A Letter from Fr. Paul - Sunday, January 10, 2021

As we did last year, we will be having a second collection (on the weekend of January 16th & 17th) to support the Salvatorian Fathers and Brothers, who started this parish and have ministered here since then. Details can be found in the January newsletter and the bulletin, as well as on the SDS website. Please be as generous as you can. I thank you on behalf of all of my community.

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, the official end of the liturgical Christmas season. We now enter the first week of Ordinary time, which lasts until Ash Wednesday and picks up again after Pentecost, continuing until the Feast of Christ the King. Ordinary time is when we learn from Jesus’ words and example in the Gospels how we are to live as Christians.

It is important to see the progression of events in Christ’s life, so that we can imitate Him.

1. After the incident in the temple when He was 12, Jesus was with His family and working as a carpenter until He was 30, when, along with many other Jews from Jerusalem and the countryside, He went to the Jordan river to be baptized by His cousin, John.
2. At His baptism, He has an “ah ha” moment in which He realizes that He is being called for something special (the dove descending on Him and the voice of His Father).
3. He goes off into the desert to reflect on what it is He might be called to do. He is tempted to go for power and prestige, but He knows that isn’t what His Father wants and He rejects it.
4. He returns to His hometown and, as a good Jewish male, goes to the synagogue on the Sabbath. He is chosen to be the one to read the scripture that day. What He reads gives Him another “ah ha” moment of what His Father is calling Him to: to bring glad tidings to the poor…to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind…to let the oppressed go free… In other words, He was called to reach out to the poor and rejected of society.
5. Now He knows what His Father wants and can begin His ministry.

It is important for us to note the two actions of Jesus that helped lead Him to clarity about His purpose in life. First, He was part of the Jewish community, following their laws and participating in their rituals. He was with the people being baptized and He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath, along with the other faithful Jews. Second, He went off by Himself into the desert to be alone and discern. He prayed to and with His Father. He needed guidance and He allowed the time and space for it to happen.

​Participation in the community and quiet, personal time with the Lord. Two things that are very important if we are to discover God’s will and how we can fulfil it.

I invite us this week to reflect on this example of Jesus, asking ourselves how we are doing at using both the community and personal, quiet time with the Lord to guide us in life. If we are weak in one or both of these areas, make a plan on how to do better.

As we struggle to be better disciples, let us support each other in prayer.

God bless.