It is symbolic,
because by water and the used words the cleanness of the soul, which must be
cleansed of its sins, is signified; by this washing is signified the internal
cleanness which those must have who want to belong to Christ’s Church. (Joseph
A. de Aldama, Severino Gonzalez, Francis A P. Sola, and Joseph F. Sagües, Sacrae
Theologiae Summa, 4 vols. [trans. Kenneth Baker; Keep the Faith, Inc.,
2015], 4-A: 137)