Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

For each of us our physical birth to our mother and father begins a close relationship of dependency, of nurturing and love as well as membership of a family and taking our rightful place in the family home.

Baptism is a spiritual rebirth, we belong to Mother Church and are nurtured by the sacraments, and we are at home in the Church with our spiritual kinship to our brothers and sisters. St Augustine said "he will not have God for his Father who would not have the Church for his mother."

Our obligations and responsibilities towards the other members of our own human family, brothers and sisters etc., are mirrored by the relationship and responsibilities to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

But baptism involves this and much more on a spiritual level.

We can remind ourselves often of our great dignity and calling through Baptism, by utilising each of the letters of BAPTISM to help us to realise the implications of the Sacrament.

B is for Beloved. God the Father describes Jesus at His Baptism as His ‘beloved’ Son. We too are beloved of the Father through our Baptism and this is an unfathomable mystery that God takes the initiative to love us who are so undeserving. To recognise that we have a loving Father is very important, but can be conditioned and hampered by the relationship we have (had) with our earthly father. But even if it was not an ideal relationship hopefully all have us have had the experience of being loved by someone. That wonderful sensation is just a glimpse of the love God has for us. Sometimes we wonder what a woman might ‘see’ in a man she loves, and vice-versa. They may seem to us to be ill-matched, but through the lens of love they see themselves as ‘made for each other.’ It remains a mystery. There are no really satisfactory human comparisons to God’s love for us. God’s Love has no reasons ‘why’ but it is worth reflecting on His generous Love for you and me.

A is for Adopted as sons and daughters of God the Father. This is a spiritual adoption. Adoption has legal implications, giving the adopted person the same legal rights of inheritance as biological children. Through baptism we are adopted by God as His children, and become brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ and of one another and are given the ‘right’ to the inheritance of heaven, something which is again God’s loving initiative. Every man is therefore my brother in Christ, and every woman I can call my sister. If only I would begin to treat them accordingly and as they deserve!

P is for People of God – on a pilgrimage through the wilderness of life. We are no longer individuals, to live self-centred, isolated, rudderless, lives in our rooms or working in our office cubicles without meaning or identity. Our world and lifestyles encourage individualism, independence and autonomy yet there ar ea lot of lonely people in the world. Our call to baptism changes this. We truly ‘belong to each other’ and are called, in the words of Pope John Paul II, to build ‘a civilisation of love’. We have a collective identity. We are a people. We are a family, with relationships and responsibilities – just as we are all at once a son or daughter, grandson or grand-daughter, niece or nephew, cousin, so we have relations in the Christian family.

T is for Temples of the Holy Spirit, called and commanded to keep the temple of our bodies undefiled, by sin. True self-love respects the body of oneself, as well as therefore treating the bodies of others with dignity. We do great harm to ourselves by sin, and if we involve another in a sin, do great harm to them also. This should give us pause for thought, to meditate often on our true worth and value, as well as by implication, the worth of others for their bodily and spiritual integrity.

I is for Intercessors for one another – we ought to take seriously the invitation to pray for one another. We ought to believe that our prayers can and will be heard even if they are answered in ways and at times that we do not expect. I wonder if I have always taken this call to intercession seriously enough and if I have had the requisite faith to believe in it.

S is for Sanctified and called to be a saint, and able to receive the other Sacraments. Without Baptism, the other sacraments have no meaning and no value or effect on our souls. That is one reason that the Church has always taken great care to record the event of a baptism. The sacrament changes us interiorly and invisibly to make us holy and acceptable in God’s sight. We are to take seriously the baptismal call to holiness. The Bible says: ‘this is God’s will – your sanctification’ (1 Thess 14-16) Persevering prayer is the key to holiness. Sanctification is the work of a lifetime.

M is for Members of the Body of Christ, members of the Church and on a Mission. We have a collective purpose, calling and vocation by word, and by example to be lead, and to lead others closer to God. We cannot keep to ourselves the ‘secret’ of Christ, what He means to us, and what He does for us. We should desire this happiness for others. As Pope John Paul II said ‘those who have come into genuine contact with Christ cannot keep him for themselves, they must proclaim Him’. Membership of the Church should make us consider seriously becoming members of an apostolic or missionary organisation, concerned with spiritual and charitable works for our neighbour. We prove we are Christians by our love, especially for those whose need is greater than our own. To sum up, the words of St Vincent de Paul when asked by  a wealthy lady what she could do for the poor he answered her one word ‘Plus’ which means doing More!

So let us remember who and what we are as baptised Catholics:

Beloved-Adopted-People-Temples-Intercessors-Sanctified-Members

The Epiphany of The Lord

The Epiphany



While reading once again the familiar account of the journey of the three Magi, it struck me that their last stage of their journey was their shortest, but was too long for Herod and the Jews because they lacked faith.

Having travelled hundreds of miles across the wilderness of the Middle East, the distance for the Magi from Herod’s palace to the lowly manger in Bethlehem was only 6 miles. Yet it is not recorded if any of the scribes or Pharisees bothered themselves to make the journey for themselves. They had the requisite knowledge, but not wisdom. Herod was too proud and sceptical to go there. But the Magi did go there and fell on their knees; and their faith was rewarded.

There were four stages to their journey –

Firstly, based on their human calculations and assisted by the star but also on their wits and logic, yet somehow still unsure, they made their way to the place where an earthly king could be expected to be found – in Jerusalem.

Secondly, based on the accumulated and collective wisdom and Revelation to the Jews, they made their way - correctly - to Bethlehem.

Thirdly, they fell down and worshipped Christ – the Messiah and the King of Kings, seen with Mary His Mother. They offered what they had.

Fourthly, they were guided by divine intervention in a dream, and made their way home by a different, safer route.

This journey of faith, hope, and expectation of the Magi is our journey too and an example to each Christian.
The Magi remind us that we too make our way through life amidst uncertainty, unsure of what lies ahead in the future. They crossed the wilderness, and eventually through their own perseverance and with the right guidance, they found Christ, the goal of their quest and long searching.

We are often left uncertain and anxious of the road ahead, but like the Magi, our journey is marked out for us. The star was not there for them at all times to guide them continuously, but arose again when they were near their goal. They availed of the wisdom of the Jews. The Old Testament - and the New Testament Revelation - the Word of God - is at our disposal.

We know that Christ will guide us but He respects our free-will and expects us to make an effort by ourselves to persevere and not give up in prayer.

We encounter Christ in the sacraments – and adore Him, falling on our knees in the Eucharist. The more time and sacrifice (required of us) in our efforts to give honour, praise and adoration in the Eucharist, and the more we offer ourselves and our lives to Him and His will, the more freely He acts in us and guides us to where He wants us to go. His will becomes clearer to us in proportion to prayerful, persevering effort in prayer.

The Magi’s journey home was far more secure and certain after their encounter with Christ and His Mother. Jesus, with Mary also, can guarantee us safety and right direction as we continue the earthly pilgrimage to our heavenly home.

May we be truly wise and may Jesus and Mary be with us every step of the way in 2011.

January blues are not all bad news

Putting away all the toys and decorations can be a sad event. I remember growing up and the experience of the first day of school back in January of ‘what did you get for Christmas?’ and then the sobriety of the teacher entering the classroom with returned exam papers and grades, of maybe going home to the report card (and its ramifications) that had been sent in the post, to home where, when while we had all been at back at school, mother had in our absence taken down the tree and the decorations.

The January blues can be the long hangover after Christmas returning to banality and to the ordinariness of things, to the ‘cold water on the face’ in the morning, to realism, to sobriety and to facing up to realities and responsibility, to the 'bread and butter' and to the bits and pieces of ordinary life. To a sense of anti-climax as we get up in the morning to face traffic, to work, to returning back separated once more from family life and reunions. For many there is the spectre of yet another year of unfulfilled resolutions, or a lingering sense of sadness that Christmas was not all it is cracked up to be.
For others there is relief that this painfully sad time of Christmas past is over for another year as negative emotions and nostalgia of what was lost in childhood or the memories of departed dear ones came to the fore over the Christmas season.

The January sales are over and as for this lull in January and February all we can do is put up with it - but it can be a chance to reboot, to recharge and to take stock. It is an opportunity to re-evaluate the important things in life, to jettison, to recycle and yes, de-clutter, as well as to get around to all those lists of jobs and errands that have awaited us and that we have put off for too long.

There may be that self-help book on the shelf that we finally get around to reading and in which we find some pearls of wisdom. There may be that gym membership I have neglected, that diet to put into action, or the daily reading or study plan, or that housework or cupboard crying out to be looked at. It is a time to get started all over again. With the clean up there can be things once lost that are re-found. With the putting away of the tinsel there can be a new sense of orderliness and breathing space that frees the mind as well. It can be a fresh start, a time of interior renewal and hope for what lies ahead, to be proactive rather than reactive, a time to enjoy the presents we have received and to savour the time and thought that people went to on our behalf, a time to ‘want what we have’ rather than to ‘have what we want’, to express our gratitude to the Lord for blessings received as we review the year behind us.

Gratitude gives us joy and a positive healthy perspective and a desire to give in return. Thank God for a New Year when we can make amends, and where necessary learn from past mistakes, accept our limitations yet strive to be better Christians, become more generous to the poor and less self-centred, seek less self-gratification, reach out and try to better listeners, jettison what is not necessary, step up to our responsibilities in the family and the wider community and live in greater freedom and joy.

Let us also resolve to be generous in our time to personal prayer before the Lord Jesus. Nowhere is it true as in prayer that 'in giving that we receive' enlightenment, encouragement, wisdom and guidance, perspective and a renewed sense of joy in mission, purpose, meaning and vocation.

NEW YEAR'S Resolutions

THINK 'S.M.A.R.T.'

Get in SPIRITUAL SHAPE this New Year 2015

We see so many joggers, walkers and cyclists in this mild weather. They are a good example to us who may be too easily discouraged from the move from the couch to the asphalt. The fine weather prompts us to follow their lead, but what will happen when the rain comes and the days freeze? There will be fewer reminders as the fitness classes and programmes will be out of our sight in gyms and sports clubs. This is where the wise sports instructors of the world can help.

But January is also a time to catch up on reading and particularly spiritual reading and prayer

The SMART plan for fitness can also be APPLIED TO OUR SPIRITUAL LIVES ASWELL

Get started and set some goals. To help you to achieve the most benefits from your efforts, think about what you want to achieve and follow these simple steps to set yourself some exercise goals

 

S is for Specific

M is Measurable

A is Accountable

R is Realistic

T is Timely

 

What are my Spiritual goals????

Mass attendance

Stations of the Cross

Rosary

Divine Office

Spiritual Direction

Spiritual reading

Scripture reading plan

Holy Hour

I then I am smart according to this plan, I will be Simple and Specific, Measure it on a calendar through tick boxes or stickers, be Accountable to a friend, spiritual director or confessor, be Realistic in my expectations and stick to a Time frame.

Second Sunday of Christmas

Sunday 4 January 2015 

We can tell a lot from people’s faces and eyes, if they are blocked out or covered for legal reasons we really can’t get to identify them or recognise them we know if they are happy or sad, stressed, or tired. Equally we know if they are excited, happy or in love.

We know that what makes people seem to physically shine is their exposure to light – whether a foreign holiday in Lanzarote, or people I met recently home from Australia where it is over 40 degrees in Western Australia at this time of year. We know if they have got some sun through exposure – it shows on their face and their skin. After all they couldn’t have got it here!

But we also know if people are truly joyful people

I have encountered two saints in my life – Pope St John Paul II in Rome in 2002 and Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta on a visit to Blarney in the 1990s.

Both of them seemed to shine. Pope John Paul seemed to shimmer luminously – a fact that someone from Poland later confirmed to me when describing her meeting him.

Mother Teresa was being filmed in a documentary for the BBC in the 1970s in a home for the dying in Calcutta and the film crew pointed out to the presenter Malcolm Muggeridge that there was the room too dark to film in. he told them to keep filming and hope for the best. When the film was processed it was found that there was enough light after all and the interviewer concluded it could have come from only one source. This among other things led to his conversion to Catholicism.

Where did this light really come from? There is a law in science that all the earth’s energy can ultimately be traced back to the sun, and another law states that energy can neither be created or destroyed but changed from one form to another.

The source of all love must be Love itself – or God. Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa had one thing in common - their closeness to Christ in the Tabernacle – in the Blessed Sacrament – Mother Teresa would spend five hours a day in prayer and Pope John Paul II would lock the doors of his chapel and spend hours prostrate before Jesus in the Tabernacle.

In the Bible in the Old Testament the name for a place to meet God was a tent or tabernacle – the first reading says: I ministered before him in the holy tabernacle.

 

St Paul in the New Testament sates that this is our calling: namely…

 

Before the world was made, [God] chose us, chose us in Christ,

to be holy and spotless, and to live through love in his presence

 

And St John tells us

 

All that came to be had life in him

and that life was the light of men,

a light that shines in the dark,

The Word was made flesh,

he lived among us.

John 1:1-18

 

As we begin 2015 I make a special appeal if you do already do so commit yourself as a new Year’s resolution to an hour of Eucharistic adoration per week 'in his presence, ministering in the tabernacle, before the Word made flesh. We need new adorers. Ask any adorer of the benefits of time in reflection, silence and love. It is a habit worth forming. If we can spend endless hours channel hopping in front of a TV can we not spare just one of our 168 hours in the week in the company of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament?

See the difference – see the joy and peace He brings, see the light that he gives,  the more we turn to the light, the more the shadows disappear.

Feast of the Holy Family

Today is the Feast of the Holy  Family and in the light of the challenges that the family face in today's society there is also the legal challenge that lies ahead in a proposed referendum that would redefine the place of traditional marriage and the role of the family  in our society. For that reason we the clergy of Cobh have decided to read short extracts today from the Irish Bishops Conference that remind us all of the dignity and Sacredness of the family and marriage.

The Meaning of Marriage was published as a pastoral statement by the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference on 3 December

The bishops state : 

 Marriage is a unique relationship different from all others

Married love is a unique form of love between a woman and a man which has a special benefit for the good of society.

 Marriage is a total communion of life and of love with God of the married couple in their family life.  Women and men find companionship in that relationship, where they complement each other, not because they are the same, but because they are different.  Their marriage is not just for themselves or for the children they may have.  The family is the church in the home.

Any proposal which seeks to redefine the meaning and purpose of marriage is based on the assumption that the institution of marriage on which the family is founded, which has always been recognised as the natural, primary and fundamental unit group of Society, has nothing unique about it and on the assumption that marriage can be stripped of that social standing without obscuring its irreplaceable social role.

Often those who call for legal recognition of “same-sex marriage” see it as a matter of fairness, equality and civil rights.

 The Church holds that basic human rights must be afforded to all people.  This can and should be done without sacrificing the institution of marriage and family and the fundamental role that they play in society.

An essential characteristic of marriage is the biological fact that a woman and a man can join together in a union that is orientated to the generation of new life.

 Children have a natural right to a mother and a father, and this is the best environment for them where possible.

It is therefore deserving of special recognition and promotion by the State.  Children, as they grow and mature, deserve from society a clear understanding of the importance of marriage.

Without protection and support for the unique place of marriage in society, the State could, in effect, deprive children of the right to a mother and father.

 In seeking to reaffirm the unique value to children and society of the mutual and complementary roles of a mother and father, we ask that the principle of equality not be undermined by applying it inappropriately to two fundamentally different types of relationship.

  Marriage is a unique relationship different from all others.

*********************************************************

I encourage you to read the full text of the pastoral  which is available online  at www.catholicbishops.ie

 

Christmas Day 2014

Thank God Christmas has arrived and we can take a breather  for the next few moments to remind ourselves what the rushing around, and in Whose honour, it is all for.

The darkest day has just passed and little by little we might notice the ‘stretch in the evening’.

Thousands of years ago as you know our pagan Celtic ancestors constructed the amazing edifice that is Newgrange to herald the coming of the light of dawn on the darkest day as they faced East knowing that the light and the course of life came from the East. They were on to something as they turned to the sun.

When all was at its darkest they turned to the light of dawn, knowing that the dark would not have the last say in things.

Thousands of years later, can this be relevant?

In our interior darkest hour, what was it for us this year? A bereavement, a sickness , a problem with no obvious solution, a worry, a concern, loneliness, a sense of quiet desperation, helplessness, isolation, a seeming pointlessness in living drudgery, at wits end, crying out for help?

In my darkest hour God wishes to save me – in the person of His Son Jesus Christ (Jesus means ‘God saves’) and rescue me but we must recognise our need and want to be rescued.

Have I somehow grown out of the magic and sentiment that Christmas was for me growing up?

In my self-sufficiency and dependence have I gone astray from the fact that I am dependent for my very existence on God and have obligations and responsibilities arising from my membership of the human family and God’s family, the Church?

Everything in our society encourages independence and freedom and autonomy, through self-service, take away food, the internet – I rarely have to leave my office cubicle or flat if I work and live alone. And yet there has never been so much isolation.

In a manner analogous to Bethlehem, we must clear out the cold and empty cave of the heart and de-clutter and make room for Christ, even in the dark night, and let the light of Christ enter – we must empty our cluttered hearts and lives and simplify them to make room for the love of the Christ child.

THE GREATEST GIFT GOD MADE WAS GIVING US HIS PRESENCE AND WE LEARN THAT THAT IS WHAT LOVE IS – THE GIFT OF OUR PRESENCE TO OTHERS, especially the homeless and the needy – and it is in giving that we receive. In a word, the more we are conscious of being loved, which comes through prayer – the more we want to share that love. The more we place ourselves before the Real Presence of Christ, the more we live in the ‘present’ and become ‘real’ persons and ‘really present’ to the concerns of others as the present need arises. We see ourselves as we really are – warts and all, but also as loved, cherished and cared for and forgiven through the sacraments.

 The more we are conscious of Christ as our personal Saviour and recognise our ongoing continuous need for Him – yes even amid repeated falls - the more we realise what He wants each person to know how much he loves us and wishes us to save us from sin and ourselves, our shame, guilt and self-loathing, and He wants us – you and me to help spread the joy of love and forgiveness.

So let us return to the light from the East – the star over the crib. When we turn to the light, the shadows are cast behind us.

 

Fourth Sunday of Advent

I am sure we all have most of our presents bought and wrapped at this stage. Perhaps there is one present you have bought that is a complete surprise to someone and you can't wait to see their reaction and their delight at your creativity and thoughtfulness because it was something they may have had their eye on, something they longed for or wanted or would put to good use. As the gift giver you think of the surprise element and the joy of giving as well as receiving.

The measure of love is the extent of the care, consideration and thought that went into the purchase of the present, the monetary value of the present comes into it, it's suitability to the taste of the one receiving the present and the fact that they were prepared to spend 'that much' on you ! As well also as the care wrapping the present and they might ask when did you think of it? Some presents just present themselves, others take time and effort and imagination. And shopping around. Maybe even from as early January sales.

On the internet at the moment there is a lovely you tube clip of a woman in her home who is expecting to get a present of a wide screen TV and her husband has asked her to wear a blindfold as he makes sounds and words from the front door and hall like 'make room there' 'step back' and 'go easy.' What is actually happening and what she doesn't see is that their son is home from abroad for Christmas and she is finally told to take off the blindfold and she gets the surprise of her life. It is very emotional as she cries and embraces her son. It was a well kept secret and its revelation is recorded on a smart phone.

That a family might conspire to keep a secret like someone coming home for Christmas is a much more difficult secret to keep from someone. When it involves a person coming there is more energy and effort in keeping it closely guarded.

All of this points to how God operates with mankind. The greatest gift God gave was his very self in his only Son Jesus Christ. But the Jews to whom it was revealed were kept waiting for hundreds of years before their long awaited Messiah.

What has spoiled Christmas spirit is plenty the year long, there is something about reward and effort..if there is reward without effort then it is not a reward at all. How often have we heard the expression 'Sure children have everything now? In our day it wasn't like that! You had to do without and everyone was the same and there were no two ways about it.'

Advent the season of waiting reminds us that in His mysterious loving design that God kept mankind waiting. And that he came in the from of the most mysterious gift of a child.

Children do love surprises and the excitement of anticipation and having to wait. The suspense of waiting is part of the Christmas season.

Advent - these last few days - is an annual reminder that we are called to be people of hope and patience and expectancy , not only as we await the short few weeks of advent to celebrate Christmas , but that everything that happens happens in God's good time. and we also await to be reunited with our loved ones forever and God will come again to take us to be with Him.
God is our loving Father who knows what we need before we ask Him and who knows what is best for us.

There is a very clear link running through all the readings this Sunday and that is God’s promise to David that his lineage will produce an heir that will rule forever in the dim and distant future. This prophecy was 600 years in the fulfilment. All of Israel waited for a Messiah and yearned for the promised liberator and king to rule all nations from Israel. God was faithful to His promise to David beyond all imagining, that ‘I will be father to him and he a son to me’, and so in the fullness of time ‘God sent his Son born of a woman’ (Galatians). This is the great mystery hidden for the ages that St Paul speaks about in the epistle today.

This prophecy begins to be fulfilled in the ‘yes’ of Mary, who is aware of the prophecy, and that it is to be her son that will be the fulfilment of all the hopes, dreams and aspirations of a nation crying out for liberty. Mary is the mother of Israel’s liberation. The familiar beautiful scene which we now call the Annunciation is worth pondering. The angel goes into Mary’s house – there is a sense of heaven meeting earth – of a heavenly being ‘reduced’ as it were to the simple motion of physically walking into Mary’s home and extending a formal greeting like any visitor would. Gabriel’s news and invitation would change Mary’s life forever, and it was the pivotal point in our salvation. This scene is recalled millions of times each day in every Hail Mary, in the first Joyful Mystery, in every Angelus and in every recitation of the Creed, when ‘he was made man’ (incarnatus est).

Now we must place our minds and our lives in the mind, if we can, of the teenage girl Mary, who was being asked something so monumental it has changed the world. God was asking womb her to be the Mother of His Son – and it is mind-blowing for our tiny minds to imagine what God was actually proposing to Mary in this unique, unrepeatable event which we call the Incarnation.

Yet after the 600 year promise to Israel it would be another 9 months before Mary would set eyes on Him, and another 30 years before His voice would be heard by all the nation. God’s plan slowly unfolds.

Mary is the God-bearer, the bearer of the greatest gift of all time. She is carrying in her womb, God's gift of Himself.

As we ponder this scene so familiar to us, we must ask ourselves why this scene is presented to us as the last Sunday Gospel before the annual commemoration of the birth of Christ.
The words of the angel are meant for us too: ‘do not be afraid!’ ‘Listen’, ‘the Lord is with you’, and ‘nothing is impossible to God’.

•       God keeps His word, do I trust Him?
•       God keeps His promises, do I?
•       What am I afraid of?
•       What is so ‘impossible’ for me that is possible to God?
•       Does God want me to exercise patience because of His seeming slowness to act?
•       Do I believe God wants to intervene in my life, and do I let Him enter in?
•       What is God asking me to do as we prepare for his coming? What change(s) are required of me? What challenges, what new responsibilities lie ahead of me? Where is God leading me?

In these last few days of lists and rushing can I take time out to accept and be grateful that God had put me on His list of love, can I take time to thank him for the gift that He is to me!

Third Sunday of Advent

Who might you be?

Many people now trace their roots and programmes on TV are devoted to personalities discovering their roots. Often people define us, and who we are is partially influenced by background by other family members, a sister or brother, or parent. One religious sister commented after meeting my mother, ‘oh Father, your mother is beautiful; you don’t take after her at all.’ I wasn’t sure how to take that comment!

Some can often be defined or pigeon-holed by our mannerisms, accent or our way of speaking or appearance, or where we come from, who our connections are and who we might know from the same place. One lady recently remarked how do I look like my father did at my age but another lady said while she couldn’t see a resemblance I speak exactly as he did. People ask me who might you be, or who have I?

It gives people a kind of claim over us or reassures them, even though they don’t know us personally they make a judgment about us based on our relations, and give a common characteristic to people who share the same surname.

So we must know who we are and what our place in the order of things is – clarity in knowing what is justly expected of me and what is my duty, and not pretending – wasting energy of a mask  - to be someone and something I am not, because despite comparisons or expectations based on my background I have to be the unique person I am called to be, and not my brother or father or a strereotype.

John the Baptist gives people no such satisfaction – he will not be tied down by giving an easy answer to the six queries about his identity.

In contrast he says in so many words: you haven’t seen anything yet! Wait till you see who or what is coming! I am just getting you ready and will make way for him.

John knows his place. In fact the best three words I ever got as a priest which helps me in all sorts of sensitive and delicate situations is know your role. It helps me step up and it also helps me to step back when my job is done.

Who we are and what our place is in fact to place Jesus first and foremost in our lives, and give way to Him, and also to be defined by His coming into the world, like John. And like John, we must lead others and point the way to Jesus by our words and our example, our actions; that others may see by our conduct and our conversation that our Lord Jesus Christ makes all the difference and a total personal difference to our identity, to our calling, and the every meaning of every moment of our existence.

In that way we prepare a way for the Lord to enter others lives and hearts and make all the difference to them.