God’s Call For Us To Love Brings Hardship And Clarity To Our Lives

Last Sunday’s Gospel about the Messiah coming ended with Jesus proclaiming: “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”  Today’s Gospel continuation has the listeners upset because they don’t have the faith to accept their kinsman and neighbor to be that Savior of the world.

It Takes Great Courage And Strength To Accept Fulfillment Of Our Faith

Biblical writings from both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament are filled with countless stories about believers who found it difficult to practice their faith according to the various covenants God offered. 

Jesus Revealed As God’s Son By The Magi, At His Baptism And Miracle At Cana Forms A Spiritual Connection In Growing Our Faith

Today marks the last of three Epiphanies in which Jesus was revealed as the Messiah, Son of God and Divine in 2022.  The solemnity of the Epiphany on January 2nd had the Magi from a foreign land confirm they had found the Shepherd of Israel, King of the Jews.  On January 9, following Jesus’ Baptism by his cousin, St. John the Baptist, God the Father spoke from heaven telling all in earshot that He was His Son.  And now, at the wedding celebration in Cana, Jesus turns water into wine as His first miracle which the first four Apostles witnessed and helped them to believe in His divinity.

Jesus’ Baptism Is A Sign For Us To Be In Faithful Service To God And His Creation Throughout Our Life

In my 16-1/2 years as a deacon at two Catholic churches in the Diocese of Orange, California, I have baptized nearly 1,000 children under the age of seven years old, including one granddaughter and one great granddaughter.  For me, it is the most joyous, communal Sacrament for three reasons: