Dear Parishioners and Visitors

This weekend marks the end of the Christmas Season as far as the church is concerned.  People have gone back to work, so to have the children – well a bit – it’s their good luck the snow arrived and we have seen in another year.  So how come that Christmas ends now?  Well the Baptism of Jesus which we celebrate today ushers in his public ministry. 

We can rightfully say the church has a funny way of celebrating the life of Christ, in that we start with a few episodes from his public ministry, then on Feb 17^th, we have Ash Wednesday and the Lenten Season culminating in Holy Week and the Paschal Mystery of his death and Resurrection, followed by the Easter Season and Pentecost.   Then we go into “ordinary time” which celebrates elements of his life in no particular order.  Do you know of anyone else whose life is remembered in this way?  I hope not.  This pattern is a legacy from the early church which adopted the feasts and customs of the Jews, and the early Christians were Jews who became followers of Christ.

So the events of John baptising Jesus is very significant in the life and mission of the Lord.  John the Baptist was a popular itinerant preacher to whom people flocked.  But he was to say, “.....someone is coming, someone who is more powerful than I am...... he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”  This is but one of four accounts of the Baptism of Jesus, all differ in details, some important. 

Luke tells us today, that while at prayer after his baptism, heaven opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him.....like a dove”.  And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved, my favour rests on you”.  If things happened like this who witnessed them?  If John the Baptist did, why would he later send his flowers to ask Jesus “Are you the one who is to come or must we wait for another?”  Many modern bible scholars would now say, only Jesus was aware of the coming of the Holy Spirit and the words of the Father.  If this is true, it’s an event much nearer to our own baptism and the struggle that follows it in trying to make sense of God’s call to each one of us.

• On Monday, please note the Mass time is 9:30am.
• On Tuesday, our Journey in Faith Group after the 7:30pm Mass will be dependent on the weather.  The car park can be a very dangerous place if there is ice on the surface.
• On Friday last we had had to abandon the idea of our meeting for parents of 9-12 year olds on the grounds of safety.  We hope that this Friday 15^th at 7pm will be ok and look forward to seeing you there in the Parish Room. 
• Some cards still to be collected from the table in the Porch.
• Have a look at Sacred Space.ie on your computer.
• For baptisms, please contact Mandie Hooper on 01276 506492 or mandie.hooper@ntlworld.com
• For other enquiries, contact Sandie at the Parish Office, weekdays from 9am-12 noon or look up our website that Simon has put so much work into.