How many times have you sung the church song, “Here I Am, Lord”? If you grew up Catholic and are around my age (still 50!), the answer is more than you can count. The song that quotes various verses of Scripture is sung using guitar, piano, or organ, by cantors and choirs, in traditional and modern churches. It is truly a Catholic greatest hit of the modern Church. The question is how many times when singing the refrain have you really taken to heart what you were singing?

“Here I am, Lord; is it I, Lord? I have heard you calling in the night.” Like the biblical figure Samuel, we are responding to the call of God by asking for clarification that we are indeed the one being called. We then follow up the question with a profound statement: “I will go if You lead me.” It is profound because we are pledging to our God that we are willing to go wherever He wants. We are accepting the challenge put forth in the U.S. Bishops’ pastoral letter, “Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response,” to become mature disciples who respond to the call of Jesus Christ regardless of the cost. We have sung this pledge repeatedly for many years.

We never have any idea what God will call us to do and where to go. Sometimes the request can ask us for quite a lot. Hopefully, we respond like a mature disciple. If not, maybe we should reflect more the next time this song is played. The melody will not allow for the words, “I will see if I am busy and then decide to go if you lead me.” Then again, I don’t want to sing that to God, the source of all life anyway. Do you?

Tracy Earl Welliver is a Catholic author, speaker, consultant, and Gallup-certified Strengths coach with over 25 years experience in parish ministry. He is currently the Director of Parish Community and Engagement for LPI where he manages the company’s coaching and consulting efforts. Tracy also currently sits on the ICSC Board of Directors and is a Gallup-certified Strengths coach. He has spoken on and coached dioceses, parishes, and individuals on stewardship, engagement, Strengths, and discipleship all over North America, Australia, and New Zealand.

Last Sunday saw the end of the Church’s liturgical celebration of Christmas with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord and with it the bringing down of the Church’s decorations, well, in most places, and most of them here. So, why is the crèche still here? I’m glad you asked.

The crèche remains in anticipation of what we might term as the last feast of Christmas that is actually outside of the Christmas season, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, or Candlemas, on February 2nd, the fortieth day after Christmas. We will talk more about this feast when it comes in two weeks, but the feast deals with the infant Jesus and his parents bringing him to the Temple in fulfillment of the law as well as Mary’s full purification following Jesus birth, which would have ritually happened forty days afterwards according to the dictates of the law in the Book of Leviticus.

In different countries around the world, in Italy, Germany, and Poland for example, it is customary to leave the crèche and some decorations up, not just in churches, but also in homes. The beauty of the decorations, especially those that are lighted, stand in contrast to what can be the coldest and darkest days of the year; even though the light has been increasing since the winter solstice, it does not always feel so. In churches, the continued presence of the crèche is in step with the Scriptures that we hear for several Sundays in the beginning of Ordinary Time. Before the liturgical reforms following the Second Vatican Council, these Sunday were numbered as “Sundays After Epiphany.” While we do not use that name anymore, the Scriptures still carry the theme of epiphany or making known who the Lord Jesus is and what he has come to do for us and all the world.

The custom of keeping decorations up until Candlemas is one that seems to be slowly growing in some Catholic circles in the United States. We are doing so here at the Cathedral because the Presentation falls on a Sunday this year and going forward we will see if we make this tradition our own. Whether or not our homes or churches are still festooned with signs of Christmas, our lives should be the greatest reminder that Christ has come into the world. We are called to be sources of his light and love, to make his presence known, to be living proof of his power to save in every time and season.

Father Christopher House is the Rector of the Cathedral and serves in various leadership roles within the diocesan curia, namely Chancellor and Vicar Judicial.

As I’m writing this reflection, I am taking pause from writing a talk for an upcoming Diocesan Youth Conference. I’m preparing a brief overview of Christian history, hitting only major highlights for this 45-minute presentation. In coming into the 21st century, one cannot pass by Pope Leo XIII chanting the Veni Creator Spiritus on January 1, 1901. I cannot help but think of how that prayer, recited in Rome, has taken root and blossomed in various ways throughout the world in the 1900s.

While I’m not familiar with all the fruit born from that prayer, I am familiar with a few things that happened in the 1900s in America: the Los Angeles Street Blessing of 1906 and the Toronto Blessing of 1994, the Second Vatican Council in Rome (1962-1965), the 1967 Charismatic Movement in the Catholic Church at Duquesne University, the work of Catholic figures presently in Catholic circles (like Fr. Mike Scanlan and Fr. Dave Pivonka and Ralph Martin and Peter Herbeck of Renewal Ministries), the rise of vocations to priesthood and religious life consequent of their involvement with programs like NET Ministries, St. Paul’s Outreach, FOCUS, and LifeTeen. Many other people and movements can be mentioned here, but it is all to say that Pope Leo XIII’s prayer in 1901 seems to be coming to fruition in the Catholic Church in America.

One hundred and nineteen years have passed since Pope Leo uttered that prayer, and flourishing still seems to be happening all around. And yet, there are still so many who have not yet tapped into the power of the Holy Spirit given to them at Baptism and Confirmation. The potential has been sacramentally distributed, yet remains dormant in most of the Catholic population. I heard it said one time that the Holy Spirit is the most powerful force in the world. So what would it look like if we could learn to harness or access this power in our daily lives? The late Cardinal Suenens gives us a thought-provoking reflection in his book, A New Pentecost?:

“I like to compare our approach to God in faith to that of a traveler who, as he makes his way on a winter night, arrives by some detour at a lonely cottage, ablaze with lights shining through the windows. As he looks through the windows, he sees a fire with logs burning and crackling and sparks flying. He can imagine the warmth by the fireplace, but he cannot feel it as long as he stays outside, an onlooker, in the cold and wind. This is an image of the Christian, who, in the darkness of faith, sees the light and the warmth that is God…

Still, though he may catch sight of the firelight and imagine its warmth, it has not yet penetrated to the very marrow of his bones. He has yet to go inside, not because he is worthy, but because God invites him: a God who gently presses the invitation, and longs to be one with him. For that to happen, the traveler must knock at the door — that is what he has to do. Jesus told us to knock. He did not say how many times. We have to be sure to knock and knock again. But above all, each one of us must realize that he is expected at the fireside, that he is a son, that this is his home, that he can give no greater joy to God than by accepting this invitation.

To stay on the threshold on the plea of humility would be to misjudge God’s heart. He invites all of us to experience, even here below, the warmth of His love. He has made us just for that.

Once inside, everything is different for the traveler. The bright flames on the hearth leap up to greet him, the heat begins to envelop, to penetrate him, his face lights up in the glow, he reaches out his two hands, and his numb limbs begin to lose their numbness. A sort of osmosis begins: the brightness of the flames penetrate his very being. This is an image of the experience of God, as felt by one who lets himself be invaded by God, who opens his whole being, conscious and subconscious, to the radiance of his presence. A new life takes over. Saint Paul’s cry becomes, once more, a reality: “It is no longer I who live, it is Christ who lives in me.” (Gal 2:20)

We are not alone anymore, we know we are guided by the Holy Spirit; our life unfolds in response to him. As we dispossess ourselves, our being is possessed by God. The void is filled.

God himself, who is all welcome, light and warmth, transforms our existence, bestowing on us something of his radiance. Those who allow themselves to be possessed by God, resemble the log that little by little becomes white-hot. Their life, nourished by the fire of the Holy Spirit, becomes fire in its turn. Is not this the fire of which Jesus spoke when he said, “I have come to bring fire to the earth …” (Lk 12:49)? This is what it means to experience the Holy Spirit who alone can renew the face of the earth!”

How desperately we need a fire like this that burns not only within churches, but more importantly, within individual believers’ hearts, young and old, cleric, lay and religious.

Brother John-Marmion Villa, BSC is an author for Liturgical Publications, Inc. and writes reflections on the Sunday readings.

St. Paul tells the faithful at Ephesus that they have been “sealed with the promised holy Spirit.” Catholic Tradition interprets this in terms of an indelible character imprinted on the soul in the sacraments of baptism and confirmation. It is not as if this invisible mark is simply decorative. Rather, through it, we are enabled to participate in Christ’s mission and in his offices of priest, prophet, and king.

We share in Christ’s priestly office, for example, when we “lift up our hearts,” at Mass, particularly enabled to do so by God-given powers given to us in baptism and strengthened in confirmation. When we hold the true faith in accord with the Magisterium and share it with others, we are likewise empowered by an everready supply of grace from our baptism and confirmation. This is a participation in Christ’s prophetic office. When we order our lives or our families to God’s order, we likewise rely on grace from baptism and confirmation and share in Christ’s kingly office.

St. Paul uses the word ‘seal’ (sphragis) several times in his epistles, where he connects it with the promise or ‘downpayment’ of the Holy Spirit. Something sealed by a king is marked as belonging to him, and it comes with a guarantee of protection. The prophet Ezekiel uses a similar term, where the Lord says that in the impending doom on Jerusalem, he will save the righteous who were given his mark on the forehead (Ezekiel 9). Later we see similar imagery in Revelation where 144,000 are saved from God’s wrath (Revelation 7).

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church,

“The Holy Spirit has marked us with the seal of the Lord (‘Dominicus character’) ‘for the day of redemption.’ ‘Baptism indeed is the seal of eternal life.’ The faithful Christian who has ‘kept the seal’ until the end, remaining faithful to the demands of his baptism, will be able to depart this life ‘marked with the sign of faith,’ with his baptismal faith, in expectation of the blessed vision of God—the consummation of faith—and in the hope of resurrection” (CCC, 1274).

Hence, St. Paul further says that the seal “is the first installment of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s possession, to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:14).

In answer to questions in the Church of his day regarding repentant apostates, St. Augustine taught that one must not and cannot be baptized again or ordained again (Rev. Peter Drilling, Trinity and Ministry, 64). These sacraments were given to a person once forever. St. Augustine developed the understanding of the seal as a character – like a brand imprinted on a soldier that cannot be removed. Even if the soldier defects, he cannot remove the brand. Sin may cut off our access to the grace we have received, but repentance through the sacrament of reconciliation causes it to flow again in us. Thus we read in the Catechism,

“No sin can erase this mark, even if sin prevents baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation. Given once for all, baptism cannot be repeated” (CCC, 1272).

Sealed for a Purpose
According to St. Thomas Aquinas, the character is a supernatural power given to the soul. Fr. Peter Drilling writes of St. Thomas’ teaching, “What God does is confer the capacity to give proper worship to God. The whole purpose of the character, then, is to orient a person to action in the public, ecclesial setting, where worship is offered” (Trinity and Ministry, 69). The worship it orders us to in the liturgy is communal in nature, as the baptized person is incorporated into Christ’s Body the Church. Thus we read in the Catechism,

“Incorporated into the Church by baptism, the faithful have received the sacramental character that consecrates them for Christian religious worship. The baptismal seal enables and commits Christians to serve God by a vital participation in the holy liturgy of the Church and to exercise their baptismal priesthood by the witness of holy lives and practical charity” (CCC, 1273).

In the RCIA, this is why baptized candidates wishing to enter the Church are given special place at the liturgy while unbaptized catechumens or elect are dismissed after the Liturgy of the Word to further reflect on the Word amongst themselves.

Baptism orients the person not only to participation in Christ’s priestly office but also his prophetic and kingly offices. The Rite of Baptism places these words at the anointing with chrism: “As Christ was anointed Priest, Prophet, and King, so may you live always as members of his body, sharing everlasting life.” Confirmation strengthens this with particular emphasis on the prophetic and kingly offices, so that the confirmand may be strengthened in building up the Body. We read in the Catechism:

“Like Baptism which it completes, Confirmation is given only once, for it too imprints on the soul an indelible spiritual mark, the ‘character,’ which is the sign that Jesus Christ has marked a Christian with the seal of his Spirit by clothing him with power from on high so that he may be his witness. This ‘character’ perfects the common priesthood of the faithful, received in Baptism, and ‘the confirmed person receives the power to profess faith in Christ publicly and as it were officially (quasi ex officio)’” (CCC, 1304-1305).

Holy Orders further builds on baptism and confirmation, empowering a man forever to act in the person of Christ in his offices of priest, prophet, and king; he is variously enabled to serve the Body if ordained a deacon, priest, or bishop. The laity, of course, are not given the indelible mark of Holy Orders in its three ranks. However, the laity are called by virtue of the indelible character of their baptism and confirmation to serve as Christ in the Church and in the world. We read in the Catechism:

“Since, like all the faithful, lay Christians are entrusted by God with the apostolate by virtue of their Baptism and Confirmation, they have the right and duty, individually or grouped in associations, to work so that the divine message of salvation may be known and accepted by all men throughout the earth. This duty is the more pressing when it is only through them that men can hear the Gospel and know Christ. Their activity in ecclesial communities is so necessary that, for the most part, the apostolate of the pastors cannot be fully effective without it” (CCC, 900).

Thus, as we worship, teach, and serve, let us be aware of the font within us of ever-ready grace from our baptism and confirmation. As Jesus said to the woman at the well,

“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).

Michael J. Ruszala is the author of several religious books, including Lives of the Saints: Volume I and Who Created God? A Teacher’s Guidebook for Answering Children’s Tough Questions about God. He holds a master of arts degree in theology & Christian ministry from Franciscan University of Steubenville. He has served for a number of years as a parish director of religious education, parish music director in the Diocese of Buffalo, and adjunct lecturer in religious studies at Niagara University in Lewiston, NY. For more information about Michael and his books, visit michaeljruszala.com.

There are close to 7.6 billion people currently on earth. That is a lot of people! If you try to estimate how many people have collectively been born since the beginning of time, a good guess is 108 billion! It is hard to contemplate that many distinctly different human beings created by our God. In the midst of all those people, where do you and I fit? Can we really be created to make a difference in the world? One can feel very small and insignificant when reflecting on the numbers.

We render ourselves insignificant when we make the mistake of seeing ourselves as being just like everybody else. However, when looking at the numbers, how can one honestly think we are all the same? Another way we become insignificant is believing the lie that one person in the midst of so many does not have the power to make an impact. However, we all spend time reading books, watching movies, or listening to news about singular people who made all the difference in some part of the world. Imagine your own world without a few key people who have touched you and made a difference.

We are all created with unique gifts. We have those gifts that have been part of us from birth and those that have been imparted to us by the Holy Spirit. St. Paul tried to get the Corinthians to understand that reality when he explained to them the many gifts of the Spirit. Perhaps some of his audience back then thought they were insignificant. The message then remains the message today: God is counting on you to use what He has given you. If you don’t, who will?

Tracy Earl Welliver works for Liturgical Publications, Inc. and writes on various stewardship topics.

The time has come for us to move beyond the manger, for white and gold to give way to green. Today we come to the end of the Church’s celebration of Christmas with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord and we prepare to enter into the liturgical season of Ordinary Time. This feast jumps us about thirty years forward in the Lord’s earthly life and is understood as the event that inaugurates his public ministry. The Scriptures that the Church has chosen for this feast bring us full circle from where our pre-Christmas journey began in Advent, to Christmas Day, and now to the end of this holy season.

Some six weeks ago we began our Advent journey and over the course of that journey we heard those familiar words of the Prophet Isaiah that are proclaimed to us again this Sunday. We might say that in today’s feast we are given a recap of what has already been revealed and proclaimed: that God has heard the cry of his people and has responded to that cry in the coming of Christ his son. What was already made known to Mary & Joseph, the Shepherds, Simeon & Anna, and the Magi is made known to a wider audience by the Spirit at the Jordan River when the voice of the Father proclaims of Jesus “This is my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Today’s feast is a continuation of last week’s celebration of the Epiphany because Christ is once again made known for who is; his identity is not a secret as it is revealed by the Father and his purpose is revealed in his dialogue with John. As with the Magi so now at the Jordan, God continues to make known through Jesus that his life and love are open to all people who will receive him and all who receive him belong to him.

Now that we have celebrated the coming of Jesus at the beginning of the Church year, we are now prepared for the unfolding of another great mystery; the mystery that is life in Christ and what that means for us as his disciples as the events of his passion, death, resurrection, and overall ministry are recounted for us over the rest of the Church year. This mystery of life in Christ is what we are called to contemplate and celebrate each day and in every season. We have been called and chosen to be children of God, not because of any merit of ours, but because of God’s great love for us; because of this we should in turn see our lives as something extraordinary.

In Matthew’s Gospel for today, Jesus tells John that he must be baptized by him to “fulfill all righteousness.” Greater than the light of the star that led the Magi, it is Jesus himself in this act that shows us the way. The Lord goes before us always, the light that shines in the darkness. May we cooperate with the grace given us to never fear or waver in following him.

Father Christopher House is the Rector of the Cathedral and serves in various leadership roles within the diocesan curia, namely Chancellor and Vicar Judicial.

John the Baptist was a mighty prophet, a prophet like the Jews had not seen for hundreds of years. It is easy for modern readers to miss that. John was a very big deal. His message was simple, “Repent. Prepare the way of the Lord.” Scripture says that great masses of people from all of Judea came to him. They came to receive his baptism of repentance. They came to publicly say, “We are sinners. We have offended God!”

It must have been powerful to see so many publicly turning towards repentance. But then, something very odd happened. Jesus came from Galilea, and asked John to baptize him as well. Jesus was, is, and always will be God. He is perfect. Jesus asking John to baptize him is backwards. The baptist’s own words made it clear that John fully understood this,

“I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” (Matthew 3:14)

It is all wrong, or at least it seems wrong. Jesus has no need of John’s baptism. And yet, this is his first recorded act in all four Gospels.

There is obviously something important happening here. We, as readers and followers of Christ, must ask the question, “Why does he do it?” Why does he travel from Galilea to Judea to be baptized by John when he has nothing, personally, to repent for? The short answer? Us.

Not Only His Death but Also His Life
Jesus went to be baptized by John not because he needed it, but because we do. This baptism of repentance was not incidental. It is a major moment. It is part of the righteousness of God that Jesus has come to accomplish. He went to John to take on the baptism of repentance, not for himself, but for us. For humanity. Jesus, in the waters of the Jordan, descended and took on the sin of the world. Benedict XVI puts it this way: Jesus loaded the burden of all mankind’s guilt upon his shoulders; he bore it down to the depths of the Jordan. He inaugurated his public activity by stepping into the place of sinners. His inaugural gesture is an anticipation of the Cross (Jesus of Nazareth, Doubleday 2007, 18).

And from that point forward Jesus begins the work of the Cross. Too often when we contemplate the Cross, we see only Christ’s passion. Yes, the passion is important, but Christ did not wait until he stood before Pilate to begin his work of salvation. Jesus made it clear at the Jordan that not only is his death for us, but his life as well.

So We Could Be Free
It must be noted that all four Gospels agree that immediately upon his baptism, the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus … and something changed. Before the Jordan, Jesus was almost indistinguishable from the other carpenters of his time. Nobody assumed there was anything remarkable about him. There was seemingly very little worth writing down about his life before the Jordan. The Gospel writers give almost no record of it. But, after the Jordan, his life was extraordinary. It was inexplicable. His own family members were baffled by him. People who knew him said things like “isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name, Mary?” (Mark 3:21) Jesus, through it all, claimed,

“I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.”(John 6:38)

It seems that, at the Jordan, the Holy Spirit began to lead Christ in a new way. Christ, having given up the divine prerogative, made himself reliant on the Spirit, and went forth to do the Father’s will.

Through this baptism of repentance Jesus inaugurates a new life of grace for humanity, and through his sacrifice on the Cross, he invites us into this new life. Just as Jesus’ public life and mission began in the waters of the Jordan, our lives begin through repentance and baptism as well. We should never forget that Jesus lived his life, not as some unattainable goal, but as a template of how we are called to live. Just as the Father, at Jesus’ baptism, affirms that Jesus is his “beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased” we too have been made sons and daughters of the Lord through our baptism. Just as the Spirit descended upon Jesus at his baptism, so too does the Spirit come to us at ours. Just as Christ lived his life in union with the Father, through the Spirit, we too are called to live in union with Christ, through the Holy Spirit. Jesus began the work of the Cross at the Jordan. He walked our human life, carried our sin, so that we can have a share in his life, and live—through him —lives that have been set free from the domination of sin.

Chris Mueller is a youth minister from Murrieta, California. He crafts dynamic talks that communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ in a way that resonates with teen and adult audiences alike. Chris is the president and founder of Everyday Catholic, an organization that calls Catholic families, young adults, and teens into a deeper relationship with Christ and his Church. Chris and his wife, Christina, live in California with their five children.

We all know the drill. We should go to Mass on Sunday. We should go to Mass on Holy Days. And really, in general, we should worship God more in our daily lives.

Now, consider this: Stop “shoulding on yourself.” Fr. Jim Martin, SJ, wrote that if we are too busy focusing on what we “should” do, then we miss out. When we are too busy worrying about whether we should be in the pew — we are actually missing out on engaging in the worship experience. So skip the “shoulds” and get right to worship. Don’t just think you should go to Mass more. Don’t just try to go to Mass more, be more involved in the worship experience. Here are four ways to help you stick to worship:

Find your worship community.
The church that is most convenient to you may not be the best place for you to worship. An ideal worshiping community is a place where you feel welcomed and you feel comfortable. When you leave the church building, you should think to yourself, “I can’t wait to be back next week!” Finding this worship community may not be easy (ok, it can be downright challenging), but don’t be dismayed. Begin with your own personal “Church Search” and explore some of the different churches and Masses in your area. Ask friends for suggestions and maybe to come with you on your visits.

Explore new ways to worship.
If you have already found a great worship home, then look into some other forms of worship in addition to participating in the Mass, like Liturgy of the Hours, or The Divine Office. The Liturgy of the Hours is the official prayer of the Catholic Church. The liturgy consists of a collection of psalms, prayers, and readings prayed throughout the day at specific times (for example Morning and Evening Prayer). This form of worship is very flexible and you can pray individually or in a group.

You can also try Centering Prayer, a form of silent meditation. If you like the phrase, “Be Still and Know that I am God,” then consider exploring the world of centering prayer. This prayer practice can be done both individually and in a group setting. It does require that one be able to sit in meditative silence for some time (without falling asleep!). If you are looking for convenience, you can download mobile Apps for your smartphone or iPad that provide you with all the prayers for the day. Check out Catholic Calendar or iMissal.

Start your own small faith group.
The goal of a small faith group is to get some of your friends together each week to talk about scripture, faith, and life. This could be a women’s group, a men’s group, a young adult group…really it could be any kind of group you would desire. You might go to daily Mass and meet as a community after or, go out for brunch after Sunday Mass and talk about your Mass experience. If you are an active gogetter or like group gatherings and discussion, this kind of prayer and worship is for you.

Get involved!
The Christian Faithful are called to be full, active, and conscious participants in the liturgy. How can we be more active participants? Try following along with the missal during Mass. Also, consider studying the Sunday readings or daily readings ahead of time. If you feel called to participate in a different way, consider joining a liturgical ministry. Liturgical ministries include being a Eucharistic Minister, a lector (or reader), a music minister, an usher, or even bringing up the gifts. In addition to these “in Mass” ministries, you may want to explore the behind-the-scenes aspects of the Mass. Contact your priest or your liturgical director and ask about being involved in the Liturgy Committee, the group that plans and coordinates all the Masses.

Catholics do not celebrate Mass because we should do it; rather we celebrate the Mass because we need to do it. Coming to the table, hearing scripture, and sharing a meal together are a vital part of our faith life. The Mass gives us the energy and nourishment to go out into the world and live the gospel life every other day of the week. So remember, skip the “shoulds” and determine what you need for a worship-filled life.

Julianne E. Wallace is the director of campus ministry at Alvernia University in Reading, Pennsylvania. She is currently working on a D.Min. in Educational Leadership from Virginia Theological Seminary. She earned an M.T.S. in Word and Worship from the Washington Theological Union in Washington, D.C. and a B.A. in Music Performance from the University of Mary Washington in Virginia. Julianne is passionate about sharing the joy of liturgy with others and helping everyone to worship well.