I am once again down at my sister, Maggie’s; and as you can see I am past midnight. Maggie and Marie have gone to bed and as I am not sleepy yet, I thought I would send out a message.
Today I had the 12:30pm Mass and as it was the Baptism of Jesus, I preached about our own baptisms and how it marked us as belonging to the children of God. I spoke about one of the hallmarks of the followers of Jesus must be “do no evil”. Then I spoke about the massacre in Arizona. I just feel terrible about those events. For the last few months, I have been upset by the tone of much of the political rhetoric and how harsh it is. Even at the school Mass the other day, we asked the students to do one act of kindness each day and how much that would affect the life of the school community. We Catholics are always looking for something to identify us. It use to be “no meat on Friday”…etc. Maybe one of our identifying marks might be – that like Jesus – everyone who meets us will encounter a loving person. My prayer for you and for me.
After Mass, I drove out to Bowie and met with two friends, Carol and Henry Miller. They had organized the tour of Ireland that I was suppose to go on in September but was still recovering from pneumonia. We caught up and had a really long talk.
Then I went to visit “On Our Own”, a center for adults with handicaps in Prince Frederick, where I joined my sisters, my niece and her fiance, Tim, and my “adopted” sister, Jo-Ann Adams, who directs the center. We had a great visit and ended up at Maggie’s for cards. I’ll spend the night and then be back at the parish for the 11:00am Mass.
I am always a little sad on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord … means the Christmas lights, which I LOVE, will be coming down. Last night I joined the Bishop Zurek, 2 sisters and 2 priests for dinner prepared by the bishop. He is a gourmet cook! He kept his house in Christmas mode so we could enjoy! Great evening and fitting end to the season.