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Reflection
 31:  Article 14 of  THE DOGMATIC CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH
 


                                       LUMEN GENTIUM
, 1964 


Jesus taught that faith and baptism in his Church are necessary to get to Heaven

Jesus said that anyone who hears his words
but deliberately refuses his invitation for baptism,
will not get to Heaven

But Jesus also said that people who minister to him in the poor
will get to Heaven

Putting these ideas together leads to the conclusion
that there is more than one way to be baptized

The ordinary way, as established by Jesus,
is by water in the Sacrament of Baptism in the Church

But if people have no opportunity to know about water-baptism,
yet lead a life of charity,
they are baptized "by desire",  as it's sometimes called

Which means:
good people who care for the poor, who lead a life of charity,
if they had the chance to know about and receive water-baptism,
would desire it

A sad reality: most people in the world don't receive water-baptism.
Most people don't even know about it

When we get to Heaven,
we will probably find that most people there
were not water-baptized,
but desire-baptized

Does this mean we shouldn't worry about helping people know about water-baptism?

That's like saying
since it's possible
- to live without parents,
- to live without going to school,
- to live without going to a doctor,
then why bother living in a family? Why bother with parents, education, medicine?

Living without parents, education, medicine,
should be a sad exception, not the rule

So too, living without water-baptism
should be a sad exception, not the rule

Jesus, are you happy
that 2,000 years after you set up your Church,
most people in the world have no real opportunity for water-baptism?

Jesus, such a situation must make you sad,
just as we are sad
when we reflect that millions of people in the world
have no access to education, medicine, clean water etc

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