“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29)
This past weekend I celebrated the baptism of my newest godson Patricio!!! Some of you might remember a post from June which was put up in celebration of his birth. So to once again brag a little, show off a bit, and continue the celebration….this post goes out to you Patito!
My dearest Patricio!
To imagine that in a couple of months we have seen you grow, open your eyes, smile, and now be cleansed with the living waters of baptism!! What a blessing! Experiencing the fullness of this gift is something which brings a huge smile to my face and tears to my eyes!
One moment of the baptism which I will always remember was when shortly after the priest poured the water over your head and announced the proclamation of faith in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit- you gave the biggest smile I had ever seen you make!! It was incredible!! Each one of us looked at each other with surprised and joy-filled expressions. It was as if you knew better than any of us what had just occurred. To each of us it was such a powerful reminder of the beauty and reality of baptism. With this reminder, we each recognized that baptism allows us to receive a new life in God’s living water. What a great gift and responsibility to each of us who has been blessed with this intimate encounter!
It’s funny how the minute a child is born we are already wishing that he or she receives happiness, a good future, a true life. It is as if we begin creating a checklist of what we think an authentic life should contain. In baptism however, the liturgy orients all of these wishes towards an even deeper hope of the child receiving eternal life- a richer fullness of any future that we could have ever envisioned in our checklist of life. Because this is beyond anything we ourselves could extend to you, we turn to the Lord who is the only one capable of obtaining this grace for you. In our love for you, we ourselves thus become oriented towards Truth and it is a moment of great humility and mercy. As someone who is promising to be there through all of your life, we proclaim our indebtedness and thanksgiving in God’s redeeming love which we know will become your greatest strength in life.
Patricio, you are already helping each of us grow closer to God. Playing with you, watching each of the kids give you their personal lovin’, having you fall asleep in our arms, celebrating life with you- is helping each of us become more fully alive and ready and capable of loving. You are a treasure which each one of us promises to hold in our hearts throughout our lives!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you for being such a blessing in our lives!!!
After the baptism you smelled like roses and I asked your older sister Elisa why she that might be. With great confidence she said: “Well, of course it’s because Mama Virgén came down and hugged Patito!” So I thought it would be fitting to end this post with a little prayer to Our Lady. It is so perfectly designed for you as Elisa brilliantly pointed out! :)
Mary, I beg you, by that grace through which the Lord is with you and you will to be with him, let your mercy be with me. Let love for you always be with me, and the care for me be always with you. Let the cry of my need, as long as it persists, be with you, and the care of your goodness, as long as I need it, be with me. Let joy in your blessedness be always with me, and compassion for my wretchedness, where I need it, be with you.
[St. Anselm]
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"NaaaaAAAaaaAaants ingonyama....bagithi Baba...Sithi uhm ingonyama" hahaha, I think we all agreed that this was Patricio's little 'Lion King' moment in life :) |
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| My absolutely beautiful cousin Eileen!!! :) |
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| "The Godfather" |
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