Dear Parishioners of Saint Polycarp,
This weekend, Holy Mother Church celebrates the solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord. According to the Church’s liturgy, this solemnity marks the end of the Christmas Season and begins the liturgical Season of Ordinary Time.
The Gospel of Matthew for this solemnity recounts the encounter and the conversation of Jesus and John the Baptist at the river of the Jordan in these words: “Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. John tried to prevent him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?’ Jesus said to him in reply, ‘Allow it now, for this it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’” It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness: what does this mean?
When Jesus allowed John the Baptist to baptize Him, He is revealing God’s justice. In other words, by allowing John to baptize Him, Jesus fulfills the beginning of His mission—that is, to reveal and to bring to fulfillment the works of God the Father. Through His baptism at the Jordan, Jesus reveals to us His Father’s justice. The late Pope Francis elaborated the meaning of justice as follow: “Very often have a limited idea of justice, and think that it means: those who do wrong pay, and in this way compensate for the wrong they have done. But God’s justice, as the Scripture teaches, is much greater. It does not have the condemnation of the guilty as its end, but their salvation, rebirth and their being made righteous: from unjust to just. It is a justice that comes from love, from the depths of compassion and mercy that are the very heart of God, the Father who is moved when we are oppressed by evil and fall under the weight of sins and fragility” (Homily, 08 January 2023). Another beautiful way of seeing God’s justice through mercy is well captured by the thought of Pope Benedict XVI, “God desired to save us by going to the bottom of this abyss himself so that every person, even those who have fallen so low that they can no longer perceive Heaven, may find God’s hand to cling to and rise from the darkness to see once again the light for which he or she was made” (Homily, 12 January 2008).
As we begin the First Sunday of Ordinary Time with the solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord, I invite you not to be afraid of God’s mercy, even when you are in the depth of sins. God wants us in His Son, Jesus, to be just, to be cleansed, and to be loved. Therefore, do not be afraid to rise above the water of your own baptism, so that you can hear the voice of Jesus’ Father saying to you: “You are my beloved son/daughter.”
Joining my brother priests, and our new deacon Francis Ang, I bestow God’s blessings upon you and your family. May Our Blessed Mother, Saint Joseph, and Saint Polycarp intercede for you before the throne of God.
Father Viet Peter Ho
Pastor
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