We have just finished our Christmas season with the celebration of Epiphany. The greatest infant of all time, Jesus Christ, has been born and is in the loving arms of his parents, Mary and Joseph. Isaiah 42:1-3 prophetically anticipates the Christ child, signaling the Father’s favor: Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, upon whom I have put my spirit. The child in Mary’s arms is anointed by the Spirit of God and is not only fully human but also fully divine.  

Mary and Joseph are, as are all parents, full of love and joy for their bouncing baby boy. Soon they will take him to the temple to be baptized, and for all to see this special gift they have been given. They know he is a baby like no other, but they have yet to be confronted with his divinity. For now, they are content to hold him, love him, and raise him as they would any baby boy in their tiny village. We should take this lesson from the Holy Family seriously. Every baby born is a gift. Every baby born is a child of God – not divine, but made in his image, and therefore in the image of Jesus, who is both God and man. As parents to our own children, we must do all we can to raise them to love God and to seek to become all God wants them to be in the quest of eternal life with him in Heaven for eternity.  

So often, we comfort ourselves into thinking we have many years to teach them their faith. We have lots of time to get them baptized, seek their sacraments, enroll them in their faith formation classes. There, my friends, is the lesson Mary and Joseph give us. Time is precious. We do not know how much time we have with anyone. As Mary and Joseph did, it is our obligation to start our children on their path to Heaven as soon after they are born as possible, with their baptism. Then we move forward each day. We pray for them and with them. We love them and do as Proverbs 22:6 tells us, Train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is old, he will not depart from it. That training, for them and for us will, by God’s grace, bring us all into eternal life with him, and then, The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all the people shall see it together (Isaiah 40:5). We must be ready at any time! 

Dear God, Gift us with your guidance on our earthly pilgrimage, beginning with baptism, and throughout the rest of our lives, that it will lead us into your arms as we leave our earthly home! Amen.