30 March 2008

Johnny's Mother looked out the window and noticed him 'playing church' with their cat.He had the cat sitting quietly and he was preaching to it.
She smiled and went about her work.

A while later, she heard loud meowing and hissing and ran back to the open window to see Johnny baptizing the cat in a tub of water. She called out, 'Johnny, stop that! The cat is afraid of water!'

Johnny looked up at her and said, 'He should have thought about that before he joined my church.'
~
This is a cute enough story for just about anyone who's received it via e-mail. However, I think my sister and I have an entirely different appreciation for it, set apart from most.

Growing up in the country, we had cats.
Multitudes of cats.

We also grew up having an aunt who happened to be a Catholic Nun.

And I can remember her bringing us a little plastic bottle of Holy Water each on one of her visits to see us.

Being like, 7, and Lutheran - as it were - we politely accepted our gift, knowing it was something to be cherished and not tossed... although not exactly sure what to do with it?

So, we decided to baptize our newest kittens!

Oddly enough though, I don't remember how it all 'went down' from there? Maybe Jodi does. But, I'm thinking they were such little kittens that they didn't know any better. And, thankfully for the kitties, we were more accustomed to 'sprinkling' than to 'dunking'.

But, I do remember coming away from that feeling pretty good about it afterward.

Even if the kitties didn't!!
~
Mark 1:8 "I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!" (NLT)

3 comments:

Dianne said...

Now I am ALL ABOUT cats, but that's a scary picture! :-)

Anonymous said...

LOL! I do remember a little more about it. We did it in the garage where the box of kittens sat. We picked each one up, turned them on their backs, and sprinkled the water on their heads while saying, "I now baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

We were so corny!!! :)

Joanne@ Blessed... said...

Jess,

How hilarious...too too funny!

Would you believe that I too had an aunt who was a Catholic nun? Sr. Anne Loretta was her name. I didn't find her to be very nice. And to tell you the truth, as a child we didn't like her company much at all. She was so mean, and such a tiny woman, that we nicknamed her Yoda.

Blessings!