Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
As the Christmas season comes to a close, we begin Ordinary Time with the tremendous (and luminous) mystery of the Baptism of the Lord, a moment of salvation history absolutely loaded with significance and grace.
Three things happen when a person is validly baptized: 1) All sin is forgiven, washed away by the blood Our Lord shed on the cross; 2) the person is made new, no longer just a human life, but now a child of God, a co-heir with Christ of eternal life; and 3) the person is made a member of the Body of Christ, the Church, with all the rights and responsibilities of so noble a belonging.
Such sacred realities are worthy of sacred symbols. And it is wonderfully providential that within the next few weeks, you will be greeted on your entering the church with a new and worthy baptismal font.
Our current font is in rough shape. It was made with a simple wood frame, covered by plywood veneer sheets, with a large metal mixing bowl serving as the font itself. It has served the parish well, but is showing the wear and tear of its decades of service. Thanks to the generosity of some of our parishioners, we have been able to purchase a new font whose beauty will all the more readily witness to the great dignity of this holy and foundational sacrament. It should be delivered sometime in mid-January, shipped from overseas and transported up from the port of Miami.
We will bless and dedicate the font once it arrives and is installed, and I pray that it inspires each of us to plumb the depths of grace that are poured out on us by our own baptism, the day we were washed clean from the stain of sin, the day we became co-heirs with Christ, the day we were brought into covenant with God and made members of the Body of Christ.
Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever!
All you holy saints of God, pray for us!
Peace in Christ,
Fr. Michael Silloway
Pastor