A Word from Your Pastor January 12 - Baptism of the Lord

Dear Parishioners:

Following the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord this Sunday, we find ourselves once more in Ordinary Time with “the First Week of Ordinary Time.”  As the children in the Atrium have learned, the color of this Liturgical Season is green, and it reminds us that we are in a “growing time.”  The word “ordinary” in this context is in reference to the fact that we number these weeks with “ordinal” numerals, that is, “first, second, third, etc.”  In other words, we are simply “counting time.” 

The experience of time has not been “ordinary” in the other sense of the word since the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We live “in the Year of Our Lord 2020,” which highlights the fact that since the Incarnation of the Son of God, all time has belonged to Him.

The Baptism of the Lord is a reminder to us all that we are privileged and called to live a Sacramental Life.  Jesus is the Sacrament of God the Father, the One Who reveals to us the very nature of God as Love.  The Church is formed as the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit and therefore becomes the Sacrament of Christ.  The Seven Sacraments are the usual means for the members of the Church to enter into the Life of Christ.   Baptism initiates us into Christ-Life.  Baptism serves as the doorway into the Sacraments and into the promise of Eternity.

At the Baptism of Jesus, the Holy Trinity is made manifest.  The Life of the Trinity is revealed as the Spirit descends upon Jesus and remains with Him.  We have that very Life in us and we grow in our experience of that life to the extent that we cooperate with the grace that is offered through the Sacramental Life of the Church.

Being members of the Church is not like being members of a “club.”  The Sacraments, because they are of God, effect an interior transformation in us.  They help us to become truly who we are in Christ.

Today, let us become ever more aware of and committed to the grace of our Baptism.  May our Faith grow, and may we live so that the Lord may bless all His People with peace as we live the Sacramental Life.

In the days ahead, many of our children will be learning more about the Sacraments as they prepare for First Holy Communion and for Confirmation.  May their families and all of us live the Sacramental Life fully so they may rejoice with us in the power of the grace they are soon to receive.  Our conscious and active witness helps them to know the true meaning of the Sacraments they receive.  May we all grow n the Life of Christ which we share.