Article Tools
- Text Size
- Add a comment (2)
- Print this article
- Email this article
The Easter season is a time to think about baptism—and about launching a new family tradition.
My kids seem to love their faith. And why not? The church packs the calendar with dozens of reasons to party. To our family’s way of thinking, “practicing Catholics” are those who celebrate the most.
Like when? On feast days of our patron saints, the major solemnities of the church, holy days of obligation, Marian feasts … We’ll seize on any excuse to bake something chocolate or drive to a favorite inexpensive restaurant.
Celebrating Re-Birthdays. In 1997, Pope John Paul II issued yet another call to festivities: “We should celebrate the day of our baptism as we do our birthday!” he exclaimed on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.
Now, there’s nothing our family would like more than to add another party to our calendar. But this one’s already on. Since October 14, 1990, the first anniversary of my oldest child’s baptism, we’ve marked all our children’s baptismal days with a special dinner and dessert—and a little remembrance.
It only makes sense: If birth is so important that it marks a major touchstone every year, shouldn’t our rebirth in Christ be even more important? Birth gave us natural life, which is great, but baptism gave us eternal life, which is greatness itself.
Make It Fun. What did the pope mean when he asked us to celebrate? Well, celebrations are meant to be fun. So maybe baptism day isn’t the day we read the Catechism of the Catholic Church’s section on the sacraments aloud, in its entirety, to our four-year-old. But we do recall, at least briefly, what the day is all about. When we can, we invite the godparents over to dinner. Then, after dinner but before the cake, we follow a little ritual.
First, we light the child’s baptismal candle. Then, with the candle lit, we read one of the Scripture passages relating to the sacrament. There are many good ones to choose from. Our favorites are Matthew 19:13-15 (“Let the little children come to me”), John 3:5 (on being “born again of water and the Spirit”), and Mark 1:9-11 (on Jesus’ own baptism).
After the reading, all of us around the table renew our baptismal promises along with the child whose day we’re celebrating. (You can find the promises in many popular prayer books, and also in the Easter Vigil liturgy in a missal or missalette.)
We conclude with an “Our Father,” blow out the candle, then dig in to dessert.
I know what you’re thinking. But before you conclude that our family is “different” and that this wouldn’t work in your home, let me emphasize: The goings-on don’t quite approach the majesty of a high Mass at the cathedral. In fact, they’re more like panels from Bill Keane’s “Family Circus” comic strip.
Amid the solemnities, our two-year-old inevitably tries to blow out the candle. Our seven-year-old mispronounces a good bit of what he reads. Our four-year-old feels compelled to interrupt the gospel reading with her narrative of a baptism she once attended in New Jersey, where the baby wouldn’t stop crying and the godparents were late and … .
But it’s all part of the fun, and celebrations should be fun.
Rediscover the Gift. In his 1994 apostolic exhortation “On the Coming Third Millennium” (Tertio Millennio Adveniente), Pope John Paul called us to “a renewed appreciation of baptism as the basis of Christian living.”
As the pope went on to say, celebrating draws our attention to the great gift of life in Christ: “But how many of the baptized are fully aware of what they have received? We must give a new impetus to catechesis, to rediscover this gift which also means taking on a great responsibility.”
And it all begins, like most good things, in the home. Religion doesn’t have to be dull or dreary or burdensome. The Catholic faith can, sometimes, be as fun, as crazy—and as memorable—as a family birthday celebration.
So: Anyone up for a party?
Mike Aquilina lives in Pennsylvania with his wife Terri and their six children. He is vice-president of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology and author of many books, including The Fathers of the Church and The How-To Book of Catholic Devotions.
What an excellent description of how we can, in our lives, live as we are called to live--and how wonderful it is to instill in our children the joy of being baptised and belonging in a very special way to God!
This is wonderful. Thanks for sharing. I plan to introduce this to my family starting with me. I hate celebrating my birthday but I have fallen in love with the idea of celebrating my baptism. Hope fully I can use this to get my kids more excited about their faith and get them to a better understanding of the meaning of Baptism.