A Word from Your Pastor January 9 Baptism of the Lord

Dear Parishioners:

We reach the conclusion of the Season of Christmas with the Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord. This week we enter into Ordinary Time. The movement from the Season of Christmas into the Weeks of the Year that are counted (using the “ordinal numbers”) is reminder of the value of human life as it unfolds day by day and week by week. We have a short respite until the beginning of the next major season – Lent, which starts Ash Wednesday, March 9th this year.

Jesus spent most of His earthly life in Nazareth hidden from the world’s view. His Public Ministry began with His Baptism by John, which we celebrate today. He made holy all that is human. He showed us the Love of God expressed in the realities of our daily experience. During this time, we are invited by the Church to review the story of His Life and His Message each year as it is told by a different evangelist. The Cycle of Sunday Reading for Year A focuses on the Gospel of Matthew. If you have not done so before, why not take the time this year to read through this Gospel for yourself? A re-reading of the first two chapters of Matthew will remind you of the whole Christmas Season. Today plunges us into the opening of Jesus’ Public Ministry at the Jordan. The Cycle leads us week by week into the various aspects of the Mystery of Christ Who is God-With-Us.

The message of Christmas is that God is not distant from our human experience. He tells us in many ways “I am with you.” The Gospel of Matthew draws us into an awareness that in Christ, God is truly with us until the end of time. “I am with you until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)

This week the Church in the United States observes Vocation Awareness Week. We pray that our parish may lead all of us to a deeper understanding of God’s Call and free us more and more to respond to our Vocation. We pray especially that our young people may become the priests, religious and committed lay ministers that we will need in the future. I pray in a particular way that someone from St. Timothy Parish will enter the seminary and be ordained as a priest of the Diocese of Columbus during my tenure as your Pastor. We are in our 50th year, having had many priests sent to us. It is time we sent one of our own into the Lord’s local vineyard!

National Vocation Awareness Week

National Vocations Awareness Week will be celebrated in our country January 9-15, 2011. Please pray for all those who are being called to the priesthood and consecrated life. May they be inspired by Jesus Christ and respond generously to God’s gift of a vocation.

The Year of Prayer: Renewal of Baptismal Commitment for the Baptism of the Lord

A Prayer of Consecration

Most Merciful and Loving Father, for the sake of my own salvation and for the good of all Your People, I now renew the Consecration made on the day of my Baptism. Aware of being accepted by You as Your own beloved child, through Your Son Jesus Christ, I give thanks that through Your mercy we are given this gift of New Birth.

Acknowledging the ministry you have shared with me in Christ, I consecrate myself to You, uniting my heart, my mind, my soul and my strength to the very life You share in the Most Blessed Trinity with Your Son and the Holy Spirit. Entrusting this pledge of my commitment to Mary, the Mother of Your Son, who now shares with You the Light of Glory, I implore You for an outpouring of Your Holy Spirit. May Your Divine Mercy be manifest in my life. May the Truth of Your Love be made known through all my choices and actions.

Empowered by Your Spirit in communion with all the Saints, I promise to live this Consecration each day of my life that the Grace of the Incarnation may be shown forth in me. I give You all I am, all I have and all I do from this day forward until You call me to enter into my eternal home with You. May the work You have begun in me continue until I reach the fullness of the Humanity of Jesus, Your Son. May Your Spirit breathe new life into me that I may come to Union with You now and forever. Amen.

Consecration to Jesus Christ the High Priest and to Mary, Mother of the Church

O Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Son of God the Father and of our Mother Mary, woman of pure faith, anointed with Your own Holy Spirit, we take our stance in You before The Father in Heaven to worship in spirit and in truth. You have made us one with You in Your eternal priesthood to help consecrate the world and redeem these times.

We therefore consecrate our lives and the entire creation You have committed to our care in order to bear witness to the prior right of God and the transcendence of Your Kingdom over the things of the earth. With the aid of Your Grace, we promise to respond to Your call in our souls and to live joyfully and contently our unique ministries in Your Holy Church.

O Mary, Holy Mother of the Church and Mother of The Vine, we entrust ourselves to you completely, body and soul, that we might be fully open to your Maternal Wisdom and be more perfectly formed by grace into Christ Jesus in the womb of your spirit. Amen.


Reflections on the Liturgy
In preparation for changes in the Mass to take place Advent 2011

Many people do not realize that the Changes that took place in the Mass following Vatican II were already underway before the Council took place. There was a world-wide Liturgical Movement that had as its goal a greater sharing of the riches of the Liturgy with all God’s People. Scholars had made discoveries of a rich treasury of prayers and elements of common worship that were not being used. Missionaries were crying out for away to teach cultures and peoples how to pray without having to learn Latin and the Western European Culture. Communities and Religious Orders such as the Benedictines were desirous of leading assemblies to a full, conscious, active participation in the Mystery being celebrated. The fact of the need for change was evident. The Council Fathers gave it a “way” by selecting the theme of Worship and Liturgy as the first topic to be considered. The first “change” was the addition of Saint Joseph to the list of Saints in the Roman Canon beside the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Countdown to our Golden Jubilee:

There are so many stories that serve to convey who we are and where we have come from. Who are the story-tellers in the parish? Sit down with your family or with members of a group you are a member of in the parish and talk about this. Let’s make a list and check it twice. Who has helped you to become more involved in the life of the Parish? Whose witness, whose story, whose example has inspired you? We want to arrange a way to interview (and perhaps even record on video) some of the classic tales. So, name names. Next weekend, put a name in the collection basket and note what topic or story that individual is likely to be able to tell.