Dear Christ the King Family,
There is no First Sunday in Ordinary Time. Instead, the transition from the Christmas Season into the first week of Ordinary Time is marked by this pivotal Feast celebrating the Baptism of the Lord.
It’s appropriately situated in our calendar, as this Christmas Season has been all about celebrating the entrance of the Divine Son into our world as a human being, to bring light to our darkness, to reveal the face of our Heavenly Father, and to reconcile our sinful and wayward spirits to God. For most of the Christmas Season we have focused on Jesus, the Incarnate God as just an infant: being held by Mary and Joseph, visited by shepherds, and honored by the costly gifts of the Magi. But his baptism in the Jordan River some 30 years later was also an important moment of God’s Incarnate Son coming into our world and breaking into our reality. Because now, what had been a hidden secret dwelling within the quiet life of the Holy Family’s home at Nazareth was stepping out into the public eye. When he came up from the water…The heavens burst open, God’s Spirit rested upon him like a dove and the heavenly voice of God rang out: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
This striking manifestation of the Divine presence set the stage for Jesus to begin his public ministry in Galilee and throughout all Judea. A ministry that corresponded to Isaiah’s description of the Messiah’s mission: to be a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness. As we now enter back into the season of Ordinary Time, our Gospel readings at Mass will draw us into that ministry of Jesus throughout the land. Though we call this season “ordinary,” the word just refers to the way the weeks are ordered by being numbered. We must not think of this word in terms of our common usage.
Because if we allow ourselves to dive into the stories of Jesus interacting with diverse people from all walks of life after going forth from His Baptism, we will hopefully be able to see ourselves in the people he comes to heal, to teach, to serve, to humble and challenge, to forgive and lift up, and to love. And we will see that this relationship that Jesus makes possible is something far from ordinary. It is the extraordinary dignity of being called into loving union with Jesus and hearing God’s voice speak this truth to us as well: You are my beloved sons and daughters, with whom I am well pleased.
Yours in Christ,
Fr Cameron Cortens, C.S.C.
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