do you celebrate the anniversary of your baptism?
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. It was a special day in the life our Lord. Who would not like to be told: “You are my beloved son. With you I am well pleased.”
Do you know the date of your baptism, dear pilgrim of hope? And do you celebrate it? Is it as important to you as your birthday? The day of our baptism we become children of God. We also become part of this worldwide family called the Catholic Church.
I would like to tell you the story of how I have come to celebrate the day of my baptism. After I was confirmed at the age of 12, I wanted nothing to do with the Catholic Church. Actually I did not even want to be confirmed. I only went through with it because of my parents. Fast forward about 21 years later when I was living in deep spiritual darkness, sin and shame. One evening in April of 2012, I was on my way home from training my 1 year old German shepherd called Jingle and she fell out of the customised trailer. I only found out when I came home and went hysterical. Luckily I had amazing friends who went out and went looking for her all over Walmer. It was rainy and the wind was terrible as I drove around calling her name.
Eventually one of my friends called, she had found Jingle and brought her home. She told me that she had found her in the parking lot of this white church in 8th Avenue. Jingle had found shelter between all of the cars in the parking lot as there was some event going on and there were lots of people. I was so grateful to have her back unharmed.
It turned out to be a Catholic Church where Jingle was found, the faith of my childhood. A few days later I kept driving around the church as I just kept feeling this sense that I needed to say thank you. But the doors were locked and I was not sure what I was trying to do. I gave up too quickly.
5 years later, I started going to Mass again (that is a much longer story for another day) and I started going to the church where my dog was found as something was still pulling me there after all this time. The name of the church is St Bernadette. When I decided to enter the Catholic Church again a few weeks later, I had to look for my baptismal certificate and I noticed that the day of my baptism was the 16th of April. It is the feast day of St Bernadette! And of course, St Bernadette is the patron saint of shepherds (and in my case German Shepherds I think!)
Do you know which Saint’s feast day falls on the day of your baptism? You might also have a friend in heaven that is praying for you.
