So mad at myself after Baptism!

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Hello all,

I don’t post on this forum often but I figured this is a good place to post. I was in RCIA and I was baptized into the Catholic faith last Saturday during Easter Vigil. I was so excited and happy about the baptism during the whole Easter Vigil mass.

Now comes after mass. After we said a million thank you’s to all the parishioners who congratulated us, we went back inside the church and took a group picture. I have many group pictures of all of us catechuments and candidates with the Father, Deacons, and sponsors. After that, we were asked to take off our white baptismal gown and after that, I totally forgot to take individual pictures of myself with the priest, myself with my sponsor, and myself with my mom! Oh my God I am so MAD at myself. When I realized this a few days later I literally stared at my pictures for almost an hour and wanted to cry, because I do not have individual pictures of myself with these important people alone, on such an important and special once in a lifetime date!

Am I being overly sensitive or what? Anyways I just want to vent about my stupidity and forgetfully here on a Catholic forum.

ARRRRGGGHHH!
 
brownbear said:
Am I being overly sensitive or what? Anyways I just want to vent about my stupidity and forgetfully here on a Catholic forum.

ARRRRGGGHHH!
Click to expand...
No, I don’t think you’re being overly sensitive - sensitive sure:) but who’s to say what qualifies as overly? 🤷

As someone who doesn’t have a single wedding photo of just me and my spouse, I can fully empathize! (Very similar story as to what you described happened at your baptism)

Eventually we’ll “laugh” about this … or so “they” say (it’s been 15 years for me, I’m down to mildly regretful if that’s any help).

So here’s a :hug3: And be consoled with the knowledge that God has far better things in store for us up ahead then what we didn’t manage to fully photograph in our past.
 
Offer up your frustration as a sacrifice to God, and never forget that the Holy Spirit has placed an indelible mark of Christ upon your soul. When we get to heaven and sit before God and His Glory, all the missed photo opportunities of our past life will be insignificant. Even the best camera could never capture the happiness of that moment with Him.

Welcome to Christ’s Holy Church, brother, and God bless you!
 
brownbear said:
Hello all,

I don’t post on this forum often but I figured this is a good place to post. I was in RCIA and I was baptized into the Catholic faith last Saturday during Easter Vigil. I was so excited and happy about the baptism during the whole Easter Vigil mass.

Now comes after mass. After we said a million thank you’s to all the parishioners who congratulated us, we went back inside the church and took a group picture. I have many group pictures of all of us catechuments and candidates with the Father, Deacons, and sponsors. After that, we were asked to take off our white baptismal gown and after that, I totally forgot to take individual pictures of myself with the priest, myself with my sponsor, and myself with my mom! Oh my God I am so MAD at myself. When I realized this a few days later I literally stared at my pictures for almost an hour and wanted to cry, because I do not have individual pictures of myself with these important people alone, on such an important and special once in a lifetime date!

Am I being overly sensitive or what? Anyways I just want to vent about my stupidity and forgetfully here on a Catholic forum.

ARRRRGGGHHH!
Click to expand...
Take a deep breath and realize that what is more important is that you were baptized. Let go of it and move on.
 
brownbear said:
Hello all,

I don’t post on this forum often but I figured this is a good place to post. I was in RCIA and I was baptized into the Catholic faith last Saturday during Easter Vigil. I was so excited and happy about the baptism during the whole Easter Vigil mass.

Now comes after mass. After we said a million thank you’s to all the parishioners who congratulated us, we went back inside the church and took a group picture. I have many group pictures of all of us catechuments and candidates with the Father, Deacons, and sponsors. After that, we were asked to take off our white baptismal gown and after that, I totally forgot to take individual pictures of myself with the priest, myself with my sponsor, and myself with my mom! Oh my God I am so MAD at myself. When I realized this a few days later I literally stared at my pictures for almost an hour and wanted to cry, because I do not have individual pictures of myself with these important people alone, on such an important and special once in a lifetime date!

Am I being overly sensitive or what? Anyways I just want to vent about my stupidity and forgetfully here on a Catholic forum.

ARRRRGGGHHH!
Click to expand...
I know some people probably will not like this comment. I say whether you are being overly sensitive or not depends on whether you are a guy or girl actually. 😃

But more seriously, you said you have many other pictures. Be happy with that. You have pictures to remember the day, right? I did not take any pictures with anyone at my baptism and im cool with that. I know I was there and I dont think I will forget who else was there. You wont either. I still have not even seen any of the pictures that my Mother took of me. I have the whole Baptism still in my head
 
CONGRATULATIONS!!!

May you rejoice with all your heart as you receive our Lord again this weekend, as you again CELEBRATE!

And maybe you can ask someone to take a picture of you standing next to the baptismal font, or with your pastor, etc.
 
The important things to remember is that you have your memories and not just static exterior memories, also felt memories. You also have the evidence of the Spirit at work In you. If you want a pictorial memory, may be you could create one. Using colour and lines on paper you could create an abstract representation of you feelings and memories which might be a useful aid to prayer too.
 
think of all the hundreds of years when it wasn’t possible to have pictures. It was almost 2000. I don’t have any pictures of my Baptism. I know by story that my uncle and aunt were not there but I had proxies to stand in as Godparents. The only one likely alive that was there is my brother who was not yet two years old. I know I was baptized. ’ Yes it would be nice to have pictures since I don’t remember being less than a month old. You are lucky to have group pictures.
 
Congratulations on your Baptism!

This feels big now, but in a year or so really will not feel so huge - at least you have some photos from this special occasion.

When I came into the church none of my family was present because they are much too far away. The RCIA leader took some photos and he said he would give me copies of the photos 👍 that was nearly 6 years ago and I have yet to receive any photos 😦
 
Would it be hard to get these people together again for a quick photo? It obviously won’t be on the day of your baptism, but at least you can have the picture. 🙂
 
Baptism is entry into the Lord’s Family, so you had your pic with the Lord’s Family and not an individual one. It may have been meant that way for a reason ie you have enterred into a family not enterred into individualality?

But you have record of the event by the group photo which is more meaningful anyway in that it is a family that you have enterred…

Hope that helps a little? 👍
 
aspirant said:
And, BONUS, the OP actually remember it. I can’t remember my baptism at all. 😃
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The sorrow of all cradle Catholics (or people who don’t remember well). 😛

As said, OP, congratulations on your Baptism and entrance into the Church! May the Lord grant you many blessings through her. No need, especially, to feel anger towards yourself; rejoice that you are now a Catholic and a member of the Lord’s Church!
 
Forgive the bluntness, but…

when people say they are having a bad experience or a bad day, they have no idea what a bad day really is. When most people talk about having a bad day they talk about missing the bus. A bad day REALLY is being a mother in a third world country watching your child die of hunger and knowing there is nothing you can do about it. That’s having a bad day!

You know you CAN still have a picture of yourself with these people individually anytime by asking them to pose with you. It’s not like they all died in the past seven days.

Also others have said, there have centuries where there have been no photographs at all, or cradle Catholics don’t remember the experience, plus you have photos of yourself with the group.

Quite honestly, you got more of your baptism than any photo can communicate.
 
Thank you so much for all your responses, everybody! I feel much better after reading all of your posts and made me smile (and laugh)! I guess I felt the way I did because I haven’t told anybody about this except to my sponsor and my mom. I didn’t bother telling my husband about it because he would just give me no comment. 🤷 On the positive side, a great idea came to my mind. My children will be baptized later this month too, and I will make sure I take pictures with my sponsor (who will also be my children’s godparent) and with my pastor and I will wear the same clothes as when I was baptised and bring back the framed Apostle’s Creed given to me near the end of the Easter Vigil, so I can take a picture with the Pastor and my Sponsor with it LOL!

Silliness aside, yes, this beautiful ceremony will always be in my memory and I will remember every detail of it. The fact that I was baptised is the most important. I am enjoying every moment of it and feel the desire to learn even more than when I was in RCIA. I really miss my RCIA classes and mass meetups. Maybe it was really God’s way telling me I entered as a family by giving me group photos only, because I really like that family.
 
brownbear said:
Hello all,

I don’t post on this forum often but I figured this is a good place to post. I was in RCIA and I was baptized into the Catholic faith last Saturday during Easter Vigil. I was so excited and happy about the baptism during the whole Easter Vigil mass.

Now comes after mass. After we said a million thank you’s to all the parishioners who congratulated us, we went back inside the church and took a group picture. I have many group pictures of all of us catechuments and candidates with the Father, Deacons, and sponsors. After that, we were asked to take off our white baptismal gown and after that, I totally forgot to take individual pictures of myself with the priest, myself with my sponsor, and myself with my mom! Oh my God I am so MAD at myself. When I realized this a few days later I literally stared at my pictures for almost an hour and wanted to cry, because I do not have individual pictures of myself with these important people alone, on such an important and special once in a lifetime date!

Am I being overly sensitive or what? Anyways I just want to vent about my stupidity and forgetfully here on a Catholic forum.

ARRRRGGGHHH!
Click to expand...
Hello brownbear! I wonder if you feel such sensitivity because you are worried that you somehow “got it wrong” in spite of your best intentions?

There were no photos at my Confirmation/First Communion. I entered seperately from the rest of the RCIA class (which chose to wait until the “big hoopla” of Easter Vigil), and I didn’t even bother to wear anything nice. At the time I didn’t want to make “too big” of a deal about it, thinking that too much excitement might leave me feeling depressed and let down afterwards. Looking back, after seeing the care and festivity that other people put into these types of experiences - especially the little girls in their “wedding” dresses at First Communion - I would have at least worn a nicer outift; that was my First Communion, even if I wasn’t a cute 7-year-old anymore, even if I can’t wear white. 😃
There were a couple of other really small, silly things that seemed ludicrously painful, like a papercut that causes an insane amount of pain compared to its size. I think now that I was trusting in my own efforts (mainly anxiety, which doesn’t do much good) to “get things right”, as though I was worried that any imperfection would block the grace of God in my life. In actuality, the grace of God was already working, or I would never have desired to become Christian or Catholic in the first place; it is really God Who baptizes and confirms, it isn’t something that anyone can do for themselves by worrying, and it can’t be “messed up” by the little imperfect stuff. 🤷
 
brownbear said:
Hello all,

I don’t post on this forum often but I figured this is a good place to post. I was in RCIA and I was baptized into the Catholic faith last Saturday during Easter Vigil. I was so excited and happy about the baptism during the whole Easter Vigil mass.

Now comes after mass. After we said a million thank you’s to all the parishioners who congratulated us, we went back inside the church and took a group picture. I have many group pictures of all of us catechuments and candidates with the Father, Deacons, and sponsors. After that, we were asked to take off our white baptismal gown and after that, I totally forgot to take individual pictures of myself with the priest, myself with my sponsor, and myself with my mom! Oh my God I am so MAD at myself. When I realized this a few days later I literally stared at my pictures for almost an hour and wanted to cry, because I do not have individual pictures of myself with these important people alone, on such an important and special once in a lifetime date!

Am I being overly sensitive or what? Anyways I just want to vent about my stupidity and forgetfully here on a Catholic forum.

ARRRRGGGHHH!
Click to expand...
Can’t you just take them later? I know the late pics might note have the same sentimental value as if they had been taken on the day of your baptism, but they will still give you a visual memory of those who helped you on your journey into the church.

Besides, the important thing is that you are now a member! Yay for you!
 
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