Searching and Finding…Your Faith Home
(01-03-2010)
Epiphany is the feast of searching and finding and the feast of new beginnings in our spiritual journey. Isaiah speaks to us about the signs of when God’s vindication of Jerusalem will come with light into the world. The Gospel narrative from Matthew states that the recognition of the God’s epiphany in the world takes place with the arrival of the foreign magi from different lands and cultures; when they arrive at the light in the place of the Birth of the Lord and pay homage to the miracle.
Entering the epiphany miracle of Jesus is a call for us be united in his holy family—his faith family. It is a call to see one another as one in him. That means it is necessary to remove the darkness of bigotry toward race, culture, economic level, or gender¾ for do any of us chooses the circumstances of our birth? Who wants to be born into human categories that restrict, paralyze, and hurt people?
Human barriers are contrary to Epiphany for they bring darkness to our world and lives, not the light of Christ.
Here at St. John the Baptist Catholic Parish we rejoice in the light of the diversity that God has brought together—AND in OUR rich heritage of 151 years of being a place to search for and find God—here in your Faith Home!
All of us can do more to support seeking and finding God together at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church—all of us can give more –in time-talent-and possibly treasure, to be certain this sacred space remains as a faith home now and for many more years. For in the providence of God, the Epiphany of the Lord, hundreds of thousands of prayers have been offered and answered here for over 151 years—let us keep that hope going for generations to come.
Here God is revealed in us as we gather in his Real Presence. And what we do outwardly to make known that Presence in our lives includes gathering for Mass to find God together, to ask God to answer prayers for hope in our lives, for one another and our world. Some are:
· prayers that ask for the courage to let go of the old wounds and pain
· prayers for the grace not to be disappointed when prayers aren’t answered the way we want and when we want.
· prayers for a renewed sense of discovery in life---of wonder and awe in the little things of life that contain the spark of the divine.
· prayers for the spirit of being Emanuel Peace-bearer-- and put aside barriers that keep us apart from family members or cultures or races
· prayers for health and wellness and healing
· prayers for jobs
· prayers for families struggling to survive
· prayers for PEACE.
In a world that is going through so many scary times and in so many places we need to be magi, witnesses of God’s love-- Christ’s light of hope—in the ordinary of our daily lives the miraculous birth of a child—how blessed we are to be in that miracle, here at this time in this sacred place with one another.
Blessings in the New Year, in the Searching and Finding together in Christ, Fr. Gordon
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