I suppose we all imagine Jesus slightly differently, looking at him, as we do, through the lens of our own unique disposition and temperament, but what can we say about him in a more objective way? Mark’s Gospel helps us with that.

After all, we have received the gift of Baptism. There are lots of people in the world, but the will of God brought us to the font. That’s amazing, when you think of it. It didn’t have to be given to us, but it was. That is pretty special.

What follows is a development of what I preached on last week, about the institution of the Church as offering us a way to verify our encounter with Christ and to adhere to Him. We said that the experience of Christ is first, and then (only then) does one see the usefulness of the Church.

Even before having to endure the excruciating sufferings of teenage years, with all of its thrashing in the hormonal whitewaters of maturation, something else will happen to them as they are coming of age, something unique to their age and yet as treacherous as any war faced by previous generations: they will be given a phone.

Every Christmas, I consider changing this, but I keep coming back to it. I always begin the same way, saying to myself, “I want to write a word to the young people sitting in the pews before Christmas Mass, who may be looking up from their phones long enough to read something from the priest.” Adding, “It should be short, and maybe include a graphic to catch their attention.”

It may have been before the Fall, and I’m sure Thomas Jefferson meant well in declaring that it was in 1776, but it seems that truth is no longer self-evident. Rather, it must be learned. What’s more, we must have it revealed to us. And our Christian claim is that there is only one Man who can reveal it - the One who referred to Himself as “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” adding, “No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Marian Night: As this Tuesday will fall between the Feast of The Immaculate Conception and the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, I hope you will come to the church at 6PM on that evening (Tuesday the 10th) for a Holy Hour in honor of Our Blessed Mother, which will include music, preached Solemn Vespers, and Benediction. Come, celebrate the wonders of Our Blessed Mother.

Some time ago, an old student of mine called for spiritual counsel. He’s been playing professional baseball since his graduation from high school and faces a tremendous amount of pressure in the big league. I recommended to him a morning prayer routine with Scripture, preferring the beginning of the day, because very little good happens in the night time.