You Are My Beloved Son: Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (Year C), January 12, 2025

"I love you and I'm proud of you." These are words any son or daughter loves to hear from their father. They are much the same words Jesus hears from his Father following his baptism in the Jordan River at the hands of John. They were important to Jesus not just because he needed some paternal validation, but because they let him know that his choice for just how he is going to save God's People has been the correct one. Jesus does not choose to take on the sons of Herod as a political revolutionary, nor be the greatest of rabbis on the steps of the Temple, but by going out to the desert to be with the poor, the humble, the sinners of Israel. 

Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador.