"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17). This verse is from the Gospel of Matthew, one of the three synoptic Gospels in the New Testament of the Bible, and is about the ...

Who is Jesus? On this celebration of Jesus’ baptism, the Gospel of Matthew provides a clear answer: Jesus is the Son of God. Matthew’s account of Jesus’ baptism includes details not found in the other ...

Shortly after our twins’ birth we moved half­way across the country for my husband, Andy, to begin his call as senior pastor to a church in Bloomington, Indiana. A few months after the move we had the ...

John the Baptist preached in the wilderness, telling people to repent their sins to be baptised as a sign of their repentance. They needed to prepare for a greater person coming after him. spent time ...

The baptismal text begins a pattern in Jesus’ ministry that I’m not sure is taken with enough seriousness: Jesus continually empowering the church for service rather than limiting that power to ...

Nothing less than pivotal is the baptism of Jesus. Matthew, our Gospel writer of Sunday, tells us nothing about Jesus after the notice that the Holy Family settled in Nazareth – nothing till this ...

The Baptism of the Lord closes the Christmas season. The next day begins the First Week of Ordinary Time, Lent following in five weeks on Feb. 17. The Christmas season is full of theophanies, i.e., ...

My dad grew up with two relatives who were eccentric, to say the least. One was an uncle who showed up periodically to sleep on the front porch — often deciding that clothing was an unnecessary ...

Editor's note: This homily was given Jan. 12. At the beginning of the liturgy, Dave introduced the three readings in a very effective way by pointing out to us how they call us to allow ourselves to ...