This week is my third son's first birthday, and with next week being Baptism of the Lord, a quick story about the birth and baptism.

Without getting too much into detail, I'll just say that #3 is large and, well, got stuck in a very precarious way during birth. /1

Seconds turned into 1 min, then 2 mins, then 3 mins. At this point I don't recall much of what was going on around the L/D room other than that a high risk OB/GYN came in and took control. We learned later that if we hit 4 minutes, serious brain damage or death was possible. /2

#3 is delivered. And if you've been in a delivery room you know the baby is supposed to cry. Or move a bit and react to the light and sound and noise. Something.

Nothing. Nothing happened. Oh shit. /3

We learned later that the 1 minute Apgar score was 1, which is, like, really bad. He had a weak pulse. No other vital signs or activity. /4

So the nurses take him over to the warming table and start working. My wife is crying and repeating Fulton Sheen's name. We don't quite know what's going on, just that it was bad, and we can't hear him or see him move, and the nurses are understandably focused on the baby. /5

So, what do you do? There's only one thing I can do. I leave my wife's side and I go baptize him. I grab the bottle of water she was drinking and flick some over his meconium-stained head and say "[Name,] I baptize you in the name of the Father..." /6

"...and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." repeating the water and signing of the Cross at each Person.

Still not response from the boy. /7

I go back to my wife, who at this point is about to lose it. I tell her I baptized him. And right then, I swear, he starts crying.

It was the most beautiful sound I've ever heard. /8

Now, if we believe that baptism is just a symbol, it doesn't actually do or signify or cause anything, what was the point of that? I got in the way of the nurses. I left my wife sobbing on the bed. All to flick some water and say some voodoo over his head. /9

Like my brother said in his homily to his college students the following week for Baptism of the Lord, that's a pretty dumb thing to do. But we believe it does matter. In fact, it matters the most, as St. Thomas Aquinas says. It is the single act most necessary for salvation. /10

And that's why every person, even non-Christians can baptize in an emergency. If it's life or death, all you need are the words and the water. /11

Now in usual times we don't have to worry about this except at times like challenging births. But, well, I see that Scotland is shutting down churches again. And lots of people can't go to Mass. What happens when your friend or your uncle can't be seen by a priest? /12

If they ask for baptism, you better damn well know the words. And have a bottle of water handy. /13

That night after the birth, I sang Veni Creator Spiritus. "In labore requies," "In our labor, rest most sweet." I still marvel at that harrowing labor, and that last, most sweet response.

Consolator optime, indeed. /14fin