I received a Christmas card that had a great message for this time after Christmas: “When the song of the angels is stilled, the star in the sky is gone, when the kings & princes are home & the shepherds are back w/ their flock, then the WORK of Christmas begins...to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner & to bring peace to all peoples”
After this feast of the Baptism of the Lord, the Church removes its Christmas decorations as we enter back into “Ordinary Time.” But before Jesus begins his public ministry, his work of finding the lost, healing the broken, feeding the hungry, and freeing those imprisoned, God’s voice is heard at his baptism: “This is my Beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
How can Jesus find, heal, feed & release people unless he himself has been found, healed, fed, freed & loved by God his Father? During Christmas, did you hear the voice of God naming you as his Beloved child with whom he is well pleased? If you have, then let us begin the work of Christmas.