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January 9, 2022
The Lord Jesus did the will of his father.
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With this beautiful Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, we conclude the Christmas season and begin Ordinary Time. But there is nothing ordinary about this miraculous event. It is called a theophany. This means that all three persons of the Blessed Trinity are made manifest. The Father is revealed in the voice from heaven that declares, “This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.” The Holy Spirit is revealed as the dove descending on the second person of the Blessed Trinity, the Son, who is in the flesh. So this is obviously an extremely important event in the life of our Lord and therefore an important event for all of us.
Our God takes very seriously our redemption. To become one of his creatures is an extreme effort on the part of Almighty God. But to do so in order to suffer and die for all of us is an even more astounding event! How much more should we take seriously our salvation! It begins in humility. Being willing to admit we are in need of a savior. Humbling ourselves to reform our lives and ask God’s mercy. We do this at the beginning of every Mass when we pray the Confiteor and the Lord have mercy.
After his baptism, the Lord went into the desert to prepare for his public ministry. His ultimate battle with the devil!
How arrogant must the evil one be that he dare to tempt and antagonize the Son of God? How humble our savior is to subject himself to such abuse. Yet he does so out of love for you and me. Could a God who has gone through all of this to prove his love for us and to save us from ourselves abandon us now in 2022? Absolutely not!
We know that this is a very critical time in world history. Things are changing and they are changing rapidly. There is unrest throughout our world. The attacks on faith and on family are enormous! The secular world has declared war on the sacred, but we, as people of faith, full of confidence, are not trusting in ourselves but in our God. On this Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, we renew our own Baptismal promises and remind ourselves that we too are beloved sons and daughters of God. We want to live lives which are pleasing to Him. Lives that fulfill his will for us and for our world. So we begin this “ordinary time” in an unordinary way. We know our God is with us and we have nothing to fear. We may be called upon to suffer. May we embrace our own personal cross as Jesus embraced his. He did it for our sake, may we do it out of love for him.
The Lord Jesus did the will of his Father. He was obedient even unto death. He cancelled out the disobedience of our first parents and of ourselves. Let us also strive to be obedient to the will of God in our lives and in our parish. As we continue to study what the Lord’s will is for us as a parish family moving forward.
May we pray every day: Lord Jesus, please help us to desire what you desire and please give us the grace to do it.
God love you,
