Did my Christmas make any difference?

Homily

Baptism of the Lord

11 January 2026

St. Ann Catholic Church - Prairie Village

Did my Christmas make any difference?

What time is it anyway?  It's day 11 of the calendar new year, but as you see around you, the Church still thinks it's Christmas.  But is it?  Is it Christmas still or Ordinary Time?  If the former, how do I keep celebrating Christmas - I'm out of gifts and out of ideas.  If the latter, then is it time to get back to my normal life?

The answer is yes. The answer is both, which is often the case when dealing with questions of faith.  The Church blurs this second manifestation of Epiphany of Jesus - the proclamation of who He is by the father at His baptism, with the beginning of his public work, his first day on the job as it were.  The blurring is intentional.

Yes today is the official culmination of Christmas, and the beginning of ordinary time, but just as this Christmas was meant to be celebrated in a way that makes new things possible, so we return to our lives at the end of Christmas, just as the Magi did, by another way.   

The whole point of Christmas, and the Incarnation, is that Jesus wants to visit His world in ever more dramatic ways, where the world is most in darkness.  That includes your heart, your family, our Church and this world  There are these smallest and weakest points, where fear and doubt are most threatening, where the Lord has desired to come and make all things new.  Your Christmas depends on your reception of this visit, and whether you will remain in this grace of being loved and cherished at your weakest point.

Christmas culminates then with Jesus identifying with sinners, those who need visited by the Lord's mercy in that exact spot where we cannot change or save ourselves.  

There is a reason the Church baptizes infants, though they cannot be guilty of personal sin.  It's because they too need to be visited at that point of original sin that we all inherit, at that point where our destiny is sin and death, not holiness and life.  Baptism transforms us inwardly, making us first of all children of God and the His favorite dwelling places.  

Yet from our baptism on, the battle against sin rages.  Baptism gets us into the game, and gives us all the saving grace we need to respond with faith and courage to the gift and opportunity of our lives.  Yet the effects of sin are still all around us, and the temptation to cope with the pain of life with fear and doubt remain. 

There will be a time for extreme training in the desert during the holy season of Lent.  For now, it is time for us to begin testing if Christmas made any difference.  With the Lord of my baptism always ready to visit me and remain with me at my weakest point, will I move forward in my life by another way?  

Did this Christmas make any difference?