Since the time of early Christianity, Baptism has been the rite of initiation into the Christian community of the Church. In Baptism, the “one Spirit” makes us members of the Body of Christ and of “one another” (Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC], no. 1267). Pope John Paul II describes the result of Baptism as a “mystical unity” between Christ and his disciples, and the disciples with one another, like “branches of a single vine.” This reflects the mystical communion of the Holy Trinity (Christifideles Laici [The Vocation and the Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church and in the World], no. 12).  usccb.org