The Christmas Season ended Jan. 9 with the celebration of the feast of the Baptism of the Lord in the Jordan River by St. John the Baptist. Didn’t the Christmas season fly by?
Did you ever wonder why the liturgical color of ordinary time is green? It is to symbolize the new growth in our souls from the graces received during the Christmas and Easter seasons, like new green buds during the spring. That said, here are some of my post-Christmas thoughts.
The King of the Universe, the divine person of the Son of God, took flesh from the Blessed Virgin Mary, making her the Mother of God and our blessed mother. King Herod, always fearful of being usurped, who killed his favorite wife and several of his sons, secretly decided to destroy the child Jesus. He would have no king rule over him. The wise men came bearing gifts of gold, a gift fit for a king; frankincense, a gift for God; and myrrh, a perfumed ointment used to anoint dead bodies, to symbolize the type of death Jesus would die. You can bet that King Herod, if he had known about these gifts, would have wanted them for himself.
As we navigate through this period of ordinary time toward the celebration of Lent and Easter, let us remember that the Son of God came to earth and assumed a human nature to accomplish two things – first, to die; and second, to start a Church in which we find our salvation. He came to die, so that we who were dead in sin may live eternally; and to start a Church we call Catholic, which means universal, for everyone, which is the mystical body of Christ. Jesus is the head and we are members of His body.
Today, more than 2,000 years later, many of us feel and live the same way, refusing to have Jesus, the King of the Universe, rule over us. As Jesus was presented gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, we can ask ourselves if we pay Jesus homage as our king, if we adore Him as our God, and if we give of ourselves in a sacrificial way by our prayers and penances for others, and whether we use our time, talents and treasures for ourselves or for others, which is evidence of our love of God.
Please allow me to take this opportunity to thank our many volunteers and donors who give us their time, talents and treasures in the imitation of the wise men for no other reason than for their love of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, the Word Made Flesh.
From Jan. 16-27, I will be traveling to the Holy Land with a group (including Gianna Emanuella, the daughter of St. Gianna) where the Word became Flesh and dwelt among us. It is there that I will be offering a number of Masses for our staff, volunteers and donors, who make what we do possible. Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, have mercy on us, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!
