Pastor Notes from January 15
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January 16, 2023John testified further, I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and remain upon him. I did not know him but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”
“To put it simply: the Holy Spirit bothers us. Because he moves us, he makes us walk, he pushes the Church to go forward. And we are like Peter at the Transfiguration: 'Ah, how wonderful it is to be here like this, all together!' ... But don't bother us. We want the Holy Spirit to doze off ... we want to domesticate the Holy Spirit. And that's no good. because he is God, he is that wind which comes and goes and you don't know where. He is the power of God, he is the one who gives us consolation and strength to move forward. But: to move forward! And this bothers us. It's so much nicer to be comfortable.” (Pope Francis, Encountering Truth: Meeting God in the Everyday)
A few Christmas decorations are lingering on the outside of homes, but inside most trees and symbols of the season have been taken down and put away—including Nativity scenes. I justify my procrastination and lack of motivation to dismantle the outside lights, take down the Christmas tree and put away my Nativity scene with the thought of the season extending into the cold, blustery days of winter. (I’m inspired by the good neighbors on east 22nd street whose Christmas lights still adorn the darkness on my walks past.) Of all the simple decorations I put up, the Nativity scene is the most cherished. Inherited from my great aunt, Sr. Rosalima, it is a hodgepodge of characters she collected over the years (with the traditional cow, donkey and camel replaced with two deer and a rabbit), yet a seasonal reminder of the true grace of Christmas. Next to it I place a picture taken at a baptism the day after Christmas, 1993. in ‘93. On the day after Christmas a young couple had their infant daughter baptized with the maternal grandparents as godparents. Just the five of them and myself at the baptism at the font surrounded by Christmas decorations adorning the sanctuary. For the first few months the grandmother informed me how the couple was doing whenever I saw her at church. Then I received a phone call from the grandmother and her voice was hesitant, serious; she informed me her son-in-law took his life. From time to time in the year following she would ask for prayers and keep me abreast about her daughter and granddaughter’s wellbeing.
For some inexplicable reason over the last twenty plus years I have this innate intuition— feeling—of the grandchild’s wellbeing. No evidence to show, just this ‘sense’ of her dignity and protection over the years. By the grace of the Holy Spirit the parents had their infant daughter baptized, and by the grace of the Holy Spirit the mother and daughter not only survived the tragedy but found their respective places in the world. My prevailing ‘sense’ of the granddaughter’s wellbeing and integrity through the years flows from the belief in the invisible, sacramental grace received at baptism: the Holy Spirit. And the picture I place next to the Nativity scene each Christmas Season reminds me of the possibilities open to each person baptized through the irrepressible grace of the Holy Spirit.
“The Church does not dispense the sacrament of baptism in order to acquire for herself an increase in membership but in order to consecrate a human being to God and to communicate to that person the divine gift of birth from God.” (Hans Urs von Balthasar, Unless You Become Like This Child)
God bless, Fr. Tim
FYI: The simple act of reassurance from another human being [becomes] a tool of the Spirit to cast out fear -- because peace and fear are both contagious.” (John Ortberg, Christian writer)