Catholic Community of Jeffersonville St. Augustine
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Catholic Community of Jeffersonville St. Augustine & Sacred Heart

Homily
by
Father Thomas E. Clegg

Baptism of the Lord C            St. Augustine-Sacred Heart               2010

Isaiah 42:1-7                           Acts 10:34-38            Luke3:15-16, 21-22

A tavern was being built in a small town that until recently had been dry.

   A group of Christians in one of the town’s churches opposed the tavern

      and began an around-the-clock prayer vigil asking God to prevent

          the tavern from opening.

A week before the tavern was to open, it was struck by lightning

   and burnt to the ground.

The tavern owner brought a lawsuit against the church,

   claiming they were responsible because of their prayer vigil.

The Christians hired a lawyer claiming they were not responsible.

   When the judge read the facts of the case he said,

       “No matter how I rule in this case, one thing is clear to me:

            The tavern owner believes in the power of prayer

                 and the Christians do not.”

And what about you? Do you believe in the power of prayer?

Because it seems to me that one thing is evident

  on this Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

And that one thing is this: Jesus’ baptism led him into prayer.

    “After all the people had been baptized,

         And Jesus also had been baptized and he was praying…”

Immediately following his baptism, Jesus began to pray.

  And we see it time and time again in the Gospels…

     When something big had occurred…Jesus prayed

       When something big was about to occur… Jesus prayed

          When Jesus was troubled and hurting… Jesus prayed

       When Jesus felt alone and frightened…Jesus prayed

In all of those instances we see Jesus turn to God the creator in prayer.

And so I ask again, do you believe in the power of prayer?

    But before you nod too quickly in affirmation,

        before you answer: “Oh yes, I believe in prayer…

              I believe in the power of prayer. I surely do!”

Before you answer that, let me ask you this:

    Is that belief really evident in your life?

Do you start your day in prayer? Do you end your day in prayer?

    Do you spend any significant portion of your time in prayer?

Pope John XXIII once said that for Christians,

  prayer should be like our breathing. He went on to say:

    “Just as breathing is the response of physical life to the presence of air,

             So should prayer be the response of our spiritual life

                     to the presence of God.”

This Feast of the Baptism of the Lord makes for us a connection

    between our baptism and our life of prayer.

If we want to live out our baptismal call as Christians,

   then we need to respond to the call of prayer…

And we need to teach our children and our grandchildren

   about the power of prayer.

Grandparents:

  If you have an prayer book that you have been using for years,

    show it to your grandchildren; let them see that prayer is important to you.

      Pray some of the prayers with them…

Copy a prayer and send it to them in the mail…

     let them know that you are praying for them.

       Let them see that prayer is important to you.

Parents:

    Pray with your children at home. Have a family time of prayer each day.

      If you’ve not done it before, I’m sure it will be difficult to do at first.

        There might be some snickers and giggles and that’s okay.

Your kids will look back on it when they are older

    and appreciate that you grounded them in prayer.

Typing that last paragraph reminded me of a story I heard a few years ago.

It was told by Richard Halverson, the chaplain of the United States Senate.

  He was attending a prayer breakfast that a local Church

      In his hometown was sponsoring.

One of the state’s Senators had been invited to give a speech

       after the breakfast.

Now during the breakfast

    the discussion of prayer in public schools came up

        and one of the gentleman asked the Senator

             if he could address it in his remarks.

                   And so the senator did.

 He begin his speech by asking the crowd,

  “How many of you believe that we should allow prayer in public school?”

Almost every hand went up. Then he asked,

      “And how many of you prayer with your children at home?”

Only a few hands went up…to which the Senator observed….

    “It is your job, not the public school system,

           to teach your children how to prayer.”

And to that I would add that the same is true for Catholic Schools

   where we can and do pray.

But it is still the job of every parent, the job of every grandparent

   to teach your children and grandchildren how to pray.

Prayer was certainly important to Jesus…

   Just after his baptism, he began his public ministry in prayer.

It makes sense to me that we ought to do the same!  

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