What about ourselves?  What are we called to find at the beginning of this year?  It would be good to find time for someone.  Time is a treasure that all of us possess, yet we guard it jealously, since we want to use it only for ourselves.  Let us ask for the grace to find time for God and for our neighbor – for those who are alone or suffering, for those who need someone to listen and show concern for them.  If we can find time to give, we will be amazed and filled with joy, like the shepherds.  May Our Lady, who brought God into the world of time, help us to be generous with our time.  Holy Mother of God, to you we consecrate this New Year.  You, who know how to cherish things in your heart, care for us, bless our time, and teach us to find time for God and for others.  With joy and confidence, we acclaim you: Holy Mother of God!  Amen. 
                                                       --- From the Homily of Pope Francis on 1.1.21

In today’s Gospel we hear God call Jesus his “beloved Son”.  We too are God’s beloved children, for we have accepted the way of the Gospel as our way of life or at least I hope we have.  In talking to a friend this week, Fr. Dick Rossman from Oregon, he said that while he’d like people to think of him as a patriotic American, he hopes people see him first of all as a committed Christian.  What about you?  What are the underlying values of your self-identity?    

When Jesus was baptized, the heavens were torn open and the Holy Spirit descended upon him.  When we were baptized, the heavens didn’t appear to have been torn open.  And yet, we also received the Holy Spirit.  Our baptized selves have the divine within us.  How do we connect with God’s Spirit within us?  I think the Holy Father pointed us in the right direction with his homily on New Year’s Day.  After living through a period of intense division, enhanced by a contentious presidential contest and made more urgent by a pandemic, how do we now use our time?  With the extra time that many of us have had in the isolation of this past year, some of us have had the time to eat and drink more, or mindlessly found ourselves channel and web surfing which probably in the end hasn’t led to very much lasting happiness.  So, perhaps Pope Francis is correct to suggest that if we can find the time to give ourselves to God and to others, we will find joy. 

The Francis Fraternity meets this Sunday after the 11am Mass and I find joy in its members.  Their mission is to help with the tasks of evangelization and formation in our faith community.  And in order to be effective in that mission, they have committed some time each day to connecting with God’s Holy Spirit through prayer, because you can’t give what you don’t have.  You can’t tell others how wonderful Jesus is, if you don’t know how wonderful Jesus is in your own life.  Anyone is welcome to join us.  Besides the time we give to our mission, this is the time we try to give to God:

Spiritual Accountability Plan

          Spiritual Accountability
1.         Sunday Eucharist
2.         Sacrament of Reconciliation – at least 2x annually
3.         One 15-minute daily spiritual exercise – e.g., devotion or rosary, etc.
4.         One 45-minute weekly spiritual exercise – prayer movement or a daily Mass or                                    Adoration, etc.
5.         Friday Sacrifice – traditionally abstinence from meat.  But it could be                                                       abstinence from  dessert or the screen or fasting from a  meal                                                        6.         Monthly Fraternity Meeting with Review of Life

Taking the Gospel Home:  How can I bear witness to others to the new life I have in Christ and the Holy Spirit.