New Life

This past Saturday was a joyous day in our family. Colin was welcomed into the Catholic Church. He is younger than either of his brothers were when they were baptized, although they all wore the same baptismal outfit - the one my brother Brian wore.

We were so blessed to have both of Colin's godparents in town for the baptism. His godmother is my sister Lori, who was also my maid of honor, and his godfather is Chris' brother John, who was his best man. It was like a reunion of sorts, only we're all older, have more kids, etc. My parents were there, as well as my cousin David and his wife Daniella (who was my college roommate), and our friend Jen, and Elizabeth and most of her children were there as well.

At our new church the baptisms always take place on Saturday after the 5 p.m. Mass. There was a rather large gathering waiting for the baptism to take place, when Father B. started directing everyone to their places. We were second in line with 4 others behind us. Now the funniest part of lining up came when the last people arrived late with their 2 year old. The godparents were there on time and were "holding" their spot. When 2 women arrived with the child, Father B asked if there were 2 mommies! The one woman said no. So then he went on to ask where the daddy was, and she said "He's out of the picture". Talk about an awkward moment! And so began the baptism.

Let me preface this by saying that it truly was a beautiful baptism. We feel very blessed to have had our family and friends there to witness Colin's re-birth into the Catholic faith. That being said, it was a REALLY LONG baptism. Father B is a brilliant man, he knows so much, and decided to share a lot of it with us during the baptism; such as how the Bishop annoints the walls of a new church with chrism, and how shepherds back in Jesus' time used to take shears and make identifiable notches in the ears of their sheep, as well as other anecdotes. All of which are fascinating, but not so much when you have many children to baptize, and your parents don't get to watch any of the baptism because they have to be chasing your 3 and 2 year old around after they sat for an hour in Mass right before this.

I know this sounds like a complaint about the baptism, and it's not meant to be. It's just my attempt to process the whole evening. Both Brian and Sean's baptisms occurred during the middle of Mass, so what I had to compare Colin's baptism to is totally different. It was by no means any less special because we might have had to stand a little longer, or listen to a few more stories.

One of the funniest things that happened during our ceremony happened when Father B. was getting ready to pour the water on Colin's head. Colin was a little bit fussy at this point - not full our crying, but just kind of whiny. So as I have his little head over the basin, and Lori, John and Chris are all holding onto Colin, Father B say, "Don't worry buddy, we're going to get that sin out of you, we'll get the devil right on out of you". I almost burst out laughing at this point.

Baptism is a beautiful sacrament, one we lovingly bring our children to and fully understand the significance of our roles in their lives. Chris and I are blessed that we have the opporunity to be there for Colin, as we are for his brothers, to bring him up as a child of Christ.