"As we delight in God being revealed to us, God delights when we are willing to reveal ourselves to one another"
Epiphanies of the Heart
January 6th, 2021
Happy New Year! This first Touchstone of our new year comes on the feast of Epiphany. Given that this is the feast of Christ to the nations, I wanted to take some time to explain a bit of our own mission to reveal who we are to one another in the world. In the coming year as we slowly walk out of this experience of the pandemic, I find myself so mindful of how much we hate to wear protective “Covid-masks.” I am even more mindful of the subtle protective masks that we have always worn and will probably continue to wear.
Have a wonderful Christmas. God bless. Be safe and be well.
~Fr. Pat
But it is our Epiphany journey to enter into the struggle to take off these masks with which we have lived most of our lives. To let our life speak loudly and our light shine before others is very much a core part of our Christian journey. Maybe our fatigue with having to wear physical masks can be a sacramental sign to us of the exhaustion that our deeper, and long-lived façades, have created for us.
God Bless and stay well,
God Bless and stay well,
Fr. Pat
.
In this same vein, as an accompanying song I went scavenging through my own archives to find a favorite piece that I used to sing fairly often. Not really a church composition, per se, it is a song by Stephen Schwartz about being open and prepared enough to recognize when something amazing comes along and being ready take a chance, make the change necessary and embrace the unimagined possibilities of a greater, joy-filled life.
I hope you are all continuing to be well and to actively and intentionally hunt the good moments and savor them when you can.
God Bless,
Fr. Pat
When Jesus heard that John had been arrested,
he withdrew to Galilee.
He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea,
in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali,
that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet
might be fulfilled:
he withdrew to Galilee.
He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea,
in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali,
that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet
might be fulfilled:
Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles,
the people who sit in darkness
have seen a great light,
on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death
light has arisen.
the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles,
the people who sit in darkness
have seen a great light,
on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death
light has arisen.
From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say,
"Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand."
"Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand."
He went around all of Galilee,
teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness among the people.
His fame spread to all of Syria,
and they brought to him all who were sick with various diseases
and racked with pain,
those who were possessed, lunatics, and paralytics,
and he cured them.
And great crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, and Judea,
and from beyond the Jordan followed him.
teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness among the people.
His fame spread to all of Syria,
and they brought to him all who were sick with various diseases
and racked with pain,
those who were possessed, lunatics, and paralytics,
and he cured them.
And great crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, and Judea,
and from beyond the Jordan followed him.
I have chosen, for this final Touchstone of the Christmas season, three more songs from the children’s choir project that I did so many years ago and have been sharing during this season. They are:
Oh Come On You Faithful, sung by the choir at Saint Rose of Lima, where I was pastor when this project took place. The choir was directed by Kerry Johnson.
What Child Is This was performed by the children’s choir of St. Louis from Louisville under the direction of Debbie Vogelsberg. The choir was accompanied on guitars played by Bill Kittle and Deacon John Neal.
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear is kind of an electric-pop arrangement sung by the choir from All Soul’s here in Denver, under the direction of Heidi Bryan.
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