6th Sunday in Ordinary Time-- February 16th, 2025
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Each time I enter the church, the first thing I do is dip my fingers into the Holy Water to bless myself in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There are two  reasons I do this – 1) to remember that, through the waters of Baptism, I have been made a child of God and a member of the Church. 2) for protection against the evil one. #1 is the one I want to focus on. When I was baptized and made a child of God, I was washed clean. In that cleansing I was made a member of Holy People, the family of God. This very belonging to the family of God, is just that, a belonging. God Himself gathers His children together to participate in Divine Worship so that we may see the reality of what Baptism has done for us. For Baptism to have any meaning we must be a part of these Holy People. To see this dignity of being holy we are clothed with Christ in the white garment that we are given to wear. This white garment is our clothing for the Heavenly Banquet Feast. For this dignity to be preserved, and as a for-taste of the Heavenly Banquet Feast, we come together to give fitting worship to God. We allow His Word to form us, instruct us, and nourish us, so that our baptism may be brought to full maturity. We gather to pray with and for each other so that we can continue the journey as one family. As the children of God, our Father feeds us with the food that we need to be strong in Him so that we may arrive at the  Heavenly Banquet Feast. The Most Holy Eucharist is what makes us into what we are made to become in the waters of Baptism, the very person of Jesus Christ. It is through my participation in all of this that I am sent out into the world to be the very light of Christ. The very first gesture of blessing ourselves with the Holy Water as we enter the church for Holy Mass reminds us of all this. With this knowledge I enter into the body of the church to take my place among the Baptized. This part of the church is called the nave. It is here that the Baptized sit for the journey  towards God, towards Heaven. The church is also called the “bark of Peter,” (that is the boat of Peter), and the nave is the passenger section of this boat. Notice all the benches face in the direction we are headed, towards God. We are passengers on this journey. It is in this space that we manifest the presence of Christ as we form His body as the Church. Jesus taught, “where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in the midst of them.” Saint Paul teaches that “we are the Body of Christ.”
In Christ,
Fr. Steven Guitron 
Pastor