Feasts, Seasons, Sacraments

What do you wish for this child?

Do you remember the day you first held your child in your arms? That little, brand-new, never-to-be-duplicated person-in-progress so small in your hands. What an amazing miracle!

It was while you were in that spirit of awe that the church may have asked, "What do you wish for this child?" That’s the first question asked of parents and godparents as they approach the baptismal font. It’s a loaded question.

Of course you wish health and safety for your child. You want your child to be spared all distress or harm in this lifetime. But we know realistically how unlikely that is. Every life holds its share of difficulties, threats, and harms. Even good and exciting events in our life often come accompanied by pain and disruption.

And so we look to a deeper longing within ourselves to answer the question, "What do you wish for this child?" By bringing our child to be baptized we declare our deepest wish–that this child will live not only as a child of this world, but as a beloved child of God. We declare our hope that our child will live sustained by the truth that no matter what happens in this life, he or she will be cradled in the palm of God’s hand.

The rituals of Baptism enact both our fear and our faith. Our children are plunged into the waters (or water is poured down on their tiny, wrinkly heads) to symbolize the dangers that life can hold. We face head on our biggest fears as we hold this fragile life in our hands.

Then the child is dressed in a fresh white garment and anointed for strength. Godparents are handed a candle aglow with flame from the Easter candle. This is the light of Christ. On Baptism day, we bring our fears and our hopes to the altar–and hope emerges triumphant.

Remember those baptismal truths as you send your kids off to a new year of adventure at school. Life can be beautiful. It can also hurt. In the rituals of our children’s Baptism we enact our faith that in every moment we belong to God, who carries us through the dangerous waters and safely toward the light.