Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Baptism

On Sunday we had Wyatt Blue baptized. His Godparents, Uncle Kevin (AKA funny Anonymous commenter) and Aunt Felicia and his Grandparents (my parents) MaMa and Pa came down from Pennsylvania to Florida to attend the service. There were many incidents during the mass and service that caused church giggles. A few were due to the differences in how our church services are in my Florida parish compared to Pennsylvania parishes my parents and siblings attend.

One difference is in the way the Lord’s Prayer is done. In PA the congregations stands and recites the prayer. In Florida, the congregation stands and holds hands and recites the prayer. Felicia who was seated in the middle of the pew ended up holding hands with some strange man sitting next to her on her right. On her left was Kevin who broke the chain and did not hold hands with Felicia. Everybody in the church is holding hands except for Kevin, Me, Lauren, MaMa and Pa. My mom got a kick out of this and was snickering. After the communion, Kevin and I did not go back to the pew but instead to the back of the church. As I approached Kevin in the back he said to me, “I wanted to give Felicia some more time with her new boyfriend.” Making reference to guy she was holding hands with in church.

During the baptism ceremony, after the priest was done pouring holy water over the babies being baptized, he would hoist the baby over his head and present the infant to the entire congregation. I have never seen this done before except by Rafiki when he held up Simba in the Lion King. I really liked this part of the service but I could not help humming the Circle of Life. When it came time for Wyatt to be presented, I noticed that the priest was not holding any of the babyies' heads when he lifted the children. Since Wyatt is only a month old, I whispered to Lauren to make sure she supported his head because he is still so young and could get hurt. When the priest lifted Wyatt, Lauren put her hand up and held Wyatt’s head. It looked pretty funny. Almost like Lauren was trying to give Wyatt "rabbit ears" for the photos.

In an effort to keep Maxfield occupied during the services we gave him candy and some coins for him to count and play with. After the service while we were taking pictures Maxfield proceeded to throw his coins into the Holy Water Fountain just like he would do at the mall. The fountain in my church is pretty nice and is just that, a fountain with running Holy Water. The water comes up from a basin in the floor and fills a bowl at the top and then cascades down one side of the stone base. Sure enough, as we were taking pictures Maxfield put his mouth against the fountain and started drinking Holy water.

All in all it was fun day and we enjoyed spending time with the family.

When I told LawnWhisperer about Max drinking the holy water he said to me, “Do know what that means? If he drank holy water that means he is going to piss holy water. You should save his diapers and bless yourself with them.”



Max getting Holy.


MaMa holding Wyatt on the phone with LawnWhisperer


Anonymous Godparent's with Wyatt Blue


Lauren and Wyatt


20 comments:

Effie said...

Max just wanted to feel holy, I suppose! So cute!

I've seen the pastor carry the baby down the centre aisle and present the new baby to the congregation before, but not quite in the style of Rafiki and Simba! I would have been scared for his head too...good thinking Bill!

In our church, (since it's small) only one baby is baptized at a time--no mass-baptisms.

Congrats for little Wyatt--now he has 2 birthdays!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful photos, Bill. Congrats to Little Wyatt on being baptized!

Teri said...

Great story, especially Max, he takes after his father when it comes to getting into mischief.

Love the pictures of the family, especially the patriarch, momo9. You know what this means? They are no longer anonymous.

Anonymous said...

I don't know if I've ever left a comment here, but I read you all the time on my whirlwind tour of blogs during my son't 20 minute naps.

Congrats to Wyatt on his baptism. Great pics! Love the whole "pissing holy water" scenario - does there need to be a special ceremony for throwing away those diapers, kind of like when you need to get rid of a flag?

Anonymous said...

dang, your mom looks super cool and like a really sweet woman. she must be to put up with all those crazy boys though.

Just Jan said...

That was cute about max...hehehe. Love the family photos too. Thanks for sharing.

Cat said...

Aw! Such cute pictures! NICE.

William, I personally come from a long line of church gigglers. It got to the point where we'd get so hysterical we'd have to pinch each other, just to stop the laughing, especially during hymns. It was the chorister's fault. She was, like, 90, and would act out the songs as she directed them. You had to be there, I suppose. But seriously, what can you do? Especially when your mom is laughing the hardest of all and whispering "Pinch me! Pinch me!"

"...he would hoist the baby over his head and present the infant to the entire congregation."

Dude. Didn't they make you watch Roots in junior high school?! The first time I saw Rafiki lift up Simba in The Lion King, I was all, "Hey! Dheaters! Rip-off! RIP-OFF!" And now whenever I see that scene I am compelled by principle to reenact the scene where Omoro holds his infant son up to the starry sky and says, "Kunta Kinti, behold the only thing great-ah than yourself!"

Powerful stuff, man. Powerful stuff. Excuse me. I need a tissue...

Cat said...

Obviously "Dheaters!" is not the word I was going for. Please replace it with "Cheaters!" Thank you.

Kami said...

Lauren looks so great!

Anonymous said...

My church is like that... my whole family feels like they are at a revival of some sort when attending a function there. It's just our priests trying to "shake things up" a little.

I love the Rafiki/Simba visual!

The Q said...

Do the rest of your siblings bear such a strong resemblance as "Anonymous" does to you? Sheesh, you'd think you were related or something.

Anyway, great pictures and I'm *so* glad that Lauren gave Wyatt "rabbit ears"....what was that priest thinking? (or perhaps he wasn't)

Unknown said...

Congrats! I'm not Catholic, but I think I would be mortified if my kid threw pennies in and drank from the Holy Water fountain! Lauren looks so fabulous and it's GREAT to see the famous mamma of nine kids.

Anonymous said...

I think having a fountain in a church is a clever way to collect tithes.

Nature Girl said...

Too funny about Maxfield and the Holy Water...I'm not sure what's appropriat to say here as I'm not very religous so please don't be offended, but Congratulations Wyatt Blue!! and Lauren..you look FAB!! Stacie

eclectic said...

Lauren is much too beautiful to have given birth so recently. This is clearly her stunt-double, right? Maxfield is my hero because that's precisely what I'd want to do, but would never have the guts. SO funny!! How wonderful to see your mom's lovely smile!! Congrats to you all!

Lowa said...

Wonderful photos. So glad your parents got to be with their new grandbaby. It's hard living so far away from family. I know at times like this it sure is, eh??? Sucks for us too.

But it has it's benefits:) Teehee

Oh, btw, Cat. I knew you meant cheaters. It took me a few seconds, but I figured it out! Don't you hate when that happens?? I have been trying to get Roots from Netflix, but it says it is unavailable:( *sniff* I have never seen the whole thing!!!

Unknown said...

Hi William!

Melanie said...

I love it when posts make me laugh out loud. Thanks for the giggle.

Anonymous said...

Did anyone notice the Godparents are wearing "Blue"? What a great time! Those little people are precious! I love you Max, I love you, Wyatt!

Anonymous said...

Wyatt's Godmother is hot