The Subversive Baptism Card

I went into the local Vons store to pick up rootbeer and red solo cups for rootbeer floats. It wasn't an ordinary day. We were on the way to celebrate the initiation and adoption into the Divine Life and into the Church of someone very special. It was the day of the Baptism of my granddaughter Hannah!

Little did I know I would have to tap into my love of Catholic symbolism in order to celebrate fully. 

In a country that is still majority Christian (*barely) I was assuming that I could find an appropriate Baptism or Christening card at the local Vons.

*While Christianity remains the predominant faith, the trend shows a significant increase in the number of Americans who are religiously unaffiliated (atheist, agnostic, or "nothing in particular"). 

The plan was to pop in and pop out quickly as we were already running late. I got the flowers and the gift card, the cups and the rootbeer but no card. I looked, peered, searched and examined all the cards. Ten minutes later, I realized I couldn't find a Baptism card at all. What to do?

I looked at my watch. I had to go. So I looked one last time in the nicer, pricier section for blank cards. I spun the display around scanning the imagery and bam! There it was!...An aqua blue peacock with its feathers all fanned out in all of its glory.

‘What a perfect card!’ I thought as I pulled it out and examined it closely. It was square shaped with a large peacock and no words in the center and it had a white background. Inside was one glistening blue feather glued near the upper right hand corner. It was perfect because while people of the world saw a radiant peacock, I saw Christ.

The Peacock an Ancient Symbol For Christ

Eternal, Divine life: Ancient belief held that a peacock's flesh does not decay after death, leading early Christians to adopt it as a symbol for immortality and eternal life.

The Resurrection: The peacock's annual shedding of old feathers and the growth of new, more magnificent ones symbolized Christ's resurrection.

Hidden splendor: The peacock's beauty is often hidden until it fans its tail, which can represent the hidden splendor of the soul of a Christian, only revealed in its full glory after receiving grace and being reborn.

We wrote about the ancient 3rd century connection of the Peacock to Christ in the card so that one day when our granddaughter reads the card she will understand how in her baptism she will be like a peackock representing Christ to the fallen post-Christian world.

It symbolizes that in the waters of baptism she received divine, eternal life, a promise of the resurrection and a new hidden beauty of the baptismal character in her soul making her a priest, prophet and king like Jesus. 

For my part, I was forced to become like the first century Christians who lived in a time when the Church was persecuted and consequently subversive in its use of signs and symbols. If there are no more Christian cards that dare to use the word Baptism in the local grocery store then a peacock card will do. Out in the open or hidden in the catecombs, Christians have always found a way to express their faith in good times and in bad. 

Let the improvised Peacock Baptism Card be a sign that the Church will always be ready to share the Gospel message and hand down the traditions of our ancient forefathers in the Faith no matter how persecuted it becomes.

‘What a perfect card!’