Today as we celebrate the Feast of Baptism of Jesus, I am sure each one of us are thinking about our own Baptism. Majority of us were small babies when we were baptised. The parents along with our God parents we were taken to the parish church to be baptised. We did not know what took place. Everything was done by the others for us. We as babies submitted ourselves to this great sacrament in our lives. We were told the significance and importance of it as we grew up. We witnessed the baptism of our other siblings or someone else and we understood what it meant in our lives. The parents and God parents took the responsibility to bring us up in the Catholic Faith. I am sure all of them did their best to give us what they received from the Lord. My parents were simple and uneducated but gave us solid christian training. They saw that we were taken to church every sunday and attended the Catechism classes.
My mother used to narrate that when i was baptised she had to sell a little gold in order to have a celebration for the family. The God parents had to be treated well. The God parents would come in the morning and take the baby to the church along with the parents and return home for the celebrations. The god parents would be first served some drinks and then a good lunch. After the Lunch they would either stay or return to their houses if close by. They would return once again in the evening for another round of celebration. after the dinner they would give gifts for the child and even they would receive some gifts from the parents of the baby.
My God parents were God fearing and simple people. God Father came from a middle class family so he was able to gift me good things and he continued all through. Today he is 75 years old and comes to see me every time i go home. My God mother came from a poor family but she always invited me during my formation time for food at her place. Even today both are proud that they have a god child who is a priest. They have been there all through my religious formation. They were part of first Holy Communion and other Sacraments. On my Ordination day they were honored by me when i invited them to sit next to me.
Today this tradition is changing very fast. The Church is trying her best to educate the God parents to take their role and responsibility seriously. They have no time for the god child. Once in a blue moon they come to see or if invited for celebration they show up for some time. They have no connection or rapport with the god child. In the past the god parents would take full responsibility of the god child if the parents were not able to take up the same.
I thank God for the gift of my parents and God parents who have taught me about Jesus. They have been light and way in my life. It is because of them that i grew to be a disciple of Jesus. They have walked with me in my journey and search for Jesus. They have shared their faith experience with me in all the moments of my life especially when i received the sacraments. Today i pray for my departed parents for their love and care, for handing down to us their faith in God. I thank my God parents who are both alive and still faithful to God and practising Catholic faith vibrantly.
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