Dear Beloved Parishioners,
We end the season of Christmas and begin Ordinary time with today’s feast, the Baptism of the Lord. Thanks to the many hands which indeed made light work of the transition after the 11am Mass. And a reminder, the poinsettias in the gathering space are there for the taking, including the ones in the window bays…
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There are two funerals here at St. Justin this week. Tuesday’s is for Nella Russo, mother of parishioner Mary Lynn Trower and Friday’s is for parishioner Marie Zehnder. If you would keep both families in your prayer, I would be grateful.
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And thanks to all who have kept my friend, Sam Clark in your prayers during his battle with cancer. Sam died this morning, surrounded by his family and friends. If you would keep Mary, his wife and their adult children in your prayers as you have through his sickness, that, too, would be a blessing.
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Annual Roe v. Wade Memorial Mass & Prayer Vigil
Saturday, January 15, 2020 – 10 a.m.
Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis & Boland Hall
January 22, 2022 marks 49 years since the Supreme Court decisions Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton legalized abortion in our country. Since then, over 61 million unborn children have lost their lives and countless women, men, and families have been harmed by legalized abortion in the U.S.
Please join the archdiocesan Respect Life Apostolate and Generation Life St. Louis, and the Catholic and pro-life community in praying for an end to abortion, healing and forgiveness for those involved in abortion, and an increased respect for all human life.
The Mass collection will benefit LifeLine Coalition, a local network of social service and pro-life agencies whose financial and emotional support help thousands of area women, men, children, and families annually.
Mass, celebrated by Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski, will be followed by a peaceful and prayerful Rosary Procession to/from Planned Parenthood and fellowship at a reception in Boland Hall. For more information contact the Respect Life Apostolate at 314-792-7555, prolife@archstl.org or online at STLRespectLife.org.
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Thanks, already, for all those who have sponsored our upcoming Celebration of Blessings, to be held on Feb. 5th. The committee set a pretty hefty goal on sponsorships, and, I am pleased to tell you that they have exceeded that goal! (You will have to come to the event to find out what that number is.) Registration is open at COB2022.GIVESMART.COM.
More information to follow as we get closer to the event.
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The Deeper Dive into the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord comes to us from Greg Warnusz, a parishioner of Holy Name of Jesus parish in north county.
So, as we approach the annual feast of the baptism of Jesus by John, it’s only consistent to ask what was John’s purpose in proposing a new ritual bathing, one that attracted Jesus. In a new book I’m reading, I found some provocative history-writing about John’s baptism. It can illuminate why the first Christians took it over, and maybe inspire us to live out our baptismal commitments more thoroughly.
The book is After Jesus Before Christianity, subtitled “A historical exploration of the first two centuries of Jesus Movements.” I cite it with some hesitation because it makes assumptions, several of which, it was assumed in my education, long ago, one would not make. Some are more controversial, some less so….
…The biggest revelation for me in the book is its emphasis on what the early followers of Jesus were primarily coping with. I’ve long thought their primary struggle was getting over not belonging to Judaism any more. This book emphasizes that their bigger issue was differentiating themselves from the values of the Roman Empire. That was in the background of my understanding of Christian origins; the book persuades me to bring it front and center.
Imperial Rome was vicious, violent, unprincipled and exceedingly smug. Its goal was to dominate peoples as far as it could reach, and they happily dehumanized the “barbarians” that they conquered and enslaved many of them. We know they crucified Jesus, but they crucified many, many more, routinely, choosing that method for the terror it would strike in the hearts of anyone who beheld it. Rome’s emperors declared themselves divine. Their rich flaunted their wealth, connections and power.
Judeans were fiercely independent and resistant to Rome, sometimes violently, sometimes not, but never pacified. Their Temple in Jerusalem was sacred to them, and its aura sanctified its surroundings. So when Rome’s client king of Israel built Roman-style baths around the Temple, that was just too much for faithful Judeans. The Roman occupation already diminished Israel’s sense of their election by God, and the new baths so near their holiest place were a terrific wallop to their pride.
Into this milieu there came a man named John. He was the son of a Temple priest. John’s birth was announced to his father, until then childless, while he was serving in the Temple. John grew up to be a wild-ass of a man, a desert-dweller, now recognized as the last of the prophets, compared in our literature to Elijah who would precede the end-times return of God’s Anointed. This John initiated an alternative to the obnoxious Roman baths. And it wasn’t in the city, it was in the Jordan River, the original–and highly symbolic–border of the Promised Land. Many, many Judeans followed him to the Jordan and bathed there, cleansing themselves of Roman imperial filth and decay, of humiliation and grief. Among them was Jesus of Nazareth. There’s some evidence that Jesus joined John in conducting the ritual elements of this bath, and that he succeeded John, inheriting some of John’s disciples when the Bather was executed.
To the extent that this is an accurate picture of the origins of Christian baptism, it offers an alternative energy and direction to the routine renewal of our baptismal commitments. Even if all you do is “bless yourself with holy water” at the entrance of church, it’s a reminder to declare you want to be cleansed of imperialistic filth and decay, cleansed of the desire to dominate others, free of the urge to dehumanize them, loosed from the bonds of guilt. Saint Paul took this imagery even further: Baptized into Christ, he says, you have been raised with Christ to a new life.
We are communities of people immersed into the death and resurrection of Jesus. We should reclaim the impetus to reject imperialistic smugness and decay, to replace guilt with freedom, domination with charity, comfortable stasis with trips to our boundary waters and beyond.
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The Song of the Day – It is a kind of mash up of Angels from the realms of glory and Angels we have heard of high. The recording actually does not give you an official title to the song. But enjoy this ending of the Christmas season song…
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Blessings,
Fr. Bill