Delos Reyes, Ma. Christine K.

AB International Studies II

29 February 2016

Welcome to the Church

An invitation to an event is something we receive as a symbol that the host wants us to
partake in a celebration or a gathering. When a person is born and takes flesh as Christ did, we
are invited into His gathering as a Christian and we are made part of His church. Our parents will
receive the invitation for us to be part of the church as they themselves have been baptized and
have received the Holy Spirit. The sacrament of Confirmation is our Respondez sil vous plait
(RSVP) to the invitation in order for us to be sealed with our faith and truly become members of
Christs church. Inclusively, for me, the sacrament of Baptism is the official event of ones life
which symbolizes his/her entry to the Christian world, whilst the sacrament of Confirmation is
the symbolic persistence and certification of ones Christianity.
Coming from a family which practices Roman Catholicism, inevitably, I was baptized
and confirmed. Based on my understanding, the act of undergoing both the sacraments of
Baptism and Confirmation is an emblematic representation and commencement of ones
Christian life. Raised in Manila, I was baptized and confirmed at the Resurrection of Our Lord
Parish in BF Homes, Paranaque City, Metro Manila.
I was baptized at an unaccustomed age; three years old. This was the reason why I was
initially confused during our lecture when we were informed that the common age to have an
individual baptized is as early as a week old or supposedly not later than a year old. Not knowing
the reason behind my rather tardy baptism, I personally think it is because of my anxious mother,
who I was initially with for the first three months of my life in her province, Iloilo. Those first
three months with her alone were, as I was told, tragic. Apparently, I was not adaptive to the
locality which caused various illnesses and infections. Knowing I could not endure living there,
my mother brought me back to my father and his family, and from then on, I have not seen my
mother anymore. In addition to that, I am not even aware of how she looks and what not. After
my first birthday, from Zamboanga, we flew to Manila and from then on, we lived there. I was
fully raised by my fathers mother, who has guided me all throughout my existence. Seemingly,
only she had the initiative of baptizing me. A priest baptized me. His name was Msgr. Mario
Martinez of the Archdiocese of Paranaque, and I had one pair of godparents; my fathers brother,
Ted Delos Reyes and my fathers cousin, Mary June Delos Reyes-Urmanita. As for my
confirmation, it was organized by my school, and presided by the acting bishop of the
Archdiocese of Paranaque, Archbishop Jesse Mercado, with my godparents being the same as the
one in my baptism. Based on my understanding, the principle role of ones godparents (ninongs
and ninangs) is to guide their godchild as he/she matures to be a genuine Roman Catholic, with
an ethical morality and right set of values. With this, even with the absence of my mothers
guidance, I believe that along with my grandmother, my godparents did not, even once, fail to
accomplish this duty of guiding me to become a real Christian as I personally know that I have
the right conscience to know what is right and wrong, and to know what to do and what not do,
even if other people accuse and degradingly think otherwise of me.