Friends,
Yesterday at Mass I spoke in the homily about God's relationship to us as a Father in virtue of our baptism. I have to say in my own life coming to know and believe at a deep level that God is my Father has been lifechanging. Probably the biggest change is the security of knowing I have a Father who has a plan for my life and is using the cirumstances of my life, even the difficult and confusing things, for my own good and the good of others. Life is full of uncertainity, but I have a perfect Father who's in control I can depend on. That's really a game changer.
I invite you to spend some time praying with the passages of Scripture detailing the baptism of Jesus: Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, and Luke 3:21-22. Tell the Father about your thoughts, feelings, and desires placing yourself in scene as Jesus coming up out of the water and ask the Father to reveal himself to you -- it's totally worth it!
This past week I was at a priest's conference put on joinly by the Napa Institute (
https://napa-institute.org/) and the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology (
https://stpaulcenter.com/). The presenters talked about the Gospel of Luke and gave lots of interesting pieces of information to preach on during the coming year. I got to meet a few priests from the Diocese of Grand Rapids as well as priests from around the country. In addition to the scholarly presentations, we had a Eucharistic procession pictured below. The people putting on the conference apparently know priests because in the evenings written into the schedule was a cigar social. Not to mention, the conference was hosted in the dreary, penetential location of La Jolla, California. Don't worry, I offered up all the suffering for you guys. It's great to be back!
AMDG,
Fr. Stephen BlaxotnÂ