On Being a Co-Mother

Some friends called to ask if we would be the godparents for their soon-to-be-born baby.  Tom and I have been on such a joyous high ever since.  I can't describe what an honor it is to have been asked.  I figured we'd probably be asked to be someone's godparents eventually, but I thought we were far down "the list" for a lot of our friends (who have siblings or closer friends who would probably be asked before us).  I'm really excited to have that special relationship with their little child.  These friends are already Stella's godparents, so now the godparent relationship will extend both ways.  It's wonderful to have this keeping our families bonded, even though we live across the country from each other.

I have a wonderful little booklet about Our Lady of Fatima (The True Story of Fatima by John de Marchi).  The young visionaries who saw the Blessed Mother were cousins, and their parents were godparents several times over for each other's children.  Throughout the account in this book, the children's mothers refer to one another as "comadre", and their fathers as "compadre".  The book explains that in Portuguese, these terms mean - as they sound - "co-mother" and "co-father".  They are titles that describe the very special relationship between the person who is the child's natural parent, and the one who is their godparent.

I think that's just a beautiful understanding of what it means when you ask someone to be a godparent to your child - you are asking them to love that child and pray for them as if they were their own.