Farewell to the Christmas Season; Baptism of Carolan

Yesterday, with the celebration of the Baptism of Jesus, the official Christmas Season of the Catholic Church ended. The theme of baptism makes me think of something humorous that happened at the baptism of my daughter Carolan (who is now 23 years old). A few weeks before Carolan was baptized, she had a severe cold and was having some trouble breathing. It probably was no big deal, but it frightened me and I thought about my early religious training about Baptism and Original Sin. I thought to myself: What if Carolan dies before she's baptized? She would spend eternity in Limbo, unable to ever get into Heaven.

You'd think I would know better. These thoughts went against my basic belief in the goodness of God. Anyway, here is what I did. Remembering that any Christian could baptize, I took a cup of water, poured it over Carolan's head, and said, "Carolan, I baptize thee, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost." No one saw this baptism: it was between me and Carolan and God.

Weeks later we came to the church baptism of Carolan. We had this wonderful priest at St. Clare's in Berea, Kentucky. His name escapes me right now, but I remember he was 6 foot 10 inches tall, probably one of the tallest priests in the world. Oddly, before the ceremony, Father asked me if Carolan had ever been baptized. I have no idea why he asked that; I've never seen that question posed before. I gulped, and fessed up my story about worrying about Carolan's health and surreptitiously baptizing her myself. So when it came time for the public church baptism, the priest said, in an aside whisper, "If you are not already baptized . . ." And then the priest continued in his loud, public voice, "I baptize you, Carolan Ruth, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

Another wonderful feature of that baptism is that my friend (and former priest) Guy Patrick, one of the world's great human beings, sang with me a beautiful song from Fiddler on the Roof during the ceremony, "May the Lord Protect and Defend You." (Here's a link to the lyrics: http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/fiddlerontheroof/sabbathprayer.htm). One great line from that song is "May you be like Ruth and like Esther." This line was especially poignant, because Carolan's Grandmother, Ruth Sanders, was in the congregation. We deeply miss Grandma Sanders, who died so suddenly in the spring of 2007.

Here is a poem for Christmas, which we now say goodbye to. The poem was written by a great Notre Dame professor (and renowned drunk, alas), Frank O'Malley--a man so graced and so flawed:


Let the Christbrand Burst!

Let the Christbrand burst!
Let the Christbrand blazon!
Dartle whitely under the hearth-fire,
Unwind the wind, turn the thunderer,
And never, never thinning,
Forfend fear.
Flare up smartly, fix, flex, bless, inspire,
Instar the time, sear the sorcerer,
And never, never sparing,
Save all year.

Let the Christbrand Burst!
Let the Christbrand blazon!

Frank O’Malley
University of Notre Dame