The Church has instituted for Christian mothers the fine ceremony of Churching in memory of the compliance of the Virgin-Mother with the Jewish Law of Purification after childbirth. The Christian rite is one of blessing and thanksgiving.
The mother goes to church with her babe as soon as she is able to go out again; she kneels at the entrance of the church, holding a lighted candle in her hand. The Priest sprinkles her with holy water and says:
Adjutórium nostrum in nómine Dómini.
R./ Qui fecit cœlum et terram.
Et cetera...
And, of course, another picture of baby Thomas.
8 comments:
Thomas Joseph is very handsome and I love the name. Congratulations you guys!
He's such a sweet little Christian! Congratulations on your baptism Thomas J.
Anna, unfortunately, despite your best efforts, Thomas hasn't been baptized yet. We still need to translate all our documents into German before the hospital will give us a birth certificate, and only after we have that will we be able to have him baptized. I'm pretty sure this is Austria's requirement, and not the Church's. Anyways...next Tuesday is hopefully the date.
Oh. Well than I guess he's a sweet little heathen? Can I even say that?
Well, I suppose it becomes a question of whether his sweetness is an attribute of his humanity, as being made in the image of God, or a more specifically 'Christian' attribute. . .
Perhaps someone ought to check with a nearby theologian. . .
;)
All the theologians nearest by are too busy getting the paperwork in order to comtemplate a question of that subtlety. Perhaps after it becomes irrelevant in the specific instance ...
I don't know about the theology of it, but I think he is absolutely adorable (if one may be forgiven for using that word of anyone or anything other than God)!
Even if one might concede conditionally that someone other than God could be described as adorable - your new grandson, say - certainly he could not be said to be "absolutely" adorable, as only God could contain the absoluteness of adorability.
Post a Comment