Isabella's Baptism

This coming Sunday, following 10:30 mass, I will baptize my granddaughter, Isabella Josephine. I hesitate to blog on the subject because I'm really not capable of describing my emotions. If I were a poet I might be able to come up with the proper words. But I'm not a poet so the words just don't seem to be there.

I'm reminded of the words from George Strait's song, "Love Without End, Amen". He dreams he's died and gone to heaven and says, "If they know half the things I've done, they'll never let me in." That's pretty much how I feel most of the time.

Who am I to welcome my little granddaughter into the Church? But, I'm going to do it. I've done enough baptisms that I'm not concerned about the mechanics, but I am concerned about the emotions. Will I make it through without tears (mine, not her's)? Probably not. I sometimes break myself up when I preach on a regular Sunday.

But, if I do shed a tear, it will be a tear of joy. Mike and Jen tried very hard to have this child and she is very much loved, both by her parents and her grandparents and by her aunts and uncles. God has already blessed her just by allowing her to be born. I pray that she will have a long, holy, and happy life.

As a p.s. I have to mention Domenico Bettinelli's bettnet.com blog. He and his wife recently became parents for the first time and he chronicled many of the events in his blog. By coincidence, they named their little girl Isabella. By yet another coincidence, their Isabella will be baptized this Sunday too. As I say the prayers for our Isabella, I will be thinking of Dom and Melanie's Isabella as well.

I will post my mass homily for Sunday and the baptism homily here later this week.