Wow! What a day! Praise God! I had the privilege, through the grace of God, to stand for Lorenzo as his Godfather and sponsor as he was baptized and confirmed in the Catholic faith. It was a beautiful ceremony and experience. I had to hold back tears several times, and I’m pretty sure Lorenzo was feeling the same.
The first occasion for tears (for me) came when the priest (Father Rolly Petronio) was pouring the water over Lorenzo’s head. You can call it coincidence, but I found it pretty Providential—just at that moment, the church bells began to ring! The tune was for the Angelus! Mom says she was aware of the same thing. I’m not sure anyone else caught it.
My last occasion for tears was at the conclusion of the Rite of Initiation, when Father shook Lorenzo’s hand, and then hugged him. It was such a “fatherly” hug—so full of love and acceptance, I was overwhelmed!
The next Sacrament for him will be his First Holy Communion with the rest of the family tomorrow in Arnold, where they are spending the weekend to celebrate Alicia’s and Sarah’s birthdays. I wish I could be there for this important milestone on his journey within the Church, but I am required to attend Mass tomorrow in Lodi for my own “commissioning ceremony” as a Eucharistic Minister.
Before the ceremony, we met up in Murphy’s to have a continental breakfast at Aria’s Bakery. Then we drove back down the hill (a 10 minute drive) to St. Patrick’s in Angels Camp. The rite was supposed to begin at 11 AM. We waited until 11:05, and no priest had shown up yet! We found a parishioner who was at a meeting who agreed to find Father Rolly, since without him the rite wouldn’t happen. Evidently, there was a miscommunication between Father and his secretary as to the time of the baptism—he had planned to start at 1pm!
Not to worry—it turns out Father lives right across the street and he was able to come over and start the proceedings by 11:15.
When it was over, we all went back to Murphy’s for lunch. The reasons were two-fold—to celebrate Lorenzo’s “re-birthday” and the girls’ birthdays, since I won’t be able to help them celebrate it tonight. I presented Lorenzo with a medal of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I chose that medal because I felt his father, whom Lorenzo has told me had a devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe (and has passed away, so he couldn’t be there with us physically today) would have probably chosen it as a worthy baptismal gift. I hope “I done good.”
There were pictures taken, but since I don’t have the cameras (the family is still using them this weekend), I’ll post them tomorrow on both this site and on Lily’s site.
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