This week will mark the baptism anniversary of one of my children. My wife and I always make a point to acknowledge and celebrate our children’s baptism anniversary just as we do their birthdays. This is to emphasize the importance of baptism to our children and how much of a gift we consider it for them.
1.You are commemorating the most special event in life
Baptism is our entry into the New Covenant of Christ. It is the Sacrament that makes our reception of the other Sacraments possible. Along with the Eucharist, which is truly the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus, Baptism holds a special place in Christian salvation. It is the way we are “born from above” (John 3:5), which Jesus says is necessary for heaven. Jesus also told Peter the importance of being washed clean at the Last Supper (John 13:8). Baptism is referenced many times throughout the New Testament (1 Peter 3:21; Titus 3:5; Romans 6:3; and many others). When we remember our baptism, and our children’s baptisms, we remember the day God gave them sanctifying grace. This date, along with our birth and our entry into heaven itself at death, are the most important moments of our lives!
2. You are giving your child another special patron
The date of my son’s baptism is October 19. This date is also the feast of St. Isaac Jogues and his companions. While it was not our intention to choose this feast day when we chose our son’s baptism date, it created a special opportunity to discover and celebrate a new Saint for whom our son can consider a patron and model. Like naming a child after a Saint, choosing a special feast honors that Saint as well. This gives another devotion and another possible confirmation Saint later in life. There are great feast days and memorials of Saints every day of the liturgical calendar, so you cannot go wrong!
(We were more intentional with some of our children’s dates, some of whom were baptized on the feast of the Holy Family, the feast of the baptism of Jesus, and the feast of St. Joseph of Arimethea.)
3. You have another reason to celebrate!
St. Paul says in 1 Cor 5:7 that “Christ our Passover has been sacrificed, therefore let us keep the feast”! Catholics have plenty of reasons to celebrate, all of which center around our gratitude for Christ. Our baptism draws its spiritual power directly from Jesus’s sacrifice on the Cross (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1225), so when we celebrate our baptism it is another unique way we remember and celebrate God’s grace in our lives.
One of the things that attracted the pagan world to Christianity was the joy that Christians radiated in their lives. Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22) and it is the Holy Spirit that every Christian receives at Baptism. We should radiate this joy in our lives because we have that same Holy Spirit. One great way to do this is to celebrate the day the Holy Spirit made his home in our hearts— our Baptism!