Baptism is glorious

Readings: Isaiah 42:1-4.6-7; Psalm 29:1-4.9-10; Acts 10:34-38; Matthew 3:13-17

At least for Roman Catholics in the United States, today is the formal end of the Christmas season. There are those who, as with the Holy See, keep Christmas going for the old school forty days, that is, until 2 February when the Church celebrates the Fast of the Presentation of the Lord. Traditionally known as "Candlemas," the Presentation most certainly marks the end of Christmas.

While I don't like observing Epiphany on the Second Sunday after our observance of the Lord's Nativity, preferring the 12 Day of Christmas, I like extending the liturgical season to the Feast of the Lord's Baptism. Unbeknownst to most Catholics, Christ's "Epiphany" has a threefold character: His manifestation to the magi, His Baptism by John in the Jordan, and the Miracle at the Wedding Feast of Cana. The latter two manifestations marking the beginning of Jesus' public ministry in the Synoptics and John respectively.

This connection is made beautifully explicit in the hymn "Songs of Thankfulness and Praise," composed by Christopher Wordsworth in 1862. "God in man made manifest" is a wonderfully pithy and condensed way of stating the profound truth of the Incarnation of God's Only Begotten Son! I have long pondered why the magi encountering the Lord as infant in Bethlehem wasn't made one of the Luminous mysteries, especially given the the third Luminous mystery- the Proclamation of the Kingdom- is arguably "contained" in the first- Jesus' Baptism by John in the Jordan

Our reading from the tenth chapter of Acts, taking place as it does in the house of the Roman centurion Cornelius, who had summoned Peter, is part of what is often called "the Pentecost of the Gentiles." It was immediately after Peter's proclamation of the kerygma that the Holy Spirit descended on the members of that Gentile household. As a result, they were all baptized. Much like the magi, who represent the goyim (i.e., "the nations"), this episode shows the Gospel is for everyone. Through Christ, the one covenant is extended to all.

Baptism of Christ, by David Zelenka, 2005

This being Year A of the Sunday Lectionary, the account of Jesus' baptism proclaimed today is from Matthew's Gospel. It is in this Gospel that John demurs at the thought of baptizing the Christ. Jumping forward to the end of Matthew, we find the Great Commission:

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age (Matthew 28:19-29)

I spent most of yesterday teaching the deacon candidates for our diocese. At one point, we were discussing the fact that baptism, not orders, is the fundamental sacrament of Christian life. In fact, when clerics vest for Mass (or most any liturgical service) the first vestment we put on is the alb. The alb is a baptismal garment. The stole, the sign of ordination, goes on top of the alb, and then the chasuble or dalmatic.

I couldn't think of a better way to say than "Baptism is a big damn deal!" Thinking back, "It is a big salvific deal!" Confirmation is so closely related to baptism that it's easy to miss in today's Gospel (or any of the canonical accounts of the Lord's Baptism) that in addition to being baptized, Jesus is also confirmed. What is confirmed for Jesus is His divine sonship. When you were confirmed, what was confirmed was also your divine sonship/daughterhood. While Jesus Christ is the Father's Only Begotten Son, we are the Father's children by adoption through Christ. This happened by the power of the Holy Spirit when you were reborn through the waters of baptism. What a marevlous work!

Baptism makes explicit what is implicit. Hence, your baptism, too, is a revelation! Baptism changes the nature of our relationship with God, allowing us to call God "Our Father." This is pleasing to Him. Who doesn't want to share this good news?

"Something in me's stirring"

Decoupled from the holidays, today is the genuine first Friday of 2026. I hope your first full week of the New Year marked a good start for you. Mine, while good, has been a bit tumultuous.

I am preparing for a big life change. Retiring from my nearly 30 year career, I'm moving on to another full-time position for the final phase of my working life. It's time for a change and I am excited about making it.

My several discernment posts sprinkled over 2025 from beginning to end were about this very thing. In the "Grand Inquisitor" section of his masterpiece, The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky was quite correct in his insistence that freedom is very often a difficult thing for human beings. Exacerbated by several good choices, I've found it overwhelming at times. It's way easier to just keep flowing than to either swim against the current or get out of the river altogether and jump in a different one.

Of course, I have more to think about than what I want. As a husband and father, I have duties and obligations to others. And so, I have to be responsible. I had discerned through prayer way back last January that this change was the right way ahead for me. But I had quite a number of things I needed to get done before that could become a reality. As a result, I started and dilgently worked my way through it all, finishing up just this past week.

Now I can make the change in a way that makes me excited as opposed to anxious. I am grateful for being granted the time and space to do what I needed to do and to discern. I began the process of retiring on the sixth anniversary of starting in my present position. That date happens to be the Solemnity of the Immculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. I have no doubt her intercession has been instrumental in the events of my life over the past year. I am always grateful for and to her.

Because I have been preoccupied with accomplishing so many mundane tasks, I don't have a lot to write about. I have already finished my first book of 2026. I read Ian Rankin's next to most recent John Rebus novel: A Song for Dark Times. Rankin's novels do not disappoint (me). I just started Nijay Gupta's Strange Religion: How the First Christians Were Weird, Dangerous, and Compelling.

And now a song for dark times for our traditio. It's the Scottish band Jesus and Mary Chain- Rankin is Scottish and the dean of Tartan Noir. Off their still excellent Darklands album, "Deep One Perfect Morning." This is dedicated to John Rebus.

Memorial of Saint John Neumann

Readings: 1 John 3:22-4:6; Psalm 2:7-8.10-12; Matthew 4:12-17.23-25

Very often when we hear the phrase “keep his commandments” or some variation thereof, our minds almost automatically generate a list of dos and donts. Given that we have the Ten Commandments, this is no surprise. Without a doubt, being obedient to God requires doing some things and forsaking others. But it is never enough just to do or not do.

Jesus did not abrogate the Law, at least not in its entirety. Besides, the whole Torah was never binding on Gentiles. There are ends and then there are the means to realizing ends. In His life and teaching, the Lord sought to clarify that the 613 mitzvot, or rules, prescriptions and proscriptions, adherence to which marked one as observant, were means to the end of loving God with one’s entire being and loving your neighbor as yourself.

Why you do or not do matters. A truly good act, according to Mother Church, is one in which the chosen object is good in itself, it is done with the correct intention (love of God and/or neighbor), and one that is not coerced.¹

Every sin flows from either not loving God or not loving your neighbor as you should. When making an Act of Contrition during the sacrament of penance, we acknowledge as much when we say, speaking to God: “In choosing to do wrong and failing to good, I have sinned against you whom I should love above all things.”

Following Christ, truly following Him, makes life complicated. Following Christ requires not adhering to any political ideology, be it of the right or the left. In terms of contemporary politics, a person who truly follows Christ by adhering to the Church’s social teaching is “liberal” on some issues and “conservative” on others. To someone steeped in secular politics or wholly bought into an ideology, this can seem incoherent.

By way of example and without getting too detailed, when it comes to waging war, the Church has well-developed criteria for assessing the justness of a war or what we’ve taken to calling euphemistically “a military action.” The inspired author of 1 John is correct. The world is awash in “the spirit of antichrist.”² Hence, we must be very discerning.

Saint John Neumann, CSsR

Our Gospel from Matthew includes the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. His message is simple: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”³ It really can’t be stressed too much that acknowledging and expressing sorrow for one’s sins is only the beginning of repentance. To truly repent means to change and being committed to change until you are completely transformed into the image of Christ.

Becoming one who believes in the holy name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, and loving others as He taught is simple to say and hard to do. Without divine assistance, without God’s grace, it is impossible. Saints, like Bishop John Neuman, who the Church remembers today show us.

Neumann was an immigrant priest who became the fourth Bishop of Philadelphia. While serving as Bishop of Philadelphia, anti-Catholic riots broke out several times over the arrival of large numbers of Irish Catholics. Being a stronghold of the Know-Nothing political party, known for its anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic prejudices, there was a lot of anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant violence.

It was in the face of this trying set of circumstances that Bishop Neumann launched the first Forty Hours Devotion on 26 May 1853 in Saint Philip Neri Church on Feast of Corpus Christi. Given the hostility of the Know Nothings, it was risky to gather large numbers of the faithful. In the face of danger, faith is not defiant. It is, however, courageous.

As we most of us begin this new year in earnest, our Gospel today invites each of us to make an examination of conscience. It is an invitation to commit ourselves to knowing what it means to follow Christ and committing to follow Him, to believing in Him and to loving others as He both taught and showed us.

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1 Catechism of the Catholic Church, sec. 1750-1754.^↩
2 1 John 4:3.^↩
3 Matthew 4:17.^↩

Rulers and ruled, greatly troubled

Gospel: Matthew 2:1-12

"Where is the newborn king of the Jews?," the magi ask upon their arrival in Jerusalem. "We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage," they continue (Matthew 2:2).

"When King Herod heard this," we read, "he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him" (Matthew 2:3- italics mine).

The Magi in the House of Herod,, by James Tissot, 1850

Rulers and nations are still greatly troubled by the same king, who is also the Prince of Peace. This is even (especially?) true of those who like to invoke His name. Doesn't He warn: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven"? (Matthew 7:21)

Rulers and nations are troubled by how their plans and designs rarely conform to the teachings of Him who is not merely the king of Jews but is King of the Universe. The truly wise still seek Him. True wisdom requires great humility. It requires not returning to Herod but departing "by another way" (Matthew 2:12).

"Te Deum laudamus..."

Today is the first Friday of the New Year. Or, as Roman Catholics observe it, the First Friday of January. This means it's time for the first traditio of 2026!

When given the opportunity, I kind of like blogging about blogging, probably a bit too much. Since Christmas, I've been enjoying some downtime, time at home, which I have loved. I've preached a lot. I preached on Christmas for the Mass at Night. I preached on the Feast of Saint Stephen and for the Feast of the Holy Family. I also preached for yesterday's solemnity.

Bas Relief of Saint Olaf, original work by Dale Schultz, a parishioner, commissioned by Father Andrzej Skrzypiec, 2025

Something that stuck in my craw was when someone, complimenting me on my homily, asked if I prepared my own homilies. My response was, "Of course." To which the inquirer replied, "There's no of course." Sorry, but what?

I work hard and preaching and pour a lot of my education, formation, and experience into my homilies. Posting them, as I do, I am conscious of my words extending beyond the walls of my parish. Stated simply, I hope I am able to serve others in this way. Such a thing shouldn't bother me much. Over the years, I've been subjected to much worse, as has anyone who's undertaken the vulnerability of engaging in ministry.

I often wonder if I put too much effort into preaching. Even good preaching doesn't seem to yield much fruit. But the alternative, in my view, is not winging it. Rather, it would be making homilies less substantial and more superficial. Good thing the Spirit won't let me get away with that.

I don't consider myself a great or even very gifted preacher but I am diligent. I take preaching with the seriousness I often see lacking. Most of the time, frankly, I preach the way I like to be preached to. In any case, good, bad, or middling, each homily is the original result of a substantial amount of work and time.

Since I mentioned The Imitation of Christ in my last post, the thought occurs to me that, like Saint Paul, I should be grateful for the thorns in my side. I'm working on it.

Anyway, this New Year, I already know, will be a year of great change for me, the likes of which I haven't experienced for a long time. Times of vulnerability are good as they put my need in bold relief. It isn't so much praying more. It's really praying. This carries over to my prayers for others.

It's only 2 January. 2026 is still very fresh. Therefore, our traditio for today is the Te Deum. Sung or recited quite often, it is traditionally sung at the end of First Vespers on 31 December. It is the Catholic hymn of praise.

"No man is perfect in holiness..."

For a number of years now, either on New Year's night or the evening before I have to go back to work at the end of Christmas, I've selected a passage from Thomas à Kempis's The Imitation of Christ and posted it. I've even done this during years when my effort here kind of flagged a bit. I am gearing up to re-read this spiritual classic over Lent, which, this year begins 18 February.

The Imitation of Christ, along with Brother Lawrence's The Practice of the Presence of God, the latter being a work Pope Leo holds in high regard, are about nurturing an intimate relationship with Christ. What we celebrate at Christmas is what makes such a relationship possible. Dealing with temptation is not a subject about which you hear much these days. Nonetheless, these abound. Given Pope Francis' deeply insightful "take" on what he called "a culture of indifference," omissions are temptations, too.

Therefore...

So long as we live in the world, we cannot be without trouble and trial. Wherefore it is written in Job, The life of man upon the earth is a trial.(Job 7:1). And therefore ought each of us to give heed concerning trials and temptations, and watch unto prayer, lest the devil find occasion to deceive; for he never sleepeth, but goeth about seeking whom he may devour. No man is so perfect in holiness that he hath never temptations, nor can we ever be wholly free from them (The Imitation of Christ, Book I, Chap. 13, 1)

Peace to you as you embark on another year. On this the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, I prayed a Rosary for all who read this. Emmanuel- our God is with us. Remember this!, God is with you.

Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God

Readings: Numbers 6:22-27; Psalm 62:2-6.8; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21

I remember towards the end of my time in high school in the mid-1980s being somewhat daunted by the prospect of the year 2000. Of course, at sixteen or seventeen, a decade and a half seemed like a long time in the future. But the thought of the year 2000, nonetheless, caused me some anxiety.

Yet here we are at the start of the second quarter of the twenty-first century. Long since over the hump of the turn of the century and millennium, I find myself excited at the prospect of a New Year.

In a sense, I suppose, there is something arbitrary about the way we keep time. But our reckoning of time is not wholly arbitrary. It is largely dictated by the earth’s rotation around and tilt towards or away from the sun. But at midnight last night, we broke through the invisible barrier between 2025 and 2026.

While time itself does not speed up or slow down, our experience relativizes time, making it seem slower or faster depending on what you’re doing at the time. Time at work often drags while a family vacation or even a day off seems to zip by. When you’re young, a year seems like an eternity. As you age, the years seem to fly by.

As the Smothers Brothers sang many years ago:

Whatever happened to time
It doesn’t come around anymore
The last time I saw time it was walking out the door

There’s our reckoning of time and then there’s one’s reckoning with time. Life is the latter, no matter what calendar you choose. This is something Advent seeks to confront us with each year. A lot of what we see as worthwhile, in the end, is a waste of time, as the thoughts and words shared on many deathbeds reveal. By contrast, much of what we see as a waste of time is actually time well-spent. Too often prayer is viewed as a waste of time. As a wise mentor said to me years ago: "If you're too busy to pray, you're too busy."

It’s pointless to answer the question: Do you see prayer as a waste of time? with words. The correct answer at Church will always be: Of course, prayer isn’t a waste of time. This question can only be truly answered by how much time you spend in prayer. Before you get defensive, nearly all of us, me included, would be well-served by praying more.

Prayer is the path to peace. Since 1968, today’s Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God is also the World Day of Peace. Of course, the Blessed Virgin Mary is Queen of Peace and her Son the Prince of Peace. “Peace on earth and mercy mild/God and sinners reconciled” is a great summary of Christmas, the octave of which ends today. Then, as we sing in a more contemporary hymn: “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.” This is the only starting point for peace.

In his message for the first World Day of Peace since becoming Pope, Leo XIV called for “a peace that is unarmed and disarming, humble and persevering.”¹ This is the peace of God “that surpasses all understanding,” given us in Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit’s power.² Once received, this peace cannot be taken away, even in the most dire circumstances. As the witness of so many saints, like Maximilian Kolbe, show us.

It is because of Christ, as Saint Paul tells us in our reading from his Letter to the Galatians, that we can call God “Abba, Father.”³ In and through Christ, we become more than creatures. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are remade, reborn as children of God. This also makes the Blessed Virgin, full of grace, our Mother.

Our Blessed Mother isn’t just prayerful. As her Son’s model disciple, she is prayer embodied. Born without the stain of original sin, she knew no alienation from God. Prayer, union with and connection to God, is natural to her. This why, even after giving birth under the crudest of circumstances, she serenely “kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” ⁴

Too often we let circumstances disrupt our prayer, especially trying and troubling circumstances. When you let this happen, a dangerous gap opens. This gap is expertly exploited by our enemy. And so, always adhere to what is taught in Sacred Scripture and “pray without ceasing.”⁵ Holy Mass, according to Mother Church, is the highest form of prayer- “the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows.”⁶

Christ, in His goodness, gives us through His Church so many wonderful means of grace. One of the greatest channels of grace is the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. By meditating over and again on the four sets of mysteries, you are drawn ever more deeply into the Paschal Mystery, which is the very heart of reality.

There are fifteen promises our Blessed Mother makes to those who recite her Most Holy Rosary. Don’t worry, I am not going to recite them and there will not be a quiz. Here is the promise at the heart of her promises: The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish.

So, not only is praying the Rosary not a waste of time, but can be, in a manner of speaking, a way to extend your time. So, make a resolution for the new year to pray the Rosary often, even daily. Bring specific intentions for our Blessed Mother’s intercession for each Rosary you pray. Pray the Rosary while walking, waiting, and pray it contemplatively at home and before the Blessed Sacrament.

Prayer is the path to peace. Prayer is how you open yourself to the peace that only Christ can give. It is the peace, which flows from the love of God, that casts out fear. “If you wish to draw others to peace, first have it yourselves; be steadfast in peace yourselves,” Saint Augustine urged. “To inflame others,” he continued, “you must have the flame burning within.”⁷

Circling back to time, the kingdom of God, which is everlasting, is characterized by peace and justice. That justice is a prerequisite for true peace is indicated by the title of Pope Saint Paul VI’s Message for the V World of Peace: “If you want peace, work for justice.”⁸ Never forget that the the primary effect of prayer (but by no means the only effect) is on the heart of the one who prays.

Peace be with you. Happy New Year.

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1 Pope Leo XIV. Message for the LIX World Day of Peace, 2026.^↩
2 Philippians 4:7.^↩
3 Galatians 4:6.^↩
4 Luke 2:19.^↩
5 1 Thessalonians 5:17.^↩
6 Second Vatican Council. Dogmatic Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy [Sacrosanctum Concilium], sec. 10.^↩
7 Pope Leo XIV. Message for the LIX World Day of Peace, 2026.^↩
8 Pope Paul VI. Message for the V World Day of Peace, 1972.^↩