54 short years of baptism

Today is the 54th anniversary of my baptism at All Saints Church in Watsonville. it was at least forty years before I began to take in the significance of the feast day of the Holy Innocents. This year the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School makes the complexity of the day more real and more urgent than ever.

I have read about the day, prayed about it, tried to put its complexity into my own words. I haven't come up with anything worth writing, but I have found several images, and others' words, that come close to what I would like to be able to express.

Holy Innocents' Church in Altanta has an icon which most closely expressed the complexity: look at their website and read what they have written. It shows angels holding the innocents above and apart from the dark places of the innocents' devastation.

I also went back to my family history and found this card, which was given to me by Gram, my maternal grandmother and biggest supporter. It accompanied a tiny gold cross which I wore that day. I love the angels surrounding the font, baptizing and witnessing, and it connects me to the Innocents in very important ways. The Holy Innocents deserve our protection, our advocacy and our prayers.