and asked . And in their room . She was reborn .

[checkit]

My daughter was born May 16, 2019. I wanted to have her baptism at St. Patrick’s in New Orleans. It’s a very beautiful and old church who’s patron Saint is St. Michael the Archangel. When I started attending the baptism classes I learned about the Old Latin Rite baptism. One night I just got it into my head that I wanted my daughter baptized in the Old Latin Rite. The first availability for her baptism just so happened to fall on Sunday, September 29, 2019…St. Michael’s feast day. At the time I just thought it would be a beautiful ceremony to have in St. Patrick’s. Little did I know that decision would hold much more significance than I could have ever imagined. About 1 month after her birth we started experiencing demonic activity in our home, but I had no clue about what was happening until things started photobombing all my pictures 2 years later in March 2021 & the events which followed in the months after were horrific eventually leading to me running (literally) out of the house where we had been living with my child & we never returned. Things were so bad the archdiocese got involved & a team of exorcists began helping us which is when I learned the ugly truth of the situation I had been dealing with. I was in a state of shock & disbelief for a long time & it was hard to come to terms with it all & came what was happening but everything that I was experiencing started to make complete sense the more I was educated on the matter. The next year was spent trying to identify what the entry point(s) & causes were that had invited this evil into our lives. It has not been an easy process because there are many things potentially to blame between our former home’s property history, my family background & (former) foolish lifestyle choices I had made. One of the things I learned was regarding generational curses & spirits in a family lineage. I slowly started to learn that my family of my paternal side had issues to say the least. Generational curses are said to affect a family until the 4th or 5th generation. I learned my great grandmother had owned an ouija board & months after this was in her possession she committed suicide on June 6, 1967. Suicide is a major factor in generational curses. My daughter would would be considered the 5th generation from my great grandmother’s. When the team of exorcists who were working my case asked if me & my child were baptized I said yes & informed them my child had been baptized in the Old Rite. They asked why I chose this over the New Rite & I said I honestly have no reason for it that the thought had just popped into my head & that was that. The team told me that was a saving Grace because if anything had tried to afflict my child & attach to her in those months following her birth before her baptism that the exorcisms performed in the Old Rite ceremony would have taken care of anything “not good” trying to get to my child. I also learned that the Old Rite baptism prevents generational curses & spirits from transferring over to the child (the New Rite only address original sin). I couldn’t believe how blessed I was for this to have played out like it had & to have her baptism scheduled on the feast day of St. Michael in a church where he is honored as their patron Saint…..defend us in battle ..🙏🙏🙏

[sally]

Please pray for me. My son is refusing to baptize my granddaughter. The one blessing is he allows me to take her to church. 🙏🏻

[jpesmar]

As a Catholic thinking about marrying a Protestant, this is something I think a lot about, if God does bless us with children.
Thank you for explaining it so well, I think I'm better equipped now to hold onto my position of baptizing our children under the Catholic Church.

[WoodlandPoetry]

I used to make beautiful baptismal gowns for babies. But when I moved out west for a few years, they told me that I was making them in the wrong size. I was making them for newborns, and was told that parents out there are waiting till children are about 6 months old. Yikes! That's a long time for your little baby to be without the protection of this beautiful sacrament!