What’s Supernatural Cardiac Surgery?

 

Deacon Dave · What’s Supernatural Cardiac Surgery?

Homily for the 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Feb. 15, 2026. Gospel of St. Matthew 5:17-37. Theme: What’s Supernatural Cardiac Surgery? 

 In today’s Gospel, Jesus proclaims that he didn’t come to abolish or replace Judaism, but to fulfill it. This may sound strange to Christian ears because we know darn well that we don’t follow the Torah (Law) of Israel. We eat pork. We don’t have to be circumcised or follow umpteen rules about ritual washing. We even moved the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. So, isn’t the Old Testament Law abolished? No, it’s not. Rather, it has been fulfilled for us in Jesus, whose words and actions brought to full bloom the promises that God made to Israel. And when something has been fulfilled, its function is over and it passes away because it’s no longer needed. This is quite different from being abolished and done away with! 

 You see, in God’s original plan, Judaism was always meant to develop into Christianity. The coming of the Messiah was supposed to result in a smooth transition from the Old Israel into the New, Improved and Expanded Israel, with membership no longer restricted just to Hebrews but now open to all who place their trust in Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah and Lord. And, indeed, it originally started out that way but, as we all know, it didn’t end up that way. At first, Christianity was seen as a branch of Judaism but by the end of the first century, Jews who believed in Jesus as the Messiah were expelled from synagogues throughout the Mediterranean world. Christianity then began to express itself as a separate and distinct religion. But we never forgot where we came from and this is why we still read from the Hebrew Scriptures in our liturgies and revere the Old Testament as part of the inspired Word of God. 

 In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus is showing how the Law becomes fulfilled, that is, finds its ultimate meaning, in his teachings. You see, over the centuries, the Law became vital to the Jewish people as a way of preserving their unique identity in the midst of a pagan world that was all around them. It helped to keep them faithful to the Covenant with God and enabled parents to impress upon children a sense of their heritage as the Chosen People. This role of the Torah became so magnified that the original 10 Commandments were expanded over time to become 613 detailed regulations for proper Jewish living! And we all know, when the law becomes too burdensome or ridiculous, people begin to ignore it and conform in public only for the sake of staying out of trouble. And this was the general spirit of things when Jesus came onto the scene. 

 He brought a new and refreshing approach to understanding and living God’s law. He often scolded the Scribes and Pharisees in public for making the Commandments a burden too heavy for anyone to carry. He regularly called them out for abusing their roles as spiritual teachers and, as a matter of fact, they are the only people in the Gospels whom Christ condemned with harsh words! Jesus taught that spirituality and morality must come from the heart and not be concerned with just external actions. This flew in the face of the Jewish leadership’s approach which was based on going through the motions regardless of how one felt about it. If on the outside everything looked good, if everything was done according to the letter of the Law, then they considered themselves righteous or devout. Wherever their hearts might be in all of this didn’t really come into the picture. 

 But Jesus taught a much deeper and transformative way of being guided by the Law. For example, as we see in today’s Gospel, he said that we are not to be satisfied simply because we haven’t murdered anyone, but are to dig deeper to discern if we are harboring anger or resentment towards others in our hearts. We’re not supposed to pat ourselves on the back just because we haven’t committed perjury, but go beyond this and see if we are guilty of gossip and destroying a person’s reputation. Overall, he is pointing out that both good and bad, both vice and virtue, begin deep within us. They are a matter of the mind and heart before they are manifested in our external actions. 

 Christ calls us to live the Commandments with a new outlook, with a new approach, with a new mindset. Now, he knows that while our intentions may start out as good, the tug of sin easily pulls us down and can even make us feel powerless in our moral struggles. And so he comes to our aid and gives us a share in the Holy Spirit who works with us from the inside out. Jesus himself called the Spirit “the power from on high.” (Luke 24:49) and told us that it’s a power which can be ours for the asking. This empowering Gift of the Spirit was foretold by the prophet Ezekiel who said: “He will give you a new heart and place a new Spirit within you; He will exchange your heart of sin for a heart of love and put his Spirit within you to enable you to follow his decrees”. (Ez 36:26-27) 

 We can look at the Holy Spirit and the Risen Lord Jesus as a kind of divine medical intervention team who are performing supernatural cardiac surgery on us. This is the spiritual procedure in which Ezekiel’s prophecy is fulfilled within each one of us so that we come out on the other side as new and transformed persons! The Church, through the experience of the saints, has learned that we can do our part to promote a successful outcome to this procedure by our prayer, Bible reading, works of mercy, and reception of the Sacraments. Throughout this spiritual therapy and rehabilitation, God gradually replaces our weak hearts of sin with strong hearts of love that will enable us to live the Faith as it was meant to be lived, not as a burden to be carried but as a blessing to be shared.

Salt + Light

 

Deacon Dave · Salt + Light

Homily for the 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Feb. 8, 2026. Gospel of St. Matthew 5:13-16. Theme: Salt + Light 

 In today’s Gospel, Jesus continues his famous Sermon on the Mount. He tells us that we are to give public witness to him and that by doing so his Gospel will make the world a better place. He compares us to salt and light in order to graphically illustrate what he’s talking about. 

 Like salt that enhances food, our lived Christianity is meant to bring out the best in us and inspire others to become curious about the Faith. The social teachings of Christianity can bring goodness to a culture and help preserve it from moral corruption. But Jesus warns us that if we lose our saltiness, that is, if we lose touch with our Christianity and begin to think and speak and act just like everyone else then we become useless for carrying out the mission of drawing others to Him. 

 Moving on to the example of light, we all know how vital it’s to our daily living! Among other things, it brings us clarity of vision in otherwise dark places. In the same way, the more people see our Christian behavior, the clearer it can be for them to find the pathway to happiness in this world and the next. The inner peace and strength we possess through the ups and downs of life might enlighten them to investigate a relationship with Jesus Christ for themselves. 

 But in addition to changing individual persons, the salt and light of Christianity can - and indeed has - changed the world! Western culture as we know it would not be ours to enjoy today had it not been for Christianity sprinkling the salt of the Gospel and diffusing the light of Christ throughout the world for the past 2,000 years. We should be humbly and properly proud of how our faith has helped to make the world a better place, especially today when Christianity’s moral and social influence is being ignored or even openly attacked. We need to remind others of this indisputable fact. 

 Christianity’s salt and light has fueled many scientists to make vital discoveries in their fields. Notable examples are Copernicus, the priest who discovered that the sun is the center of the universe; the Jesuit priest George Lemaitre who came up with the Big Bang Theory of the universe’s origin; Gregor Mendel, a monk who gave birth to modern genetics; and Louis Pasteur, a committed lay Catholic and pioneer of infectious disease control. Christianity’s salt and light also gave inspiration and encouragement to classic works of the fine arts such as Michelangelo & Leonardo DaVinci in sculpting and painting; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart & Johann Sebastian Bach in music; Dante Alighieri & J.R. Tolkien in literature. 

 Christianity’s mission to be salt and light motivated heroic figures who stood up on behalf of women, children, the dying and the disabled. Before Christianity arrived in various parts of the world, women were considered property along with a man’s life-stock; children were regarded as not much better than slaves; the dying were abandoned in the wilderness; and the disabled were killed for being thought of as cursed. In response to such things, Christianity spoke up loudly for the sanctity of marriage and the equal dignity of women. Christianity threw its collective arms around the vulnerable and the disadvantaged protecting their right to enjoy a truly human life. Missionaries established hospitals, schools and medical clinics in countries that were too poor and underdeveloped to provide these social services. And the Catholic Church remains today the single largest sponsor of educational, social and charitable aid in the world. 

 Christians who took up Jesus’ call to be salt and light became leaders in the civil rights, human rights and right-to-life movements. The slavery abolitionist Frederick Douglass was a Christian minister and Harriet Tubman, mother of the famous Underground Railroad to Freedom was also a devout Christian. St. Katherine Drexel, a Philadelphia socialite, gave her whole life as well as her multi-billion dollar inheritance for the education and social promotion of Black and Native Americans. And of course, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was a minister who, together with the mostly Christian communities of the Southern USA pressed forward through bloody violence until racial equality became the law. And today pro-life activists carry on this civil rights crusade for the equality and dignity of millions of unborn children. 

 So, with all this in mind and knowing what a Christian is called to be, let’s ask Jesus for the grace to never lose our saltiness; for the grace to never cease to be light in the darkness. The Christians who have gone before us, and who made such an impact on the world, show us what the Gospel can do when it is truly lived out in flesh and blood reality. Their witness gives us absolutely amazing testimony that both people and places can be transformed by coming into contact with the salt and light of Christ that flows out of ordinary Christians like you and me.

The Pursit of Happiness

 

Deacon Dave · The Pursuit of Happiness

Homily for the 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time, February 1, 2026. The Gospel of St. Matthew 5:1-12. Theme: The Pursuit of Happiness

 ​In today’s Gospel, Jesus begins his famous Sermon on the Mount by proclaiming the Beatitudes. While “blessed” is the traditional English translation for the Aramic word the Jesus uses to start off each Beatitude, in everyday use it meant “happy”. Happiness is a goal that we all seek. It’s what we are all striving to attain as we make our way through this difficult world. Even our Declaration of Independence ranks it right up there as a God-given right along with the pursuit of life and liberty! And so Jesus is telling us that real happiness, the kind that satisfies the innate desires of the human heart and endures forever, is to be found in living the values and principles of his Gospel. 

 Jesus begins by praising those who are “poor in spirit”. That “in spirit” part is very important because it’s referring to a heart that refuses to be enslaved by material things. And this applies to both the wealthy and the poor. Both are susceptible to the green-eyed monster of greed! Consumerism drives us to buy way more than what we need and slick advertising misleads us into thinking that happiness consists of possessing everything we want. But Jesus says that true and lasting happiness comes to those who are not possessed by their possessions, but who live a life of uncomplicated simplicity. The poor in spirit trust in God to help them provide for all their needs. 

 “Blessed are they who mourn” may sound a bit odd at first, because who thinks of grief as a blessing? But what is being praised here is a heart that has empathy for the pain and suffering of others. A person can only truly mourn if they have a compassionate heart and Jesus declared such people to be blessed because they have not closed themselves off from the suffering of others. He promises that God will reward and comfort them in their own sorrows and struggles. 

“Blessed are the meek” refers to the “humble” or “lowly”, to those who count for nothing in the eyes of the world. They are the “nobodies” who are without power, prestige or position in society. They will be filled with happiness in God’s kingdom while those who oppressed them will be dealt with in God’s justice. They will inherit the new world which Christ will bring about when He returns in glory. ​

 Jesus used a familiar experience when speaking about the Beatitude of righteousness, which means living a godly life. His listeners were working class people living under an oppressive tax-heavy government and in their poverty they knew what it was like to go to bed with an empty stomach. Many of them also lived by the desert wilderness where water was precious, so they knew what it was like to be extremely thirsty. Jesus says to them, in effect, “Happiness will come in abundance to those who cherish life with God even more than they desire food for their aching stomachs and drink for their burning thirst.” 

 The next Beatitude, that of mercy, calls us to treat those around us with kindness and to extend forgiveness to those who harm us. Jesus is saying that if we show compassion and forgiveness to others, then we will experience the same from God in return. It’s kind of a matter of “what goes around, comes around”. So, if we want God to be merciful and forgiving to us, we must be merciful and forgiving to others. It’s a non-negotiable. There’s no other way around it! 

 Moving on, we come to “Blessed are the pure in heart” which people often misinterpret to mean sexual purity. But being pure or clean of heart in biblical language means striving to do things with the right intention, that is, out of love for God and others. Jesus told us what order our priorities in life should be: God first, others second, and ourselves last. Happiness comes to those who have their priorities in life straight for they will be blessed here and now as well as bask in the Presence of God for eternity. 

 The famous Peace Prayer of St. Francis can help us put the next Beatitude into practice. It spells out for us the definition of a peacemaker as one who sows love where there is hatred; pardon where there is injury; faith where there is doubt; hope where there is despair; light where there is darkness; and joy where there is sadness. Peacemakers as those who promote unity and harmony among others which makes them a reflection of God their Father. 

 The last two “blessings” about those who are harassed for their faith actually form just one longer Beatitude. Jesus warns us that persecution of all kinds will indeed come our way because of our relationship with Him. He was ridiculed and slandered during His ministry and ultimately persecuted in His Passion. And we should not expect to be treated any differently. But He promises eternal happiness to those who suffer injustice because of their fidelity to him and to his Word. Their true friendship and loyalty will not go unrewarded. 

 The Beatitudes are non-negotiables for citizenship in the Kingdom of God. They are not simply passive blessings because we happened to be baptized but they are a call to actively embrace a Gospel-based lifestyle in imitation of Jesus. Do I realize that this is what I signed up for when I made a commitment to Christ? And now knowing this, do I still want to press forward with that commitment? The reward for doing so is great because it is guaranteed to bring us the ultimate happiness that we all seek. Those who embrace the Beatitudes are among God’s faithful remnant whom Zephaniah praised in our First Reading. They are living examples of the people St. Paul talks about in today's Second Reading, where he says that God’s power is at work in those who are despised by the world which counts them as nothing. But Christ disagrees with the world and counts us as “something”, that is, as his friends who are worthy of inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven!

"He sat down and taught them..."

That All May Be one

 

Deacon Dave · 260125_002

Homily for the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, the Conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Jan. 25, 2026. Theme: That All May Be One 

 Today is the end of the annual worldwide Week of Prayer for Christian Unity that has been taking place every Jan 18th-25th for the past 117 years. The inspiration for it came from a prayer that Jesus spoke at the Last Supper in which he made a heartfelt plea to God for the unity of his Mystical Body the Church, saying, “May they all may be one, Father, as I am in you and you are in me, may they be one in us…so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (Jn 17:21-23) Notice that Jesus linked Church Unity to the world’s acceptance or rejection of him as Lord and Savior. That puts a great responsibility upon us and therein lies the reason why we should all be very concerned about restoring Church Unity. 

 What those words of Jesus at the Last Supper mean is that his Message of salvation hasn’t reached as many hearts and hasn't changed as many lives as it could have by now precisely because of us. That is, because of the lack of credible witness we have given to others as the Body of Christ. What the world has seen from us throughout much of history up til today is a divided and broken Christianity. What it has heard from us as Christians is a babel of voices as various denominations preach a different and often conflicting version of the allegedly same Gospel. So in the midst of all this confusion caused by us, how in the world are those who do not yet know Christ supposed to take him and his Message seriously? 

 Well, in 1908, a small group of Episcopalians in New York, called the Society of the Atonement, began a quest to heal the broken Body of Christ. They felt called to find the Church that was personally established by Jesus Christ himself and do what they could to share their discovery with others. They delved more deeply into the New Testament and were struck by the words of Jesus to Simon-Peter, declaring him to be the rock upon which the Church was to be built. They studied ancient Christian history and saw that whenever there were disagreements over what Jesus’ words meant or how Christians were to live the Gospel, they turned to the pope for the final answer. In other words, they saw quite clearly that the Holy Father was the bond that held the Church together as one Family in Christ. 

 The truth of their discovery was easy for them to see by looking at the trail of a broken Christianity all around them. They saw that they were part of this problem and so they were determined to become part of the solution. They saw that whenever the role of the pope had been ignored or was outright rejected, it brought nothing but division that bred even more division with each breakaway group defining their own interpretation of Christianity. This was why there were (and still are) thousands of different and often opposing Christian denominations each claiming to be preaching the same one Gospel of Christ! 

 That group of Epicopalians became convinced that the Holy Spirit was leading them to share their discovery with other non-Catholic Christians and thus do what they could to help bring about the fulfilment of Jesus’ Last Supper prayer for unity. Knowing that the task ahead of them was wholly dependent upon the grace of God and the conversion of hearts, they started the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and soon after this they became members of the Catholic Church. They practiced what they preached. Unbeknownst to them at the time, they had lit the fire for what would become a worldwide movement for the reunion of Christians that is called ecumenism. Their very small and humble Week of Prayer soon spread to other denominations and was officially embraced by the Catholic Church at Vatican II in the 1960s. But by the turn of the 21st century this ecumenical movement had sadly lost much of its original purpose, enthusiasm and energy. 

 At the beginning of this year’s Week of Prayer, Pope Leo has called for a revival of this quest for Church Unity. It is a stated and important goal of his papacy. He reminded us that real unity can never be built at the expense of truth and that we do not seek unity through compromise, but through conversion— beginning with ourselves. He asks first of all that we each make Jesus’ heartfelt plea for unity a special intention in our own prayers, especially when we recite the Lord’s Prayer that all Christians share in common. He reminds us that while there can be great diversity of style within Church Unity, if we are to be faithful to Jesus’ original intention, then what we ultimately seek is the corporate reunion of all Christians as one flock gathered around the pope as the earthly shepherd of the Church. 

 And so what does promoting Church Unity look like for us here and now? Well, along with prayer as Pope Leo asks of us, we each really need to know the Bible and our Catholic faith well enough to share it meaningfully with others. It doesn't mean you need a degree in theology or be ordained as a minister. It just means that you need the determination to do so because the grace and gifts of the Holy Spirit are already within you and have equipped you for this task. As a parish we try to help you do this by offering Bible Study every Sunday morning and by sending out Flocknotes that teach the Faith every week. I can assure you from personal experience that studying the Bible in the light of history can be very effective for deepening your own personal faith-commitment as well as in helping others find their way into the one sheepfold of Christ. 

 As a matter of fact, it's the very reason why I am standing here before you today because, you see, I myself have traveled the road to Church Unity. When I was a young man I was drawn to Jesus but confused by the smorgasbord of various flavors in Christianity. I knew that I had to bite the bullet, change my lifestyle and commit to Christ but I just didn’ t know where to do that. I wasn't terribly attracted to Catholicism and as a matter of fact it was dead last on my list. And in Protestant circles I was so happy to hear people say, “I used to be Catholic until I started reading the Bible.” Because that made me confident that I wouldn’t end up Catholic. 

I began an intense period of Bible study, however, I arrived at a very different conclusion! And so afterwards whenever I would hear someone say they stopped being Catholic after reading the Bible, I would reply, “Well, that’s really interesting because I wanted so badly to be Protestant but then I started really reading the Bible and that’s what brought me to the Catholic Church.” And so here I am before you today…which I think shows us that God has a great sense of humor!

Two of my Saintly Heroes...

Fr. Paul Francis Wattson and Mother Lurana White

Founders of the Society of the Atonement and the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. 

Both are now candidates for sainthood in the Catholic Church.

Behold the Lamb of God!

 

Deacon Dave · Behold the Lamb of God!

Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time. Jan. 18, 2026. The Gospel of John 1:29-34. Theme: Behold the Lamb of God! 

 If there’s a title for Jesus that we Catholics hear the most and yet probably understand the least, I would say that it’s the one proclaimed in today’s Gospel: Lamb of God. We are so familiar with saying it and hearing it at every Mass that I think it may have become just one more of those “Catholic things” that we no longer stop to really think about because they are so familiar to us. It’s kind of like the way so many of us look upon a crucifix. We are so used to it being on the walls of our churches or homes that we no longer really see it for what it is: the bloody corpse of a tortured man. But the thought of Jesus as “Lamb of God” should arouse within us the same sentiments of pity, love, and gratitude as that of the cross. Why? Because they are really one and the same thing just expressed in two different ways. 

 To grasp this connection we need to take a brief look at the religious worship of Judaism, the spiritual womb out of which Christianity was born. The religion of the Old Testament was significantly associated with animal sacrifices offered in atonement for sin. Lambs, whose white wool coats became symbols of purity and holiness, had a preeminent role in these sacrificial Jewish liturgies. And the most important of them was that of Passover which we retell in our Liturgy every Easter. God commanded that the blood of a sacrificed lamb was to be smeared on the doorposts of Hebrew houses in Egypt granting them protection from death. Then, after the family ate the flesh of this sacrificed lamb in a special ritual meal, they took off on the Exodus journey. 

 However, these ritual sacrifices were insufficient to actually remove sin and actually wipe away their guilt. Why? Because both the Jewish priest making the sacrifice and the people offering the lamb as a proxy for themselves, were sinful human beings with no power whatsoever to bring about atonement for sin. A better way was needed and God himself provided this better way. You see, the only way that true and effective atonement could be made was if the one making the sacrifice was himself utterly free of sin and motivated by pure and perfect love. In other words, the human race stood in need of a perfect and all-holy human being who would thus be able to offer up a perfect and all-holy sacrifice on behalf of all! And this put us in quite a quandary because no one among us stood before God free from sin! 

 And so, to make this seemingly impossible condition possible, God himself became man. This was the only way it could be done. With the consent of God the Father and by the power of the Holy Spirit acting upon Mary, God the Son freely gave up the glory of his heavenly realm in order to truly become one of us. And this is why the Gospel of John tells us that, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone whoever believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16) Finally, true atonement for sin became possible! The sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God, accomplished what millions of animal sacrifices could never ever do, because it had divine love and divine power behind it. And this sacrifice of Jesus as the victim-lamb had actually been foretold by the prophet Isaiah, 700 years before it took place. He said that the Messiah would be like a lamb brought silently to the slaughter, to take the sins of the people upon himself and wash them away through his blood. 

  The Passover ritual of the Old Testament was a foretelling of the Great Passover of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. His Precious Blood of Atonement was first poured out on Good Friday and then has been ritually re-enacted ever since in every Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Just before Holy Communion, the priest like St. John the Baptist, points out to us the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He directs us to turn our eyes towards the Lord, whose heart is full of compassion and pity for us in our weakness. This is why we respond with the plea for healing and forgiveness. Then we acclaim Jesus as the Lamb of God three times, and in the first two of these petitions ask him to “have mercy on us.” 

 But why do we change the last invocation, to “grant us peace”? Because the Lamb of God brings us serenity of heart since we know we are immensely loved. He bestows upon us serenity of mind because he has brought our sins with him to the cross. And when that Lamb rose triumphantly from the grave our sins remained behind, dead, buried and gone. And so we know that by grace through faith we have been freed from the guilt of our sins and this fills our hearts with a peace that the world cannot give.

Why was Jesus Baptized...Why Was i Baptized?

 

Deacon Dave · Why Was Jesus Baptized...Why Was I Baptized?

Homily for Baptism of the Lord Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. Gospel of St. Matthew 3:13-17. Theme: Why Was Jesus Baptized…Why Was I Baptized? 

 Today’s feast of the Baptism of the Lord brings our Christmas Season officially to an end. It ushers us out of Bethlehem, and moves us fast-forward 30 years to the banks of the Jordan River. Jesus is no longer a baby in the manger but now comes to us as a young adult, a tradesman from the village of Nazareth, who is about to start out on the mission for which he was born. In the Gospel reading we encounter him approaching his cousin, St. John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament prophets and the one who was chosen to see the fulfillment of what all the prophets had foretold. John had the task of preparing Israel for the Messiah’s public arrival and now the long-awaited day had finally come. 

 To understand what’s really happening in this story, it’s important to remember that Jesus was not baptized because He had sins from which to repent. Rather, Jesus began his public ministry as our Savior by showing solidarity with us who are sinners and who do stand in need of repentance. He entered the Jordan River with St. John the Baptist as his first step in washing away our sins. By means of his divine presence submerged into the river, he intentionally sanctified the element of water, empowering it to become an instrument for spiritual cleansing in the Sacrament of Baptism. So in short, Jesus was not baptized because He needed it but because we do. And the story of Jesus’ Baptism teaches us that what happened to Jesus at his Baptism, is also what happens to each one of us at ours, just in a different way. 

 The first thing we hear about after Jesus comes up out of the water is that Heaven was opened. And this is precisely what Baptism does for us. It re-opens the way to Heaven which was closed to us by the original sin of Adam and Eve. Recall that these first humans were given the choice of living in obedience to their Creator or of living life on their own terms. And whatever they chose would be not just their fate, but the fate of all of us who descended from them. They freely chose to separate themselves and the human race from an intimate relationship with God. But Jesus our Savior came precisely to undo what they had done. He mended the relationship and closed the spiritual rupture they caused, bringing about a reconciliation between humanity and God. And so our first step towards Heaven is taken by leaving the ways of Adam and Eve and uniting ourselves intimately with Christ through Baptism. 

 The next wondrous thing we see happening to Jesus at the Jordan River is the Holy Spirit coming down upon Him under the appearance of a dove. Now, we might wonder why God chose to manifest himself in the form of a dove? Well, it could be because the dove is a biblical symbol of peace and innocence. By the power of the Holy Spirit who comes down upon us at our Baptism, we are made innocent through the forgiveness of sin and we make our peace, so to speak,with God. Baptism puts us into a right relationship with God as our Creator and Father, with the Son of God as our Savior and Brother, and with God the Holy Spirit as our Sanctifier and Life-giver. The innocence and peace we receive from this Sacrament remains with us as long as we remain faithful to our baptismal promises to reject sin and Satan, to trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and to live what He teaches us through the Bible and His Church. Should we ever fall away from these promises we can reclaim them once again through the Sacrament of Confession. And the Good News is that God is so rich in mercy that there’s no limit as to how many times we can seek and receive this post-baptismal reconciliation! 

 Finally, the Gospel tells us that God the Father’s voice was audibly heard declaring Jesus to be His Beloved Son in whom He was well pleased. And this is exactly what God the Father thinks about each one of us, about you and about me at our Baptism. when we become uniquely his! Through Jesus, with Jesus and in Jesus, we become God’s beloved children in whom He finds great delight! The Scriptures assure us that God rejoices over you, rejoices over me, rejoices over each one of us personally and not because of anything we have done but simply because of who we are and who he is. We are his children! He is our Father who loves each one of us unconditionally! And it’s this conscious awareness of God’s personal love that moves us from the inside out to strive to become the best that we can be by doing our best to live in a right relationship with him after our Baptism. A

nd so, it’s good for us that we move on from the Nativity in Bethlehem to the Baptism in the Jordan River. You see, if we compare the life of Christ to a book, we could say that staying at Christmas would be like never getting past the first chapter. Never getting caught up in its dramatic plot of interesting characters, miraculous cures, and powerful teachings. Never reaching the exciting apex of its conclusion with the stunning and world-changing events of Holy Thursday through Easter Sunday. So you see, the Baptism of Jesus follows upon the heels of Christmas because it sets us up for the rest of the story. Through the Gospels proclaimed at the Liturgy over the following weeks and months, we will learn more and more about the marvelous and awesome things that God has done for us and still does for us today, through Jesus Christ, his Christmas gift to us that keeps on giving!

Keep Mary in Your Mind and Jesus Will Grow in Your Heart

 

Deacon Dave · Keep Mary in Your Mind and Jesus Will Grow in Your Heart

Homily for the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God, Jan.1, 2026. Galatians 4:4-7; Gospel of St. Luke 2:16-21. Theme: Keep Mary in Your Mind and Jesus Will Grow in Your Heart. 

 The figure of the Madonna holding the Baby Jesus has been a favorite subject of artists and sculptors for centuries. I think it’s because it’s an image that really captures the heart, warms the soul, and directs the mind to that special bond that exists between mother and child in every culture, in every time, and in every place. The intimate bond between Jesus and Mary has always had a cherished place in popular Catholic devotion, where it has been treasured as something precious and vital. As a matter of fact, the pre-eminent and most ancient title that we give to Mary is the one that honors her maternal bond with Christ that we are celebrating in today’s Liturgy: Mother of God. 

 Now, isn’t that an amazing thing to think about? God the Son, Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Eternal Word through whom all things were created, became a man and had a mother who carried him in her womb, nursed him at her breast, loved him with all her being and was always there for Him. She pondered her memories of Him throughout her life as all mothers do and as today’s Gospel reminds us. But at the same time, it’s important to remember that in calling Mary the Mother of God we do not mean that she pre-existed God or that she is greater than God as some people mistakenly think. 

 Instead, this beautiful title of Mary attests to the fact that she made it possible for God to come to earth as our Beloved Brother and Savior. She made it possible for the God of Creation to actually and personally experience His creation as a real man, living in every way as we do except for sin. Her motherhood made it possible for Jesus to truly be Emmanuel, God-with-us. Due to her cooperation with God’s grace and plan, Christ was able to heal and transform our humanity from the inside out, so to speak, by participating in it and blessing it with His divinity. 

 Calling Mary the Mother of God tells us why she is so very important to the entire story and saving mission of Jesus. But it also tells us that she is very important to the stories and lives of everyday Christians like you and me. Without her there would be no Christmas. Without her we would not be Christians. Without her we would not be the adopted sons and daughters of God that we are. And for these reasons we rejoice to participate in the Liturgy today in her honor as a way of saying “thank you” for doing her part in the plan of God for our salvation! 

 St. Paul makes reference to this maternal mission of Mary in our Second Reading. He reminds us that God the Son came to earth and made possible our divine adoption as children of the Father precisely because of a woman, namely, Mary. And so the blessings of her motherhood have also been extended to us and have become an important part of our own story as Christians. But Jesus didn’t just use Mary as a means to an end and then disregard her. He didn’t toss her aside once she served the purpose of enabling him to come in the flesh to planet Earth. Her mission as Mother of God, Mother of Christ and by extension, Mother of Christians, is meant to continue forever. 

 And so, we should strive to have a bond with Mary and open our hearts to her love just as Jesus did. Jesus and Mary lived in a deep and mutual relationship of love, a life-long interpersonal relationship as Mother and Child. Imagine what this must have been like for two people who, because they are both free from sin, were able to love perfectly, to love unselfishly, to love completely. Consider the deep emotion, the heartfelt joy in each other’s presence. Ponder the unbreakable bond between them, from the first-time Mary held that precious Infant in her arms on that first Christmas until the last time she held Him, bloody and lifeless, on Good Friday. 

 St. Paul tells us elsewhere in the New Testament that as Christians we are called to have the same attitude and outlook as Jesus in all things (see Philippians 2:5). So, this obviously would include our devotion towards Mary. Let’s ask Jesus today for the grace to love and honor Mary like He did. And let’s ask Mary to mother us as she mothered Him; to form us through her prayers and her active spiritual presence in our lives into living images of Jesus, her Beloved Son and our Beloved Brother. There’s a saying in Catholicism based on Mary as our best example of discipleship which goes like this: “Keep Mary in your mind and Jesus will grow in your heart.” I think that committing to doing so would make an excellent New Year’s resolution for us all!