Today in the Holy Mother Church we celebrate with great joy, the Baptism of the Lord. This signifies the liturgical end of the Christmas season. Though we just celebrated His birth a few short weeks ago, He is now showing us the importance of the sacrament of Baptism,  how vital it is to be born anew in the spirit, or rather, born from above. And even though Jesus had no need for baptism, as He was unmarred by the stain of original sin, He submitted humbly to Saint John the Baptist, to show us, by example, the importance this sacrament has in the life of the faithful. With the waters of Baptism , original sin is washed from our souls. It frees us from the eternal fires of hell.(Praise the Lord)

In our family we have several birthdays that we celebrate in these less chaotic days following Christmas. At times in our excitement and in the  planning of these celebrations, we forget to take the time to thank God for each of these special ones and for all the moments we get to spend with them. We rush around, especially when our children our young, trying to fill the day with activities and parties…celebrations of all sorts, to let them know how special they are to us. Even as adults we tend to busy the day with dinners, and gifts and earthly pleasures….which are fine and good; but lacking spiritually. In all things we should  remember the Lord. How easy it is to find the times of a nearby Mass and go give thanks and praise to the Lord for the loved one you celebrate. Remember: in all things celebrate God first .

So…today we will be attending Mass to celebrate the Baptism of the Lord, and also to pray  (and light a candle or two!) for those loved ones who are celebrating their birthday today and in the coming week, and we will also celebrate God, by giving Thanks to Him for all things….First.