My friends, those of you who have been part of All Are One for several years are aware that each year I tell you not once, but several times during the year that “Ordinary Time” in our Church Year, is anything but ordinary in the common understanding of that word. In fact, one year, in trying to make that point, I addressed this time which really takes up more than one-half of our Year of Grace, as “Extra-Ordinary Time” to make clear to us that the challenge is always there, “to be our best selves,” as modeled by our brother, Jesus of Nazareth. 

   In a very general way then, looking at today’s Scriptures from the prophets, Isaiah, Paul and John, we learn from Isaiah that we are to be “lights” [in our dark world], [and minister as] “servants.”  Paul tells us that we are “called to be a holy people,” and John assures us that the “Spirit will show us the way, help us to believe and trust” [in what is right]. You may wonder at me naming John and Paul, “prophets,” but I consider anyone who is willing to speak wise words of truth and challenge, a prophet.

   The other very important idea that John the Evangelist addresses, if we look deeper, in today’s gospel, is that we would strive to see Jesus in places where we might not think he would be.  Now, initially, for John the Baptist, who is recognizing Jesus for the 1^st time, it would seem, we see that he needs “the Spirit” to point him out.  That should give us some encouragement as we attempt in our own lives to recognize “Jesus” in our world, because, my friends, that is our true mission as Jesus’ followers, “to see him in others” in our world.

   Our good Pope Leo XIV has just completed an Apostolic Exhortation, begun by his predecessor, Pope Francis, entitled , Dilexi Te – On Love for the Poor.  Before I get into the fine points of this written message, perhaps an explanation of terms is in order, as I wondered myself, what is the difference between “an Apostolic Exhortation and an Encyclical, which we may be more familiar with.  Beginning with the more familiar, an encyclical is usually more important as it deals with a specific doctrine wherein that doctrine is clarified or explained in greater detail. An apostolic exhortation is a piece that is written to encourage an action on a set of recommendations. 

   Interestingly enough, I have just begun a series of classes with Sister Dawn Nothwehr, a Rochester, Minnesota Franciscan looking at Catholic social teaching from Pope Leo XIII to our present Pope Leo XIV. 

   If you recall Catholic social teaching, you will remember Leo XIII having written the encyclical, Rerum Novarum in 1891.  It is more simply known to the laity as a document for the working class, primarily, discussing the relationships and mutual duties between labor and capital, government and its citizens.  Pope Leo XIII is considered a social justice pope and Pope Leo XIV signaled the kind of papacy he would attempt to have in choosing his predecessor’s name. 

   Sister Dawn began her class this past week by giving us an overview of the chapters and basic ideas of this Apostolic Exhortation.  In a general way, she shared that the Pope is calling us to look at “poverty” in our world as a “call to conversion,” understanding that people can be “poor” in many ways, experiencing not just “physical deprivation” – not enough food and shelter, but spiritual emptiness and physical loneliness. 

   Looking deeperinto these general ideas, she lets us know of the pope’s reminder to each of us that our God, in Jesus chooses to minister to the poor because God, “hears the cry of the poor.”  You may be familiar with the term, “preferential option “ for the poor, or in simpler terms, God, in Jesus has chosen, above all, to serve the poor.  Jesus has chosen the ultimate act of humility in becoming one of us in a very poor way as we just recently reflected on throughout the Christmas season.

   Pope Leo XIV reminds us, Sister Dawn shared, that, “Love of God equals love for the poor.”  I would add, in the larger context of the chosen readings for today, that if we can’t see our brother Jesus in the humans we see and meet in our day-to-day lives, then we can’t say we love God, whom we can’t see!  Jesus always directs us back to our every day lives to find him. 

   Pope Leo XIV ups the game, as it were, in saying that “the poor are the true evangelizers” – unique individuals with unique stories – they aren’t “problems to fix,” but by “listening” to their stories, we can indeed, if we are willing, learn from them – perhaps about, “simplicity in living.”  Pope Leo reminds us that as we attempt to serve others, to make a difference, it is about “solidarity,” not superiority.”  “Standing with” others, realizing on a whole deeper level, that life’s turns could place us in physical poverty too.

   Earlier I stated my belief that Ordinary Time in our Church Year continually challenges us to be our best, and Pope Leo, in his apostolic exhortation states that, [it is],  “a constant challenge,” [if we label ourselves as Christian] and he underlines the special task for those of us who are “white,” to understand our special “privilege” in this world.  He adds that there is the “need for continuous formation, asking ourselves, “how comfortable am I?”

   Leo goes on to say that “faith requires active expression, witnessing through our lived experiences.”  And again, he stresses that this task isn’t, one time and then we are done, but that our, “trying to bring change” is a “continuous” stance – a stance really that is about being “prophetic,” perhaps saying what no one else will say.  In many ways we are all called to be prophets – speaking the truth as we come to know it. 

   Leo speaks further about “confronting  structural sin” and here he addresses wealth versus poverty in our world, commenting that the very rich in our world make 281 times the pay that regular workers do.

   And in the footsteps of his predecessor, Leo XIII, Leo XIV raises the justice issues of decent wages for work done, time off, and so on …  this is about “building inclusive communities” where the needs of each and all are addressed. 

   Now, all of this is juxtaposed with the stance, far from prophetic, in my mind, of our bishop here in the Winona/Rochester diocese, Robert Barron.  I picked up the most recent copy of our diocesan paper, The Courier this past week and read parts of a very long piece by the bishop delineating what he gleaned from the recent Synod on Synodality in Rome.  As you will recall, the Synod on Synodality was a two-year process begun and completed by Pope Francis wherein the whole Church, clergy and laity, was encouraged to listen and dialog on not just one issue, but all issues concerning our Church in order that we could become a more communal, participatory, and mission-oriented Church. 

   The bishops were then sent home to do their own Synod on Synodality within their dioceses. Now, keeping in mind what it means to be a Synodal Church, one that is communal and participatory, our bishop made this statement in part: “I didn’t want this to be an open-ended affair during which we would debate a variety of matters of controversy within the Church. [He felt such an exercise would be]“fruitless.” He thus decided on two issues [underscore he],  “as Shepherd of the Diocese” which [he] “felt were of paramount importance to the flourishing of our local Church. “Evangelization” [and these are his words] “getting more people in the pews” and “vocations – getting more priests [male, of course], at the altar.”  Now, I don’t know about you, but this makes me absolutely crazy, given all I have shared of what the Leos encouraged and are encouraging about basically tying the Scriptures to our daily lives. And that being the case, I will leave the above with you to discern on your own. 

   Coming back then to our readings for today wherein the prophets of old instructed us “to be lights” in a dark world, to be servants – a holy people, who don’t turn to the lowest common denominator, “people in the pews” and male priests at the altar,” but to inclusivity where God’s beautiful and varied people are concerned, listening to and taking advantage of all the wonderful gifts within the People of God. If our bishop is truly concerned about “people in the pews,” he might want to take a look at “his message,” because I would suggest that is more the problem with the dwindling numbers. 

   Finally, then my friends, a hope-filled message to end with. Often times we are challenged as followers of our brother Jesus to love those who are hard to love, and God knows, there are many in our present-day world. 

   Martin Luther King, Jr. struggled with this issue too in his life, and his ultimate message, come to, no doubt through prayer, for himself and “his flock,” went deeper than “an emotional type” of love.  More profoundly, he encouraged those who wanted to love as our God does, to “love what could be – should be, in all of us, and a commitment to the society we must build together.” 

   The psalmist today gives us a command, perhaps a prayer for these very trying times.  “Here I am, I come to do your will.”  Now, we may not know what that “will” is, but we must trust that the Spirit will make that clear, just as she did for John.

Amen? Amen!  

My friends, I don’t know about you, but I have always looked forward to new beginnings – a new year, a new job, a new class – whatever it might be because with each new event, there is the opportunity to “do better,” what I may have attempted before, or simply to try something new that I have never done. All these new beginnings bring hope – a virtue that we must hold onto in these very trying times!

   Today, we see our brother Jesus beginning a new phase of his life – his public ministry, and he begins by doing, in his mind, “what is right” – baptism by John.  Putting ourselves into the heart and mind of Jesus, he probably had a sense as he came to know himself, and his abilities, that on the one hand, he had “a light” to share with others, and at the same time, a realization that the strength, we might say, grace, that would come to him through his baptism by John, was something that would help him immensely in his life of service, for and with others. 

   I think my friends, it is important for each of us to remember and never forget that our brother Jesus, as one of us, was completely human, thus he needed to deal with all the human emotions, pains and joys that each of us does.  If Jesus will ever be someone that we can follow, this piece – his completely human self must not be set aside, in deference to his spiritual-divine self.  There had to be a balance between the two natures, wherein Jesus, like us, had to continually say “yes” to the good, or better, and “no” to all that was not good, not about love. 

   Prior to Jesus’ baptism account in today’s gospel, we heard of how he was tempted in the wilderness – the struggle we all face between power and control in our lives, and the good we are capable of when choosing “the right,” or likewise, the evil we are capable of, for ourselves, and others, if we do not choose wisely. 

   If we choose wisely as Jesus did consistently throughout his earthly life – his “light,”  his actions in our world, ours will probably resemble his as spoken of today by the prophet Isaiah:

• You will bring justice to the nations…
• You will not break a bruised reed or quench a wavering flame…
• You will be a light…to open the eyes of the blind – last week you will recall that we talked about “a-ha moments,” and one of you said, “that in order to have such a moment, we must listen to others.” 
• The prophet continues – you will free captives from prison…here it is good to remember that people live in captivity, not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually too.  Our ability to reach out to others in love, to listen, to try and understand another’s pain can do so much toward “freeing” others in whatever ways they may be held captive.

   And our God who sees it all will let us know that we have “ chosen wisely” by the peace we experience in our hearts. 

   So, how do we really know that our choices may not have been the best, for ourselves and for others? The lack of peace and goodwill that tends to swirl about those who choose selfishly, with no regard for others, would seem to be an indication.  And, at the end of the day, whether we choose rightly, or wrongly, we may not always be sure, but for the most part, peace should be present when our choices have been about justice, compassion, care, and love. 

   When we keep our eyes on Jesus, and his actions, I think we are more apt to see our God  as Jesus did – with awe and reverence, instead of fear.  “Fear of God” as addressed in the 2^nd reading from Acts today, I would suggest is better understood through the original Hebrew word, “yirah,” which means, wonder, honor, and a much more positive view of God than the word, “fear” gives us. Jesus, our brother gave us this more positive view of his Abba God, through his entire earthly life with us. 

   So my friends, with today’s gospel,  we get a positive view that our brother Jesus is here, as an adult, come to fruition through an earlier life of love and support given by his human parents, Mary and Joseph, as we spoke of during Advent.  Again, he probably learned of what God truly wanted from him, a bit at a time, just as we come to understand the “piece” that is ours to do, as Saint Francis of Assisi always encouraged his followers – we can only do what is ours to do.  And if we don’t do our part, shine our own particular “light,” that “piece of God,” as Sister Joan Chittister is fond of saying, will not be shown to our world!  Now, there is a responsibility…

   And if we are looking for concrete examples in both Church and State of choosing unwisely, today’s world has enough to go around.  Beginning with our own Church, so many times over the years of my life, and the lives of others, when imploring the hierarchical men “to change,” some outdated law that no longer serves, we hear, “the Church moves slowly.”  I, for one, would encourage them to get “a move on!” Such a statement given as an excuse for why they haven’t made the changes that the “sensus fidelium” – the voice of the people who have for so long been asking is an insult to the memory of Jesus of Nazareth.  The Spirit of the Living God is forever renewing the face of the earth, and she speaks to the laity as well as to the clergy. 

   Our Church needs women deacons and priests, it needs women in leadership now, it needs a compassionate and loving response to the wonders and awe in all created human life –LGBTQ’s and more, animals and plants upon our beautiful earth, and voices that aren’t afraid to speak truth to power, now!

  The state of our country is obvious to all who have eyes to see and ears to hear, and now is the time to engage our hearts as well.  Our baptisms call us to all this and more, and if we don’t know where to start, the practice of doing each thing that we do each day, inordinately well, the “light we shine” for others will be reflected and passed on.

Amen? Amen!