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This Is My Beloved Son
We most fittingly begin every new year with a liturgy honoring Mary, the Mother of God. We renew ourselves, model ourselves after Mary, who said “yes” to God, who gave herself completely to God.
Last week we celebrated the feast of the Epiphany, the second part of the fourfold revelation of the Son of God to all peoples. The three Wise Men followed a star on their very difficult journey, encountering many trials. But they persevered, remained focused, and they were rewarded. They entered Bethlehem to find our Savior, Jesus Christ, cradled in the arms of His mother, Mary.
Usually we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord on the Sunday after the Epiphany. With Christmas and the Feast of Mary Mother of God falling on Sunday this year, we lose that Sunday. The celebration of the Baptism of the Lord is moved to January 9.
In the Gospel for today, the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, we find a narrative of the baptism of the Lord in John 1:29-34.John the Baptist, when he sees Jesus walking toward him, announces, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world... I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel.” John tells us that Jesus will give us the saving waters: “On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.”
Matthew, in the Gospel used on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, tells us more about the same event: “After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased’” (Matt. 3:16-17). We Christians find our Savior by entering the water of Baptism. Christ calls us to the water. He goes into the water before us to lead us, to guide us, to reveal the image of God His Father.
He is still with us. Today we begin the Second Movement of our Symphony of Love in C Major that we like to use to describe our Liturgical Year, as we celebrate the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time. Ordinary Time includes all the time outside the two major events in the life of Christ and their associated periods of preparation: Christmas and Advent, and Easter and Lent.
The word “ordinary” comes from the Latin ordo meaning list. Thus the Sundays in Ordinary Time are a list of Sundays numbered frim one through 33. Not all numbers are used every year, but the last Sunday in Ordinary Time will always be 33.
As we witness this third part of the fourfold manifestation, let us open our hearts to God’s message: “This Is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”
Father Storey
A Plea for Prayers from Pope Francis
With an extremely early deadline for the Jan 8 bulletin, it is very difficult to include anything timely, but I would be remiss if I didn’t include the following as the news broke while I was writing today. Please join me in prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
At the conclusion of his General Audience on Wednesday, December 28, Pope Francis urged the faithful to say “a special prayer” for his 95-year-old predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. The Holy See Press Office director confirms there has been an aggravation in his health condition due to advancing age but says the situation remains stable. Pope Francis urges us to pray for the Pope Emeritus who in silence is supporting the Church. Pope Francis said, “Remember him – he is very ill – asking the Lord to console him, and sustain him in this witness of love for the Church, until the end.”
In the great Solemnity of Christmas and the ensuing Christmas Season, we hear the good news that God is truly here among us. Through the Person of His beloved Son, He comes close to us. He has become part of our human family and entered the world which He entrusts to humanity. We celebrate in thanksgiving the God Who created us, Who loves us, the God Who is wanting to show His face. He reveals to us that He is truly the Messiah, the one coming to save.
The Evangelist Matthew was writing for a Jewish-Christian audience and weaves their Scriptures, symbols and allusions to their ancestors into his Gospel. He gives their Hebrew texts new meaning, showing fulfillment in unforeseen ways in light of Jesus the Messiah.
We celebrate a fourfold manifestation of Jesus Christ that begins with the announcement to the shepherds of the birth of the Infant Jesus, and continues with the Epiphany wherein God shows Himself to the world through the eyes of the Wise Men. The three Wise Men embarked on a Christian journey, totally on faith – their only guide, a star. They had to have days of doubt, of frustration, sickness. Days of just wanting to turn away from this journey to which they had been called. Especially when the star grew dim and disappeared from their sight. But they persevered, and they were rewarded.
We read in Matthew’s Gospel, “After their audience with the king (Herod) they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother” (Matt. 2:9-11). This overwhelming joy which embraced the Wise Men can be ours! Like the Wise Men we must persevere in our pursuit of God, not become disheartened. The joy of the Gospel will fill the hearts and lives of all who truly encounter Jesus.
The Baptism of the Lord is the third part of the manifestation. The fourth manifestation takes place at the celebration of the marriage at Cana. Jesus, through His miraculous changing of the water into wine, reveals that He truly is God. We will hear about these final two parts of the manifestations in the weeks to come.
Wishing you all the blessings and joys of this holy season. May your families be safe in their travels and your time together be a true blessing. May the Light of the Infant Jesus shine through our lives and manifest itself to all we encounter.
Father Storey
Mary, Mother of GodWith joy, we celebrate this feast day of our Blessed Mother. Usually, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family on the Sunday between the feasts of the Nativity and Mary Mother of God; however since both feasts are on a Sunday this year, the celebration of The Holy Family is moved to December 30. Today we will continue our reflection begun last week: What shall we call Him?
Today’s Gospel is a repetition of the one used in the Mass of the Nativity at dawn, with the addition of the verse that announces the naming of Jesus:
The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.
Then the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.
When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
JESUS! The name comes from Hebrew roots and means “The Lord is salvation.” Jesus is the same name as Joshua in the Old Testament. It is given to our Lord because “He saves His people.”
The wonder of Christmas is to acknowledge with the eyes of faith that the baby born in Bethlehem is the eternal Son of God. He has united Himself in some fashion with every human person. He worked with human hands, thought with a human mind, acted by human choice, and loved with a human heart. Born of the Virgin Mary, He has truly been made one of us, like us in all things except sin. He showed us the way, and if we follow it, life and earth are made holy and take on new meaning” (Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (22)).
Each and every human life is holy because it is the creation of God, but it has taken on a deeper sacredness because Jesus Christ lives our human life. We apply this truth of the Incarnation when, with the mind of God, we honor family life, and when we respect, defend and foster human life in all its forms from conception to death.
Since January 1, the Solemn Feast of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, falls on Sunday this year, we will follow our usual weekend Mass schedule.Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us!
Father Storey