Dear Church Family and Guest of the Mobsters,
Welcome, welcome, welcome in the name of
Jesus! May the joy of the Lord be present in your heart as you celebrate in the sacred Word and the sacred ceremony this great Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. This is the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of our journey into a closer, closer walk with the Lord. In fact, this Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is our “YES” commitment. What in your life was your strongest “YES” to a commitment in life? I imagine a lot of you were thinking when you got married you said “YES, I want you to be my husband/wife for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, until death.” Even if that didn’t work out, you knew at that time, you were saying very, very powerful words. The more mature you were, the more humble you felt that this is so sacred. Take those feelings and images with you as you celebrate your “YES” today, to the Lord. This is your Commitment Day! This is your day of being a little excited and filled with a little extra wisdom and light. Certainly, as the Feast of Epiphany has proclaimed, that you have this wisdom and light in you so that you are excited about your relationship with Jesus. It is good to ask yourself the question. Are you excited about your relationship with Jesus? If you sort of give a ho, hum answer then Jesus hasn’t really sparked in your life.
Church, I have a new car, well it’s a 2005 car with 142,000 miles on it. I need to have this new car except I have a spark plug/engine problem. The spark plugs just don’t spark. The challenge for you today is to spark. Enter into on all four, all eight, all sixteen cylinders, whatever you have and that you can be excited about and feel very much interested in putting Jesus and His service to His people first. So, it’s a little bit more today and this is your challenge. If you don’t feel very excited about your own prayer life and it’s ho, hum existence or if you are not trying to do personal prayer or personal scripture reading or maybe extra reading of some inspirational word that sort of makes you really feel enriched, then pray for the grace to go back to the drawing board and start anew. Pray for the grace to desire light, wisdom and interesting spiritual things. If that permeates your life and you are fulfilling your “YES,” all is well. If your prayer life is clouded amongst many other concerns that go with daily living and you know all those things that wrap up all your time and talent. Just pray for the grace to come alive in the future.
I really feel the words the Father said to Jesus, “This is my beloved Son, on whom my favor rests, listen to Him.” I think those words can also be applied to us. “You are my beloved daughter, my son in whom my favor rest.” Enjoy this wonderful new relationship with the Lord. Alleluia! You wonderful church family members and mobsters.
Love, Fr. Bob
P.S. Cut this pastor’s pen out and put it on the refrigerator or medicine cabinet. See the challenge once again. Alleluia!
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