Christ Has Risen! Alleluia!

Today we experienced a glorious Easter morning! We were blessed to be Godparents to a beautiful, baby boy - Ignatius. What heightened the spiritual experience was the Easter Mass and baptism in the Latin rite. Everything is saturated in symbols and deep meaning, particularly so, in the Latin rite.

Never is there a better time to bring new life into the life of Christ than at Eastertime, they run parallel together. New life of Easter morn. New life in the saving waters of baptism.

It was beautiful in particular, to listen to the antiphon chant at the beginning of Mass. Normally we it would be the Asperges but in Eastertime it is the Vidi Aquam.

Vidi Aquam - The Choir of Etheldredas

Father Leonard M Puech explains how the words in this chant are connected to baptism:

"Eastertide, we sing a beautiful antiphon, the Vidi aquam: "I saw water coming out from the right side of the temple, alleluia! And all those, whom this water reached, were saved and will say: Alleluia, alleluia!" Then followed a verse from Ps. 117: "Praise the Lord for he is good, for eternal is he mercy." It contained a twofold allusion to Ezekiel and to Saint John and applied their texts to baptism.

Ezekiel was a man of great visions. He describes one: he saw a stream coming out from the right side of the future Temple, seen in a series of visions, and it kept growing until it became a river, which it was impossible to cross, teeming with fish, making every kind of fruit tree grow on its banks, bearing abundant fruit in all seasons and flowing into the sea and making its water wholesome (Ez.17,1-2). For his part Saint John insists (Jo. 19,34-35), that he saw blood and water coming out from the side of Jesus, when one of the soldiers pierced it with a lance.

This water, coming out from the right side of the Temple, naturally suggested the water coming out from the right side of Jesus, who said of his body:"Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again" (Jo.2,19). This water from the side of Jesus was for many of the Fathers a symbol of baptism, figured also by the all-curing and life-giving water described by Ezekiel, since it purifies from sin and bestows grace, that we may bear abundant fruit spiritually (Jo.15,8). This was the meaning of the beautiful Vidi aquam: the grace of baptism comes from the Passion and death of Jesus, it purifies us and makes us spiritually fruitful."

Here area some of the beautiful parts of the baptism that I had never witnessed before (I have quoted only the English translation):

The Exsufflation

The priest then breathes 3 times on the child in the form of a Cross, recalling the Spirit (breath, wind, "ruach") of God.

P: Go forth from him, unclean spirit, and give place to the Holy Ghost, the Parclete.

The Imposition of Salt

Now the priest puts a little blessed salt in the child's mouth. Salt is the symbol of that wisdom which gives a relish for the sweetness of divine nourishment; preserves, by the teaching of the Gospel, from the corruption of sin, and prevents evil passions from growing in men's souls.

P: Ignatius, receive this salt learning from it how to relish what is right and good. May it make your waty easy to eternal life.

(It continues on, which I am not quoting here.)

The Exorcism

The priest makes the Sign of the Cross over the child three times and says:

P: I adjure thee, unclean spirit, in the name of the Father + and of the Son, + and of the Holy + Ghost, to depart and remain far from this servant of God, Ignatius. He commands thee now, accursed one, Who walked upon the sea, and stretched out His reight hand to Peter about to sink. Therefore, accursed spirit, acknowledge thy sentence, and give honour to the living and true God: give honour to Jesus Christ His Son, and to the Holy Ghost; and begone from this servant of God, Ignatius, for God and our Lord Jesus Christ has called him to His holy grace and benediction and to the font of Baptism.

All this takes place before entering the Church!

There was another prayer that was new to me:

The Solemn Exorcism

I adjure thee, every unclean spirit, in the name of God the Father + Almighty, in the name of Jesus + Christ, His Son, our Lord and Judge, and in the power of the Holy + Ghost, to be gone from this creature of God Ignatius, whom our Lord in His goodness has called to His holy tempole, that he himself may become a temple of the living God, and that the Holy Ghost may dwell therein. Through the same Christ our Lord, who shall come to judge the living and the dead, and the world by fire.

Amen.

It was such a blessed experience to hold this precious child at one of the most important moments in his life, it is grace I will be pondering upon in the days to come.

Wishing everyone a blessed Easter Season!

Christ has Risen! Alleluia!

From one sacrament to other sacraments..becoming an heirloom.

(Full length shot)

When I married 14 years ago I had my wedding dress made by a young but talented girl in my area. I had given her an idea of what I had wanted from a compilation of different clippings from wedding magazines and she did a beautiful job. "Maybe one of your daughters will wear it one day?" it was asked. But as much as I loved the dress I knew that it was an outside chance due to personal taste and a range of other possible reasons.

(Closer view of bodice)

When I was pregnant with my first child I thought to have the left over wedding material made into a baptismal gown. A dear neighbour from my childhood made children's clothes to sell at the local market, so I asked if she would be happy to make it. She was and did a beautiful job. I kept it simple, without decoration. It would be the gown for all the children I would be blessed with and maybe it would be passed down to grandchildren..

It touched me in some way to think that the garment from the Sacrament of my marriage was now being used for the Sacrament of Baptism for my children...

Then I had daughters and as the years went by it was time to think of First Holy Communion dresses and started to think that there was a lovely way for all my girls to wear my bridal dress, as brides of Christ receiving Him on this special day.

It was a bigger endevour for someone to undertake, to alter an adult dress for girls but I had a lovely dressmaker who was happy to do this for me. Once again a beautiful job was done under difficult circumstances (enormous alterations) I was overjoyed.

Once again this dress was being used and for the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. The dressmaker had been very faithful to the original look it had on me.

My second daughter made her First Communion with the Polish community of our Parish and so it was their custom not to have a veil but only a garland of flowers, but I took photos of her with the veil and headpiece as well as the garland before we left for the church.

Here is a full length shot of the dress on my oldest daughter.

Here is my mum with my daughter wearing only her garland on the hour of her First Communion.

When it came to the First Holy Communion veil, I made it from my wedding veil and decided to dismantle my wedding headpiece and design something very spiritually meaningful for a Communion headpiece.

Our family are True Devotees, "To Jesus Through Mary" and so I started to form ideas of a headpiece incorporating the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts. Since I am not a sewer, I thought I would make it myself, just handstitching any small sewing jobs on it.

I bought two foam shoulder pads to cut into the shapes of two hearts. I used my wedding dress material to cover the hearts and to make the flames. Then all the decorations needed to make the hearts distictive to the Two Hearts were taken from my original headpiece, except for the flowers on the Immaculate Heart, that came from my bodice that was covered in lace flowers and flower diamontes. The finished Hearts were then firmly sew onto the veil - it was done!

I do hope and pray that all of this will be passed down to my grandchildren, maybe beyond. I love symbolic things and it meant so much to me that from one sacrament garment of my own, it was passed on in some way to the beginning of my children's sacramental life.

Now that I have been blessed with a third girl who was recently dressed in the Baptism gown for her special day, she will one day wear the First Holy Communion outfit, many years to come.

Candlemas & a baptism

Oh Blessed Day! Our little girl was baptised today on the feast of Candlemas (The Presentation of the Child Jesus/Purification of Our Lady.) Here is my dear husband holding our newest child of God, after her consecration to Mary over at Our Lady's altar.

The baptism was after the 7am Mass where we had a fully sung Mass for the feast and had our year's supply candles blessed. It was a very quiet baptism with my strength not fully back and my mum and our oldest boy stood in proxy for our dear friends, Scott and Chemai who could not be with us due to chickpox being in our household still and the fact they don't get their new van until next week, which will then hold their precious seven on board.

Our Lady of Victories is such a beautiful, Spanish style church that is high, atop a hill overlooking our city's river with almost 360degree views of the city. Here I am with my oldest and youngest daughters.

Couldn't resist this one...isn't he cute?

The two youngest boys in white, they enjoyed the morning immensely.

This afternoon I have set up a little altar for the novena leading up to the 150th anniversary of apparition of Lourdes.

Here is the baptismal gown, it was made from the left over material of my wedding dress, 6 babies ago. On the front is sewn a medal of Our Lady of Lourdes given as a gift to our little one, it has been touched to the rock at Lourdes itself.

Sandy's gift - a beautiful baptismal cup - for each child she has bought one of these pewter cups, with the child's name and birth date engraved on it, a truly precious gift.

Here are our year's supply of candles - pure 100% beeswax from QueenB - 40 candles for the year and one of them used as a baptismal candle today.

Two blessed candles already in our wall hanger, one by our Our Lady of Lourdes for the novena, so wonderful to light and smell these honey scented candles - and for the whole year to come!