Matthew Monday: Baby Antonio's Baptism

I mentioned I was to be Godparent to my recently born nephew, Antonio. I'll follow up with that personal note within this Matthew Monday post.

 

The baptism went well, and we had a nice little party at a restaurant afterward. The only thing of note that I can mention is that Father Veras's (our pastor performing the baptism) little homily at the baptism quoted the recently published encyclical, Lumen Fidei. Not only did he quote it, but he quoted the very passage I highlighted in one of my posts on the encyclical. 

“Baptism makes us see, then, that faith is not the achievement of isolated individuals; it is not an act which someone can perform on his own, but rather something which must be received by entering into the ecclesial communion which transmits God’s gift. No one baptizes himself, just as no one comes into the world by himself. Baptism is something we receive.”

I thought that was prophetic in a tiny way.  As you can see from the party afterward, the baptism was part of a gathering of friends and family.  We are not isolated individuals.

Well, here are some pictures.  I did say Antonio was one of the prettiest babies I've ever seen, so here you go, judge for yourselves.

Here he is in his mother's lap.

And here he is being carried by the proud Nonna, my mother.

 

Of course Matthew had to give him a kiss.

 

And finally, this is Matthew's space on my blog, so here is Matthew drinking a chocolate milk at the party.  He does look handsome here I must admit, quite the grown little man.

 

By the way, Sunday was Matthew's fourth birthday, and Monday is our Gotcha Day.  More on that next week.