From the Pastor’s Desk: January 13, 2019

The Baptism of the Lord

      Today we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.  This feast marks the end of the season of Christmas and the beginning of Ordinary Time.
 
     Last Sunday, we celebrated the Lord’s Epiphany as light to all nations. The event was marked by the representation of the three wise men who traveled “field and fountain, moor and mountain” from the far east in order to worship Jesus. Today we mark another epiphany in the Lord’s life, one that occurred about 30 years after that first one in Bethlehem. Today, after decades of hidden life, Jesus’ full identity was manifested at the banks of the Jordan River when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him and God the Father spoke from heaven saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased!”
 
     The baptism that Jesus received at the Jordan from John introduced, first, the baptism of repentance “to fulfill all righteousness;” that led to another baptism— one not just of water, but of “the Holy Spirit and fire” (Lk 3:16). This is the baptism Jesus instituted at the Jordan, when He, by His own baptism, made the waters of baptism capable of delivering on what they signified - not just representing the need for the forgiveness of sins, but actually forgiving those sins. This is the baptism in which Jesus empowers His disciples in the “great commission” to be participants in His own salvific mission: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:18-20).
 
     Today we celebrate not only the manifestation of the Lord’s identity but the identity of our own, “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed; when it is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is” (1 John 3:1-4). The most profound title that can be said about any of us is that we are children of God. Even though the world, as St. John writes, “does not know us,” — even though the world does not register this reality — this is who we are most profoundly. The most important day of our life — no matter how old we are, no matter how much or how little we’ve accomplished in the eyes of the world — is the day of our baptism. The Father’s words taking us as his own (“This is my son, this is my daughter”) and his telling us how much he loves us (“my beloved, in whom I am well pleased”) have no expiration date. Even though sometimes we, like the prodigal son, forget who we are, treat the father as if he is dead and wander from home, whenever we come back to his embrace, he rejoices and restores us to our true identity as his much loved children and heirs (Lk 15:1-32).
 
     Last Sunday, we celebrated our Annual International Fair on the festivity of the Feast of Epiphany.  I want to express my deepest words of gratitude to all who came to share in the wonderful cultural diversity of our parish.  It was so wonderful to see so many of our parishioners sharing in the spirit of joy, friendship, and fellowship.  A word of thanks to the Pastor’s Advisory Team who coordinated the event, and to everyone who took part in the celebration to make it such a success.  Well done!
 
     As we come to the end of the Christmas Season, I want to express my most profound words of gratitude and thanks to everyone who helped prepare our parish for the celebration of Christmas in many different ways – decorations, cleaning, music, liturgies – to one and all – Thank you! Once again we are able to experience the love of our community for each other as the extension of the Love that was born into us – Christ Jesus.
 
With prayers,
Fr. Andy