It was the most awaited part of our family …to have Maria Mikaela our dear
daughter be
baptized as Catholic on November 4, 2012.
Baptism would serve as her start and big leap into Christianity despite her innocence. For us, it is Mikaela’s birth into our Catholic faith
thus, it was something URGENT and BIG.
With the sense
of urgency, we wanted her immediately baptized when she was in the
incubator at the hospital since we believed that God’s grace through baptism
brings healing to the physical form that is the human body. And looking at the fragile body of our
daughter in that incubator was accompanied with that deep sense and faith that
some miracles could happen if we did that.
We wanted so much to bring a priest but then we were held by the fact
that only parents were allowed in the nursery.
I also felt some peace within in my prayers believing that our daughter can “pick
up” fast. And true enough she did. |
| Mikaela With Fr. Casey:-), Mommy and Daddy |
Since it is
something worth celebrating not only in the heavens (as I feel that God
rejoices to one new and beautiful human being will be offered to him) but also on
earth, we wanted something big.
At first we wanted it lavish and hold it at a nearby hotel but still it may be too much that it may lead to unreasonable expense. So we tried to keep our balance such that we
would be able to invite more guests with
our budget and projected expense. Another thing that I meant with BIG is that
it is something that we Catholics believe in.
Something that encompasses our life of faith in God.
Part of God’s “bigness” in our life is the
inspiration as parents to share some values
of our family to others such as :
Value of Simplicity. Simplicity in terms of the following:
1.
The
decision at our end to join the general schedule of the parish Baptism ceremony
ones a month. That way we could make
our daughter feel a festive celebration with other babies whose parents also
desire the same for their own infants.
But the thing was, it was only Mikaela that joined the ceremony making
it appear like it was an exclusive baptismal ceremony. That was God’s greatest surprise that day for
us as a family.
2.
Holding
the venue of the small banquet at home. We live in a small house with a single
bedroom. We brought Mikaela from the
hospital to this small house that we now call a home. Our home.
We wanted it so much to make her feel that family celebrations are held at home.
And the simple taste of having family at home is much more beautiful
than huge and lavish places for celebrations.
This is something very intimate and meaningful for us as a family. I could so very well correlate Mikaela’s
entry to Christianity to her entry into our Christian family through the small
house we call as home for our family.
Value
of Love.
It is love for us to be able to give the best gift we can give to our
daughter…that is to share our Catholic faith to her. It is love for us to talk to her about God
and to pray with her even if she does not understand the content of our
prayers. It is love for us to be able to
gather some family members to help us in the preparation of the food. And, it is love for me to be able to show my
cooking prowess (eeheemmm:-)) for the first time cooking as much as
5 to 6 viands for the celebration plus the help of two brother in laws Ronnie
and Dennis for their own signature style of cooking Humba and Beef Steak, respectively.
Really,
I was so in love that I sacrificed getting enough sleep nor breakfast in that
morning of the baptism since I did not have the time to feed myself instead
rushed together with my husband to bring our daughter Mikaela to the Church on
time with the help of my sister Gay and her family. I just simply surrendered to God my own
physical strength so that I would not faint in the Church (hahahhaha…great
mom).
Value
of Generosity.
This value was so obvious. There
was generosity from the preparations to the end of the celebration.
1.
Family members that helped in the preparation
together with Mika’s aunt that took care of her while I was busy with the cleaning
and cooking
2.
Generosity of all the sponsors
(Uncles Jun and Nono, Dr. Ronnie, Rodel, Nina, Auntie Gay, tita Lui, Lolitz and
Vilma) and some guests that brought their
gifts to our daughter Mikaela and
3.
The generosity (ehem heheh) of our
family that opened our humble home to our family members and friends. We wanted so much to share what our faith
dictates and even our advocacy of living a Joyfully
hopeful life amidst the many challenges we have encountered as a young
family of God.
Value of Family. I and my husband value so much family. With the minimal budget, we decided to invite
our most immediate family members only.
Of course I felt sad that my own father and my husband’s sister and
brother were not there in the celebration.
Recalling the moment,
we missed to invite some friends, too.
And we chose not to since we thought there can be some special moments
that we can spend with them, too in the future. Some really close ones are so far from home. But then we realize how such moment, we also
spent in prayer for them that were not there and some friends who were invited
but were not able to make it.
God does make
things happen. Mikaela’s baptism was one of those best “Make
things Happen” moments in our
life as a family. WE THANK GOD for that grace and for blessing us with families and
friends.
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