St John Vianney gives three works for gaining purity, with a preparation and a follow up.
Preparation: Penance and mortification
Three works: Practice the presence of God, daily mental prayer, and frequenting the sacraments.
Follow up: Spiritual reading.
Introduction to GK Chesterton and the book Orthodoxy.
The feast of the Baptism of the Lord gives us the opportunity to consider the sacrament of baptism and what is required for a valid baptism: the minister, the recipient, the water, the words, and the manner of baptizing.
One of the common objections to the existence of God is that, if there were a good God then he would not allow so much evil in the world. The Catholic response is that God only allows evil to bring good out of it. Indeed, the real question is not "why is there evil in the world?" but "why is there so much good?" - and the answer is, God.
Bishop Warfel visited the parish for the Saturday evening Mass and preached on Epiphany as our manifestation of Christ to the world. My own sermon followed his theme.
The three Magi offered gifts: Gold, to symbolize our life of virtue. Frankincense, to symbolize our practice of divine worship (and here we note that it is quite unthinkable in our own day that any serious Catholic would not attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days as well as at least some daily Masses, if his health permits and in those areas where daily and Sunday Masses are easily attended). Myrrh, to symbolize self denial.
Further, we manifest Christ to the world through the Catholic Family. Our Diocese will be having a synod on the family later this year.
This feast commemorates three realities. The Octave day of Christmas is a second celebration of the mystery of our Lord's Nativity. We come to this mystery in a new perspective, still considering the newborn King but now more in relation to his Virgin Mother.
Mary was a virgin before, during, and after giving birth to Jesus. She conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, gave birth without any pain or labor, and remains a virgin forever.
Finally, this eighth day is the day of our Lord's circumcision. This is the first shedding of his precious blood for our salvation. Also, on this day, the Child is given the Holy Name of Jesus.