Fulfilling Our Baptismal Calling
Posted by Lisa Hendey in Faith on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 2:00 PM
In anticipation of an upcoming talk I’m giving at a Religious Education conference, I thought I’d approach my favorite panel of Catholic parenting experts for your advice and expertise. The topic at hand is how we—as Catholic family members—live out our Baptismal calling. I will be looking specifically at the promises we parents make (or adults, when baptized in later years) at the time of our children’s baptism, and how we can help our children to be “priest, prophet and king” in today’s real world.
To help me prepare, I’d love to hear about your memories of your children’s sacrament of Baptism. What do you remember about the day? When you went to the Church asking for Baptism for your child, what were your hopes and dreams for that sacrament? What victories and/or struggles have you faced in helping your child to live out his or her Baptismal calling (to be “priest, prophet, and king”)? What “real world” circumstances impact on your own Domestic Church?
To get us started, I thought I could share one of my own personal responses to these questions. I remember very distinctly at the moment of Eric’s Baptism hoping that the Church would be able to support and encourage me in the faith rearing of my son. At the time Eric was Baptized, Greg had not yet joined the Church. While he was very supportive in the raising of our son in the faith, I felt the weight of a tremendous responsibility bearing down on me to educate Eric on my own. I remember praying that I would have the grace and strength to live up to this tremendous responsibility, and to continue to grow in my own faith as well. That “faith walk” and the important job of helping to form my two sons are still my primary goals every day. Blessedly, Greg is now hugely involved in sharing these joyful tasks.
I hope you can take a few moments to reply here with your own thoughts and reflections in the comments or to email me privately at lisa@catholicmom.com.
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