ONe of the things that caught my attention before I joined the Catholic Faith and in my overall study of the covenant -- Old and New -- was that when a child was circumcized in the Old Covenant, something REALLY DID HAPPEN!!
It was not just a "sign" which did nothing to the one being circumcized. He was really and truly made a member of the covenantal kingdom with all the attendant priviledges thereof. There was no need for him to understand what was happening. You see, the ordinances of God under the Old Covenant worked by the faith of the people of God, not the faith of the one being circumcized.
The same must therefore be true of the New Covenant. The New Covenant is called "a better covenant speaking of better things". If baptism in the New Covenant does LESS than circumcision did in the Old Covenant, if it does not make a child really and truly a member of the covenantal kingdom, adopted by God, and available to all the priviledges of the New Covenant, which are the Sacraments of Grace, then HOW is that a "better covenant". Seems a much WORSE covenant to me.
Your parents did not have to have faith. The faith of the priest or those in the beleiving community was sufficient for you. The proof of this once again lies in looking at how the ordinance of circumcision worked in the Old Covenant. The male in the household was circumcized on behalf of the females in his family. He had faith for them and on their behalf. Likewise, the infant male baby could not "believe and be saved" but was recieved by the faith of his father or of the community of believers.
This is one of the differences in Protestant and Catholic theology. Salvation is individual in Protestantism. In the Catholic faith, salvation is communal. Being saved is part of being in "the family."
