The Joy of Preparing for a Baptism

Photo taken this Thursday for Diocesan I.D. Card. Some of you in North America mentioned that you wished to see an occasional photo of me. Here you are.

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week was full of blessings. I'll try to briefly describe one for you. I had the joy of visiting a young couple expecting another child, to help prepare them for the Baptism of the child they are expecting. Part of the preparation was to go over the ceremony. The traditional rite of Baptism is quite rich. I find that walking the parents through the ceremony, commenting on the various prayers, explaining/expanding upon the text, is a good way to help them prepare.

The ceremony begins by asking the baby "What do you ask of the Church of God?" His godparents' reply, "Faith." "What does faith offer you?" "Life Everlasting." The priest then urges the child to keep the commandments of God, if they wish to go to Heaven, just as Jesus told us in the Gospel. From there the rite quickly dives into the prayers of exorcism--which provide great material for catechesis. Then there is the physical movement with the baby--walking from outside the church to inside, as part of the ceremony--the symbolism of the godmother holding the baby in her arms and replying throughout the ceremony (to emphasize the role of godparents), the various signs of the cross, the anointing, etc.

As I tried to walk the parents through those elements I had the particular joy and challenge of their current toddler (about 14 months), wanting to play with me, wanting me to read him a book, etc. I tried for a while to hold him on my lap and open a book with pictures for him to look at, while simultaneously holding the baptismal rite book and trying to explain it to the parents. This worked for a short while but then he began to try to push the "adult book" away and get my undivided attention for the picture book. So we went a bit quicker through the rite than I would have planned but made it through.

It was wonderful to see a couple open to life. When I meet with couples for baptismal prep I try, in addition to ensuring that the minimum requirements are met, and preparing them for the ceremony, to offer something that can help them grow in their faith or in their particular roles as parents. So I was able to do this with this couple, and then, at the end, had the blessing of getting down on the ground and at last satisfying the toddler's desire to just play. We played with a plastic fire truck, some cars, and then I read from a children's bible (which had lots of pictures) the story of Joseph in Egypt.

It was a visit that certainly made my heart smile. I'm very much looking forward to the Baptism itself!

On a completely separate note. Some of you have asked me for article(s) presenting clearly key points that would help understand some problematic elements being permitted by the Church's pastors. I thought I would pass on this recent summary (and link to full text) of a speech given by a Franciscan member of the Vatican's International Theological Commission: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/u.s.-bishops-former-theologian-four-marks-of-church-are-becoming-opaque-und

May Jesus and Mary watch over each of you and grant you to dive generously into Lent.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari