1st Week of Advent
Ask Father:
This week’s question: Can you go to heaven without being baptized?
Here’s another question submitted by one of the younger members of our Three Parish Catholic Family, and it’s another very good question. So, as always, thanks for asking! And let’s get right to it. Can you go to heaven without being baptized?
Maybe.
Thanks again for another great question, and we’ll see you right here again next week!
Ok, maybe maybe isn’t quite an adequate answer to such a great question; so maybe we should look a little deeper and see what’s behind the maybe. We know that baptism is necessary for salvation. That’s because our salvation (which includes going to heaven) requires the removal of sin from our soul and the infusion of sanctifying grace into our soul. We are born with Original Sin, so if we die without having that washed away, then we are not able to live in heaven.
God has revealed to us that baptism is the normal way for Him to wash us clean of Original Sin. Furthermore, He has also instituted the sacrament of baptism for the infusion of sanctifying grace into our soul (in fact, all seven sacraments do that – but we must be baptized before we can receive any of the other sacraments). What is sanctifying grace? It is the life of God Himself – the inner life of the Holy Trinity – which He shares with us through the sacraments. That’s why Jesus came – to save us with sanctifying grace – as He said: I have come so that My Life may be in you so that you may live forever. Baptism is the way that He has chosen to do that (“Unless you are born again of water and the Holy Spirit, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God.” “Whoever is baptized and believes will be saved; whoever is not baptized and does not believe is condemned.” “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”).
So, if baptism is necessary for salvation, then what’s with the ‘Maybe’? If a baby is baptized and then dies before reaching the age of reason (generally 7 years old), then we KNOW that that child is in heaven. Such a child was given the grace of salvation by God in the sacrament of baptism, and was unable to commit any mortal sins to lose that salvation before death. But what about when a child dies before baptism (or without being baptized)? In such a case, we can HOPE that that child may in in heaven – we just can’t know it (until we go there ourselves). We can hope that people who died without knowledge of Jesus Christ or the Catholic Church may be given the grace (the gift) of salvation by God through some direct means that is unknowable to us. We can know and trust in the mercy and the justice of God – so we can hope for the salvation of those who have not been baptized. But we cannot know that they may be in heaven.
Now, having said this much, let me also say that there is something called a “Baptism by desire”. That’s what occurs when someone who had chosen to be baptized by an act of his or her free will dies before actually being baptized. Such a person, the Church declares, has received the invisible effect (the grace) of the sacrament without actually receiving the visible form and matter of the sacrament. There’s also the case of the Holy Innocents – the children who were
murdered in place of Jesus by King Herod. They, because they shed their blood for Jesus, were the first of those who received a “Baptism of Blood”, and are also in heaven. Short of these two situations, though, we can only hope – and we ought to hope – for the salvation of those who are not baptized. Maybe. They might go to heaven. So let’s do all we can to cut out the guesswork. Get baptized. Go to Mass and receive Jesus in the Eucharist. Go to confession and get your sins forgiven for sure. Get confirmed in the Holy Spirit. Get married or ordained in the Church. Get anointed when you’re sick.
Thanks for another great question, and Happy New Year! And keep those questions coming! May God bless you this Advent and always!