Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord

Hello Friends,

I heard many comments over the past weekend from people complaining about the noise at the Saturday night Mass celebrating the Feast of the Epiphany and our multi-cultural heritage. It seemed that a different baby was vocalizing their unhappiness throughout the whole Mass. The people that approached me seemed upset that I wasn’t upset. My attitude is always that I am happy that they are at Mass making noise than not at Mass at all. Yes, parents could be more prudent about when to walk to the rear of church with an unhappy baby. But, I’m rarely distracted by them. Actually I have not found the child that I cannot be louder than. So bring ‘em on!!!! On the Feast of Epiphany, in fact, I thought it was quite appropriate that we got to celebrate another dimension of how broadly God’s Salvation really reaches. While we were at Mass hearing the music and the Scriptures proclaimed in many languages to represent Christ coming to all the nations of the Earth, we also got to be reminded that Christ has come for all generations of people from our oldest to our youngest parishioners.


This weekend’s Feast of the Baptism of the Lord builds upon the celebrations of Christmas and Epiphany in similar multidimensional ways. Just as Jesus’ availability and offer of Salvation and Eternal Life are universal, so is His calling to responsible lives of discipleship. Discipleship begins with Baptism! When we are Baptized we become part of the Universal Church, the family of God. We are also called to live the life of Christ with the gifts that God has uniquely blessed us. The Sacrament of our Baptism does not end with water on our heads. This Sacrament continues day by day by the ways we live our calling from God. Just as the Father called Jesus to be His Beloved Son from the waters of the Jordan River, we are His Sons and Daughters. We are to be His priests sanctifying and praying for the world. We are His prophets speaking the truth and pointing God out in each person created in His image. We are His kings leading others to God with compassion, mercy and tender care.

On this Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord let us look at ways that we can better live as His disciples.

Peace and Blessings,
Fr. Chuck