The Seven Sacraments and their Effects

Kiaya Nickens

Christian in the World – period 8

Mr. Sanchez

November 29, 2012

The Seven Sacraments and Their Effects:

1.      A gift of Baptism is the ability to love others as God loves us. How is this ability seen in the women’s treatment of the girls?

The ability to love others as God loves us is present in the actions of the women. The girls that was present in the story was not married but had conceived a child. This is a violation of the Catholic faith. The woman in the story took the position of a midwife and was asked to deliver the baby as well as Baptize the baby in the middle of the night. The women were able to preform this act because she was baptized as an infant as well. She understands the significance of an infant being baptized. Being baptized as an infant has a special significance in which that infant will enter the world with a cleansed life. The woman understands that is important and that is why she agrees to baptize her child. 
2.      At the end of the story the women says in regard to the infant, “I saved him” what does she mean by that statement?

At the end of the story the women says that she has saved the baby. But at the end of the story we learn that the infant has died. The statement the women made saying that she saved the infant refers to her act of baptizing the baby. By the woman preforming baptism on the baby it gives the infant an opportunity to experience life before it died. Baptism allows an infant or anyone else to experience a life with a pure slate, a cleansing of sins, a forgiveness of everything that has been committed up to that point. By the women saying she saved the infant she is referring to its baptism.

 3.         The author describes the journey of the woman to her own home. What is the purpose of this section of the story? What is he trying to convey about the woman through his description?

            The author describes the journey of the woman to her own home to parallel the journey of a person becoming baptized. When a person becomes baptized it is indeed a journey. Baptism has the stages of first being knowledgeable of what baptism entails. Then how it effects one’s life. Then finally what happens after an individual gets baptized, or what their life would be like after their baptism occurs. The purpose of this section of the story is to highlight the importance of the woman baptizing the infant. The author is trying to show that within the story throughout her journey there is another journey occurring. The purpose of the author doing this is to illustrate the parallels between the two events.