Mike's Baptism

On Saturday, March 22, 2008, I was baptized at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Columbia, MO. So Dave, to answer your question, I am official.

The RCIA process took nearly a year to complete. I'm going to briefly talk about the whole 12 month process. I began the week after Easter 2007. The process involved going to weekly classes in addition to attending Mass. Beginning in January 2008, there were many rites that I, along with the others going through the process (17 in all), took part in, from being welcomed into our Parish community to meeting with the Bishop of the Diocese of Jefferson City.

Holy Week 2008 was the culmination of this process. We attended Mass on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil on Saturday night. It was at the Easter Vigil where the baptism and confirmations took place.

The Easter Vigil was really cool. It began at 8pm because it has to be dark outside. We begin outside where the Priest blesses the fire that lights the Easter candle. We process inside the church and the next 1 1/2 hours or so was in the dark, except for the candle lights on the altar. The dark symbolizes the darkness that Christians feel as Christ has died. Around 9:30 or so, the lights came on, symbolizing Christ's resurrection from the tomb. It's really very cool to experience! Shortly thereafter, the 6 of us who were unbaptized were baptized and the remaining 11 others who were already baptized were preparing for Confirmation.

To see the baptism of the others that I went through this process with was definitely a sight to see. We knelt in the baptismal font and Monsignor dunked us. Surprisingly, the water was warm! I was the 4th one to be baptized.

The rest of the evening went by very quickly. After baptism, we were confirmed. Later, we took our First Communion.

All in all, it was something that I'm extremely proud of doing. This process brought Tricia and I closer together and renewed my faith in ways that I can't express.

MK