Happy Feast of the Baptism of the Lord!

Today marks the official conclusion of the liturgical Christmas season, which is always a bit nostalgic because I love Christmas decor and it’s a bummer when things have to come down. From here we will journey through five and a half short weeks of Ordinary Time before gathering on Ash Wednesday and embarking upon Lent. The overall momentum of life picks up pace from that point in mid-February all the way through the celebration of Corpus Christi in early June and the conclusion of the school year. So, the chances are high that sometime before Ash Wednesday, I will pick a week between the Sunday liturgies to take some vacation and reset.

It’s a mark of adulting, I’ve found, that as you grow up your vision moves further and further into the future. In childhood, you spend all your attention simply on the moment in front of you now, whereas in adulthood you spend much of your attention using the moment now to make you ready for the moments yet to come. Go to sleep tonight to have energy for tomorrow. Buy groceries now to eat next week. Go to work this week to pay bills next month. Plan time away now to take vacation next year. It does seem a little strange. But then again, that is a consequence of a fallen world, all the constant preparation. In heaven we won’t spend any time preparing for anything! The fulfillment of all our needs and desires will be eternally present to us in the joy of seeing God’s face.

This whole life that we live, my brothers and sisters, is a time of testing. The trials and efforts of our days are given by God or allowed by Him to prepare us for eternal life. They train our eyes and hearts to have a vision for the future—the ultimate future, the final frontier. Our everlasting flourishing depends on “beginning now with the end in mind,” you might say. Such phrases are made famous even by the experts of our secular day (I’m thinking of a well-known book titled The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Dr. Stephen Covey).

Today’s gospel is a peek into the human choices of the Son of God who uses the now-moment to prepare for the future He has in mind for us. John the Baptist described his own ministry as a baptism of water signifying repentance. But Jesus’ baptism was not a remission of His own personal sin, for He was already perfect. Rather, as St. Maximus of Turin once preached, “Christ is baptized, not to be made holy by the water, but to make the water holy, and by his cleansing to purify the waters which he touched… For when the Savior is washed, all water for our baptism is made clean, purified at its source for the dispensing of baptismal grace to the people of future ages. Christ is the first to be baptized, then, so that Christians will follow after him with confidence.”

Think of this today and thank God. For in the moment Jesus was descending into the waters of the Jordan, He was seeing into the future and looking with joy at the moment you were baptized with the water He was then currently consecrating for future ages. This water which Jesus sanctified transmits the divine grace that has made you beloved daughters and sons of God.

Fr. Brian

Entry Five: A Baby Priest’s Advent Prayer

O good and gracious God, you are the King of the Universe; you are the Creator of my life and of all creation. Thank you for creating me. Thank you so much for everything you have given me. I am beyond grateful for all that you have done for me. Thank you for calling me to this vocation to be your priest—a vocation that I am incredibly unworthy of, a vocation I cannot live without your love. Lord, this vocation,

through which you pour out your grace into the world and into the hearts of your people, is a gift and a sign of your supreme goodness and faithfulness. God, I know that I do not deserve to ask anything of you, for you have already blessed me far more than I am worthy of; yet I ask you now, during this holy season of Advent, to increase my capacity to love.

Lord, I want to love your people as you love them. I want to be merciful as you are merciful; I want to see others as you see them. I want to be used as your instrument in any way you see fit, so that your will may always be done instead of my own. The only way I can act in accordance with your will, O Lord, is if you increase your love in me. Help my heart to be more receptive to receiving your love. Increase my capacity to love, so that I may respond in the same manner as your Blessed Mother did.

Lord, I will wait in silence for you. I will continue to wait for your glorious second coming because you have blessed me and saved me. You have given me new life through your Son’s miraculous first coming and through the outpouring of your divine love, the Holy Spirit, into my heart. Help me, Lord, to remain faithful to you. Help me to wait. Help me to remain alert and to watch for your coming.

Heavenly Father, you know your servant better than I know myself. You know how impatient I can be, and how difficult waiting is for me. When even the smallest thing arises in my day, it is easy for me to become impatient because it did not happen the way I wanted it to. Come to your servant’s aid with your divine grace, so that I may become more patient. I want to await your glorious second coming eagerly, with joy in my heart. Lord, I will wait for you as long as it takes, but the only way I can wait in silence is if you give me the strength to do so. I cannot be your faithful disciple unless you provide the grace to make it possible. You are the source of all goodness, and every good action I perform for your glory, I know, is inspired by you, for it is only through you that I am able to do anything good.

Lord, increase your love in me; this is my desire for the Christmas season. When your love is poured into my heart, I know who I am in your eyes. I know what I am destined for. I know I can do whatever you ask of me because your love fills me and motivates me. Your love is the catalyst that propels me into the world to share it with others. All I ask is for more of your love. How I wish everyone could experience your divine love as you have shared it with me. Please, Lord, keep me faithful to you; keep my will full of hope and my heart full of your love, so that I may continue your work.