BENEDICT XVI: BAPTISM, "FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE OF THE FAMILY OF NAZARETH" (2)

” “"The spirituality of man – added the Pope – concerns man as a whole". Hence his further reflection: "Christianity is not a merely spiritual or personal thing, an objective position that I take, but it is a real, concrete thing of the Church; being adopted as God’s children means becoming a member of the real family in which we live with the Mother Church, as brothers and sisters, in God’s big family. And only by including ourselves in this ‘us’ of the children, as brothers and sisters, can we say: ‘Our Father’". In Jesus Christ, "God comes to us, but He does not reduce our freedom", actually "He only acts with our freedom": "God causes our freedom, He invites us to cooperate with the fire of the Holy Spirit: these two things must go hand in hand". So Baptism "remains throughout one’s life the gift of God who put His seal on our souls and our cooperation, the opening of our freedom which says ‘yes’ to this action of God’s". Finally, his exhortation to the parents of the christened children, "to teach their children to pray and feel like active members of the ecclesial community" and the indication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church as the system to grow in faith and hand faith down to their children.” “