Monday, OrdTime Wk 1: "God spoke"

in partial and various ways
to our ancestors through the prophets;
in these last days, he spoke to us through the Son

-- Heb 1:1-6

"In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son." Christ, the Son of God made man, is the Father's one, perfect and unsurpassable Word. In him he has said everything; there will be no other word than this one. St. John of the Cross, among others, commented strikingly on Hebrews 1:1-2:

In giving us his Son, his only Word (for he possesses no other), he spoke everything to us at once in this sole Word - and he has no more to say. . . because what he spoke before to the prophets in parts, he has now spoken all at once by giving us the All Who is His Son. Any person questioning God or desiring some vision or revelation would be guilty not only of foolish behavior but also of offending him, by not fixing his eyes entirely upon Christ and by living with the desire for some other novelty.

-- CCC 65

The Baptism of the Lord: God is the source of happiness because through baptism He gives meaning to our lives

Happiness. Everyone wants it. Our lives are spent in pursuit of it.

And as we bid goodbye to the old with 2010 and welcome the new year 2011 many put their desire for happiness into the form of resolutions, seeking to change aspects of their lives that did not work out to their satisfaction in the past in the hope that the future will bring the happiness of success in their endeavors and goals..

Experts tell us that happiness is not found in our feelings, as these come and go. Our emotions are often up and down and sometimes so without any reference to the reality around us. Happiness is also neither simply a lack of depression or sadness. Although in some cases these are so profound and long lasting that we need to seek professional help in order to alleviate them, the lack of them is not always experienced as a sense of fulfillment either.

For the full text of today's homily please visit A Priest Life ((((..)))).

Feast of THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD

Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7 , Psalm 29:1-2, 3-4, 3, 9-10., Acts 10:34-38 , Luke 3:15-16, 21-22

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

MERRY CHRISTMASTIDE. Throughout the ages, Christians have celebrated Christmas as a season, with the twelve days between Christmas and the Epiphany as one long Christmas "day." The Christmas season ends today with our celebration of the Lord's baptism.

"Jesus' public life begins with his baptism by John in the Jordan. John preaches 'a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins'. A crowd of sinners - tax collectors and soldiers, Pharisees and Sadducees, and prostitutes- come to be baptized by him. 'Then Jesus appears.' The Baptist hesitates, but Jesus insists and receives baptism. Then the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, comes upon Jesus and a voice from heaven proclaims, 'This is my beloved Son.' This is the manifestation ('Epiphany') of Jesus as Messiah of Israel and Son of God." (CCC 535 )

Recounted in our liturgy today through the proclamation of the gospel of Lk 3:15-16, 21-22, the baptism of the Lord is "on his part the acceptance and inauguration of his mission as God's suffering Servant. He allows himself to be numbered among sinners; he is already 'the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.' "(CCC 536)

What is revealed as only a sign of the Lord's coming death in John's 'baptism of repentance' is not merely a sign for the new Christian who rises from the waters of the sacramental font. For each of the baptized, the immersion in, or pouring of, water and the invocation of the Trinity is a real sharing in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

"Through Baptism the Christian is sacramentally assimilated to Jesus, who in his own baptism anticipates his death and resurrection. The Christian must enter into this mystery of humble self-abasement and repentance, go down into the water with Jesus in order to rise with him, be reborn of water and the Spirit so as to become the Father's beloved son in the Son and 'walk in newness of life' (Rom 6:4)"(CCC 537).

St. Gregory of Nazianzus spoke well of this mystery when he preached: "Let us be buried with Christ by Baptism to rise with him; let us go down with him to be raised with him; and let us rise with him to be glorified with him." (CCC 537)

St. Hilary of Poitiers expressed, more poetically, our adoption as true sons and daughters of God in baptism:

"Everything that happened to Christ lets us know that, after the bath of water, the Holy Spirit swoops down upon us from high heaven and that, adopted by the Father's voice, we become sons of God." (CCC 537)

The greatest of gifts is ours in baptism: God's very own life and love. A life to overcome the death which is our inheritance from Adam's sin, a love to overpower and win us away from love of self to love of God for his own sake and our neighbors for his glory.

Another of the baptismal gifts we receive is the ability, in Christ, to praise and worship the Father in the Holy Spirit, and to be found pleasing to God as we do so. The baptismal font was often placed in the courtyard or near the entrance of early churches, and the practice continues so in many places today.

We "entered" the Body of Christ at the moment of our baptism. We became worshipping members in Body of the Son, His Church, pleasing and beloved by the Father, through our baptism. This is why holy water fonts are placed near the entrance of our churches. As you dip your fingers into the font and make the sign of the cross each time you enter the house of worship of the Lord, remember it is by the power of your baptism that you render fitting and pleasing worship to God in your spiritual sacrifice of holiness of life and, most fully, the Eucharistic sacrifice. It is by your bath in the waters flowing from the side of Christ the priest in his perfect offering that you have been incorporated into the one, holy, catholic and apostolic body of Christ in the world, his bride the Church.

I look forward to meeting you here again next week as, together, we "meet Christ in the liturgy", Father Cusick

Meeting Christ in the Liturgy

Art: Baptism of the Lord, Mosaic, Arian baptistry, Ravenna.

Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday: "anyone begotten by God does not sin"

... but the one begotten by God he protects, and the Evil One cannot touch him.

-- 1 Jn 5:14-21

The Church is holy: the Most Holy God is her author; Christ, her bridegroom, gave himself up to make her holy; the Spirit of holiness gives her life. Since she still includes sinners, she is "the sinless one made up of sinners." Her holiness shines in the saints; in Mary she is already all-holy.

-- CCC 867

Saint Raymond of Penyafort: “Go, show yourself to the priest"

... and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.

-- Lk 5:12-16

In the ecclesial service of the ordained minister, it is Christ himself who is present to his Church as Head of his Body, Shepherd of his flock, high priest of the redemptive sacrifice, Teacher of Truth. This is what the Church means by saying that the priest, by virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, acts in persona Christi Capitis:

It is the same priest, Christ Jesus, whose sacred person his minister truly represents. Now the minister, by reason of the sacerdotal consecration which he has received, is truly made like to the high priest and possesses the authority to act in the power and place of the person of Christ himself (virtute ac persona ipsius Christi).

Christ is the source of all priesthood: the priest of the old law was a figure of Christ, and the priest of the new law acts in the person of Christ.

-- CCC 1548

Blessed Andre Bessette: "whoever is begotten by God conquers the world"

... And the victory that conquers the world is our faith.

-- 1 Jn 4:19–5:4

The name one receives is a name for eternity. In the kingdom, the mysterious and unique character of each person marked with God's name will shine forth in splendor. "To him who conquers . . . I will give a white stone, with a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it." "Then I looked, and Lo, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him a hundred and forty- four thousand who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads."

-- CCC 2159

The Most Holy Name of Jesus: "His commandment is this"

... we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ

-- 1 Jn 3:22–4:6

The name "Jesus" signifies that the very name of God is present in the person of his Son, made man for the universal and definitive redemption from sins. It is the divine name that alone brings salvation, and henceforth all can invoke his name, for Jesus united himself to all men through his Incarnation, so that "there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

-- CCC 432