Your Baptism

The day of your baptismal day dawned cloudy and rainy - "an appropriately watery day," as your dad put it. I won't go into the long details about how we decided the time and place for this special sacrament, but it ended up being on March 13th (we celebrated the vigil Mass of Laetare - be joyful - Sunday) at the Log Chapel on Notre Dame's campus. Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez was the presider and baptizer and helped us plan a beautiful liturgy.  You will surely learn more about Fr. Gustavo as you grow older.  He is a quite famous theologian from Peru and considered the father of "liberation theology," which is focused on reading the Bible from the perspective of the poor.  Anyway...back to your baptism... 

You, little Benedict, were not feeling the "laetare-ness" of being anointed (by his grandpa/deacon Gehred).

We sang the Litany of the Saints, calling on their prayers, as the people gathered (the saints-in-training) came up and blessed you, offering their own prayers for the newest member of the Church. Here you are getting a special blessing from Grandma Gehred.   This was a particularly beautiful part of the Baptismal liturgy, and you were peaceful as a dove for it.

Grandma Griffin blesses her youngest grandchild.

Benedict John is presented and welcomed into the Christian community. You seemed to like the attention :)  By the way, the baptismal gown and bib you are wearing go back a long way.  The gown was worn by your Grandma Gehred at her baptism back in 1884... nah, but it was quite some time ago.  And the bib was put on your mom after her Baptism in 1976.  Tradition.

About 45 people joined us for the baptism at the Log Chapel, which is a replica of the very first building on Notre Dame's campus. 

Godfather Patrick McGowan (far right) is taking on the challenge of helping us raise you in the faith. Godmother Kathy Schuth (far left) has the additional task of passing on her awesome drum-playing skills.

Fr. Gustavo giving you your first lecture on liberation theology.

From left: aunt Christine,cousin Sarah, grandma, and auntColleen drove up from St. Louis (along with friend and photographer Kathy Blanke) for the baptism. We were grateful they made the long journey to be with us, staying less than 24 hrs before driving back.

Here's the Holy Family... along with Jesus, Mary and Joseph in the background!   Like them, we have a beautiful baby, but we couldn't find a sheep like the one in Joseph's arms.  

At the door to the Log Chapel, leaving to head to grandma and grandpa Gehred's for the celebration, which included a Tres Leches cake (see below) from a local Mexican bakery.

This is the humungo cake we got the occasion.  The same kind of cake we had at our wedding, and have not had since!  Someday you will have the joy of eating this amazing cake, and seeing one with all the cool designs and ornaments (bibles, rosaries, icons) that the Mexican bakeries specialize in.  We should also mention here the DINNER that came before the cake.  Your Grandpa and Grandma Gehred welcomed us all into their Party House, and boy did they do it up... The made Pita Pockets with Grilled Chicken (the Grandma Gehred had to rescue from a burnt state) and every kind of fixin' you can imagine, including mom's famous humus.  Delicious.  You should get baptized more often!  No, no, once is it!