Baptism of the Lord

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Baptism of Our Lord which ends the season of Christmas.  The Church recalls Our Lord's second manifestation or epiphany which occurred on the occasion of His baptism by John in the Jordan River.  It was John who said of Jesus that, “He must grow greater and I must become less.”  These are among the strongest words and most moving testimony with regard to the identity of Christ: his greatness compared with our littleness.

John teaches his disciples, and us, that we are called to make ourselves less and allow Jesus to become more.  How unlike most of us who strive constantly to become more: to gather more possessions, to become greater than those around us.  We are students who think we are teachers; workers who act like we are bosses; servants pretending to be masters.

John the Baptist knew well that the original sin was pride.  It’s dangerous for us to forget the nothing that we are, and the everything that God is.  That original temptation seems ever on the ready to rise in our soul.  How good it is for us to acknowledge now and then, that the Lord alone is everything!  Right at the beginning of her spiritual journey, the Lord said to Catherine of Sienna: “do you know daughter, who you are and who I am? If you know these two things, you will be happy:  You are not, and I am who is.”

Although with different words, John the Baptist offered his disciples the same teaching: “He must grow greater and I must grow less”; in order to make way for the Everything God is, we who are nothing must forget ourselves. This is the extraordinary conversion announced by John the Baptist and repeated by Jesus: lose oneself in order to find God, become little in order to be great, be the least in order to become the first in the Kingdom of Heaven!

The path of humility teaches us to see a sign of the goodness God pours into the hearts of ourselves and in others.  When we follow the example of John the Baptist, we will be open to the joyous testimony of God's gifts and remove from our souls all trace of jealously and rivalry, envy and ambition.   It’s only in emptying ourselves that we can begin to understand that true greatness lies in allowing God to be in charge.

Living the Eucharist

As we celebrate the Nativity of the Lord during this Christmas season, we understand the coming of Jesus Christ is the defining moment of human history.  Jesus is not just one more fact in history, He is the decisive fact.  Our encounter with Him is an encounter like none other.  Jesus did not come into the world so that He could learn what it means to be human; He came into the world so that we could learn what God is like, and what he expects from us.

When Jesus returned to the Father He didn’t leave us.  The Holy Spirit, the same spirit that descended upon Jesus at His baptism descended upon the Apostles and remains with His Church, and with us today.  He also remains with us in the Holy Eucharist.  When we receive Communion we are receiving Jesus Himself in the most intimate of ways.  We take Him into ourselves and He becomes part of us and we become part of His body.

The gift of the communion we receive with Christ is not meant for us to keep; it is meant for us to live and share with others.  To help us explore and live this communion in and with Christ, Risen Savior is again participating in the Lenten series called “Living the Eucharist.”  Father Tim encourages every member of the parish to sign up and participate in one of the many small groups that will gather during Lent.  Those who participated last year are invited to come back:  the readings this year are new, following this year’s cycle of Sunday readings.  Those who didn’t participate last year are welcome to join this year – you aren’t behind those who have gathered before. 

Living the Eucharist is a minor commitment of time.  Groups meet for approximately 90 minutes a week for the six weeks of Lent.  There will be groups that meet on weekdays and weekends; mornings and evenings; here at Risen Savior and in individual homes.  Small groups will meet at a time and a place that will be convenient for everyone.

Lent begins in a few very short weeks.  There are sign-up forms in the Bulletin this week and they will be in the pews the first two weeks of January.  By signing up early we can make certain we order enough materials and are able to get you into the time slot that is most convenient for you.  

Liturgical Year and Colors

All we do as the People of God centers round the Pascal Mystery – the Life, Death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Our rhythm of celebrating the Pascal Mystery occurs in three clocks: daily in the Liturgy of the Hours, weekly on the Lord’s Day, and annually in the Liturgical Year.

By recalling the mysteries of our redemption in this way, the Church opens us to the riches of her Lord’s powers and merits, so that they are made present to us.  It’s as if the Pascal Mystery is too much for us to take in all at once, and we need to break it into bite-sized pieces. 

Beginning with the First Sunday of Advent and ending with the Feast of Christ the King the Church celebrates the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The year itself is broken down into three distinct periods.

The first of these periods is Advent and Christmas.  We anticipate, then celebrate God coming into human history.  The second period is Lent and Easter where we enter into the events that led up to Jesus’ death and then celebrate his resurrection and ascension into heaven.  The final period we call “Ordinary” Time, but there’s nothing ordinary about it.  The word “ordinary” comes from the word “ordinal,” which is how the weeks are numbered: first, second, third, etc.

Each of these seasons have a different feel to them and we can recognize the change of season by the different color vestments the clergy wear as well as the colors of our banners and altar decorations. 

The use of colors to differentiate the liturgical seasons became a common practice about the fourth century.  Today, four colors are used to express the emotions and ideas that are associated with each of the seasons of the liturgical year.

Purple is the ancient royal color and is a sign of repentence.  We wear it during Advent and Lent.

White reminds us of the brightness of day and that Jesus is the Light of the World.  We wear it during the Christmas and Easter seasons as well as for the great feasts of the year.

Red evokes the color of blood, and is the color of martyrs and Christ’s death on the cross.  It is also worn on the feasts of the Apostles.        

And the rest of the year, when we’re counting out our Ordinal Time?  We wear green which represents living things and the promise of new life.  

A Royal Priesthood?

Most of us are aware that we cannot celebrate Mass without a priest.  While this no doubt makes our priests feel needed, it can have the unfortunate side effect of leading some of faithful to think that Mass is something that the priest “does” for the rest of the Church.  In reality, the Mass is something that we all do together.  A priest is here to lead the community, but they need you to worship with, too.

The first part of the Roman Missal, the big red book which contains the prayers we use at Mass, is called the “General Instructions.”  It says that “the celebration of the Eucharist is an action of the whole Church,” all of us.  It goes on to say that “this people nevertheless grows in holiness by its conscious, active, and fruitful participation” in the Mass.

The Second Vatican Council called everyone who gathers for Mass; be it priest, deacon or the lay faithful, to “full, conscious, and active participation.”  As a matter of fact, the world’s bishops said that this was to be the, “aim to be considered before all else,” in our celebration of the Mass.  The bishops were so concerned about this because they recognized that this kind of participation “is the primary and indispensable source from which [we] are to derive the true Christian spirit.”  It is by our taking part in the offering of the Mass that we are to become more and more like Christ.  It is our primary path to holiness.

The Council fathers insisted that our participation in Mass is both a right and a duty by reason of our baptism, because through baptism, to quote St. Peter, we have become “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people.”  We all share in the priesthood of Christ; you as the royal priesthood and the priest in the ministerial priesthood, and it is Christ who offers his sacrifice to the Father whenever we, all of us, celebrate the Mass.  The priest is the Presider of the Mass; but we are all the celebrants.   

Sometimes we may think that our presence or our participation doesn’t much matter.  But each one of us is important to the celebration of the liturgy.  We each have a job to do that no one else can do for us.  Only together can we offer God proper worship. 

Angels

Angels are in. Angels are hot. Images of winged creatures are appearing on greeting cards, gift wrap, pins, pendants, book covers and bumper stickers. Manufacturers and merchants are cashing in on the public's renewed interest in these celestial beings, but how much of what is being said, written and illustrated is fact? And how much is fiction?

Here's what the Church teaches.

                       

Angels are real. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (nos. 328-336) teaches us that God created the spiritual, bodiless beings we call angels. The Church bases this teaching on both Scripture and Tradition. Each angel has intelligence and will, and each is a personal and immortal creature. In other words, each heavenly angel is a unique being who has chosen to love and serve God, its Creator. It is a being who will never die.

Angels are different from humans.  Angels are 100 percent spirit; humans are both spirit and body.  A human’s soul is immortal, but our body is not.  At death our soul leaves our bodies, but just because we don’t have a body for a while, it doesn’t mean we become angels.  We will receive glorified bodies at the end of time when Jesus comes again. The angels are and always will be spirits with no bodies.

Just like us, angels are capable of temptation.  We know, as the Catechism teaches us, that some angels turned away from God – they sinned.  We don’t know exactly what they did wrong, but their “fall” was a result of their rejection of God and His reign.  We also know that since the beginning of humans’ time on earth, the devil, a fallen angel, has encouraged us to also reject God.

Throughout our lives God's angels are there to offer care and intercession. St. Basil the Great (who died in A.D. 379) said, "Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life." Many of us grew up praying to our Guardian Angel for protection and Catholic school children were taught to scoot over in their seats to make room for their guardian angels.

The word “angel” comes from a Greek word meaning “messenger.”  The word doesn't describe what these beings are, but what they do. They deliver.

The current craze fueling the angel marketing bonanza may fizzle out before too long, but it's a safe bet that angels are going to be around for a long, long time. They are, after all, immortal.

An Informed Conscience

The Catholic Church encourages everyone who can vote to vote.  The Church does not say for whom to vote but it does tell us how.

How are we to vote?  Unlike some Congregational Churches that are handing out sample ballots marked with the candidates they suggest you vote for, the church calls us to use an informed conscience.  We are called to look past the flyers that are in our mailboxes each morning and the ads that fill our television hours in the evening.  We are called to read and research, listen and think, and to make up our own minds. 

We are a nation founded on "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," but the right to life itself is not fully protected, not for the unborn, not for the elderly, not for prisoners. We are called to be peacemakers in a nation at war. We are a country pledged to pursue "liberty and justice for all," but we are too often divided across lines of race, ethnicity, and economic inequality. We are a nation of immigrants, struggling to address the challenges of many new immigrants in our midst. We are a society built on the strength of our families, called to defend marriage and offer moral and economic supports for family life. We are a powerful nation in a violent world, confronting terror and trying to build a safer, more just, more peaceful world. We are an affluent society where too many live in poverty and lack health care and other necessities of life. We are part of a global community facing urgent threats to the environment that must sustain not only us but also the generations to follow.

These challenges are at the heart of the pursuit of the common good.  And these are the challenges that we face when we begin to consider how to use our vote.

Our faith teaches that we have an obligation to participate in shaping the moral character of our society.  We are our brothers’ keepers, and our neighbor is everyone we encounter. 

Some may question whether it is appropriate for the Church to play a role in political life.  But the obligation to teach about moral values that shape our lives, including our public lives, is central to the mission given us by Jesus Christ.

Inform your conscience.  Cast your vote.  Make a difference.  

All Souls' Day

Next Sunday the Church celebrates the Feast of All Souls.  The Church prays for and remembers the faithful departed throughout the entire year. However, All Souls’ Day is the general, solemn, day of commemoration, when the Church remembers, prays for, and offers Masses for the faithful departed.

Christians have been praying for their departed brothers and sisters since the earliest days of Christianity. Early inscriptions on catacomb walls attest to the ancientness of prayers for the dead, even if the Church needed more time to develop a substantial theology behind the practice.

                                      

In the early Church, departed Christians' names were placed on diptychs – a hinged painting that closes like a book. In the sixth century, Benedictine communities held commemorations for the departed on the feast of Pentecost. All Souls' Day became a universal festival largely on account of these Benedictines.

The feast soon spread, and today all Western Catholics celebrate All Souls' Day on November 2^nd, as do many Anglicans, Lutherans, and other Christians. Initially many Protestant reformers rejected All Souls' Day because of the theology behind the feast (Purgatory and prayers/masses for the dead), but the feast is now being celebrated in many Protestant communities.

There are many customs associated with All Souls’ Day, and these vary greatly from culture to culture. In Mexico they celebrate All Souls’ Day as el dia de los muertos, or "the day of the dead." Customs include going to a graveyard to have a picnic, eating skull-shaped candy, and leaving food out for dead relatives. If all of this seems a little morbid, remember that all cultures deal with death in different manners. The Western aversion to anything related to death is not present in other cultures. In the Philippines, on the eve of All Souls’, partiers go door-to-door, requesting gifts and singing a traditional verse representing the liberation of holy souls from Purgatory. In Hungary, a common custom is inviting orphans into the family and giving them food, clothes, and toys. As a sign of welcome, Poles leave their windows and doors ajar on the night of All Souls’ Day for the spirits of their loved ones to come and visit.

At Mass next weekend, we ask all parishioners to bring a photograph of a loved one who has passed whose soul you would like lifted up.  We will pray for all the departed with our loved ones in our midst.

Praying for the dead goes back to the Hebrew Scriptures.  Saint Paul prayed for the dead and we continue to do so today.  For those who have died are changed, not gone, and continue to benefit by our prayers.