Sacraments of christian initiation and christian identity formation from the perspective of Syro-Malabar Church

In fact, the act of Christian initiation is itself to be considered as a journey in faith. To make it clear, this article mainly focuses on how this journey in faith is developed through ritual participation of the faithful in the dispensation (dabbrānūta) of Jesus Christ’s Paschal Mystery and thus how it leads to the pledge of future glory. This human response to the faith as a gift-given through the actions of the Church (sacraments) enables one to form one’s own Christian identity today from the perspective of the Syro-Malabar Church. To achieve the aforementioned goal a liturgico-theological approach is employed. On the one hand, it includes situational analysis which looks at the concrete particularity of the given rites of the Sacraments of Christian initiation of both Infant and Adult in the Syro-Malabar Church (New Taksa was published in 2005). On the other hand, a structural analysis follows considering all known and possible performances of the Christian initiation liturgy as it is celebrated in the Syro-Malabar Church today. Both situational and structural analyses advance towards a proper understanding of the faith expressed in the celebration of the Sacraments of Christian initiation, not as an abstract and universal datum but as a living reality culturally expressed and culture laden. In so doing, the author proposes a theology of Christian initiation within the frame work of the Christian identity structure namely believing, celebrating and witnessing.