Me Too's Priest, Prophet and King Day!!

Today is Me Too's baptism anniversary! I call them Priest, Prophet and King days - explanation below. Baptism anniversaries are very special to me even though I haven't really done anything special to commemorate this one for Me Too like I did last year. We'll talk about it tonight over dinner and I pulled out her white garment, candle and the neat program that Grampy made for it and will put that all out somewhere on or near the dinner table. This past Sunday we looked at pictures of her baptism when we were talking about celebrating Jesus' baptism so it is already fresh on our minds. Actually, that is what reminded me about today - I almost forgot!

I wrote this last year on our family blog and since I don't have too much time to write anything special today (this is being done one handed as it is!) I thought I'd just repost it.

From January 15, 2007....

Today is Me Too's Priest, Prophet and King day! In other words, it's the anniversary of her baptism day. The special day when she joined the body of Christ and called to be a priest, prophet and a king. Celebrating the kids' baptism anniversary day is an idea I got from a dear friend who does this with each of her kids. I meant to do it for Big Bear last year but forgot and vowed to start this year. We have 3 special ones - Big Bear is April 11, Me Too is January 15, and my goddaughter and niece (her nickname is Princess Crinklenose) is August 13.

I woke up this morning and remembered that it was Me Too's and immediately thought to myself, "It's her priest, prophet and king day" and that is what I will call these baptism anniversaries from now on. Being called to be a priest, prophet and a king is a part of the baptism ceremony that I remember but I couldn't exactly explain what each thing meant. I thought it would be nice each year to remind the kids of this calling and talk about it. So, in order to do this, obviously I have to know what it is too!! So I've done a little digging around and will share my new found knowledge. Since Me Too isn't really old enough to understand, it's more up to Doug and I to be examples of these roles for her in our family life so that is what I'll focus more on today.

Priest - to be a priest represents men before God - or "talks to God about men". We are called to pray for each other and offer our lives as a sacrifice to help bring others to God. Doug and I can do this through prayer for and with our children. We can do this through the sacrifices of our daily lives - going to work, housework, making dinner, mowing the lawn, watching kids shows instead of what we want to watch, and putting together Care Bear puzzles for the millionth time when we'd rather take a nap - and doing them without complaining, grumbling or being resentful but instead offering them up to God.

Prophet - to be a prophet is to represent God to me - or "talk to men about God". I think the most important way to do this is to live our lives as Christ's witness. Especially at home and in front of the kids - Jeusu should shine through to them in our words, actions and deeds. We are also prophets by teaching them prayers, taking them to church and making sure they receive their sacraments.

King - to me the other two were easy to understand and explain even before I looked anything up but this one is harder for me to get - even after reading. The best explanation I found was that a king is called to service to his people. Jesus is our King but he was called to service to us by becoming a human and giving his life. We are called to service by loving our neighbor. As parents, we do this not only through loving and serving our children, but also by serving our church and others.

These are just some things I'm thinking about today as I'm remember Me Too's beautiful baptism one year ago. It was a cold and rainy day but inside the little baptistery at St. Thomas it was warm and cozy with love and family. She had already become very fussy due to her reflux but was a perfect, quiet angel all through the ceremony. Big Bear had a ball walking around and seeing everyone while eating her little cereal snack that Grammy brought her. Then we had a wonderful party at home which was combined with Big Bear's 2 year birthday party - a little late b/c of having been in the hospital with Me Too on her real birthday. Skip forward to yesterday when Doug and I split up mass letting her walk around in the back! Doesn't feel like too much progress but I know we'll get there!! It's a journey! We're going to celebrate tonight with one of Me Too's favorite dinners - spaghetti and meatballs - and we'll have some cupcakes.