January 11, 2026 The Baptism of the Lord (Fr. Eric Tellez with guest Eric Tamayo)

The last thirty days has been great for Catholicism, for Catholic theology. Everyone, whether they're Catholic or not, have been speaking the last thirty days about Catholic theology. Last Sunday night in Pittsburgh, the Steelers versus the Baltimore Ravens. And before the game, the media caught a picture of a priest just standing in. He was standing in for another priest there, father Maximilian Maxwell from the Arch Abbey in Leptrobe, Pennsylvania, sprinkling holy water in one of the end zones.

And as the Ravens are driving down, if they kick a 44 yard field goal, they win, go to the playoffs. If not, if they lose, then the Steelers go to the playoffs. He kicks the ball, and it goes right. He misses the kick. And the next day, the entire country is talking, what's in that holy water?

What happened? What's going on? So you're talking about Catholicism, about holy water, about a priest, about God being interested in human activity. Last month was the fiftieth anniversary of the first Hail Mary pass. Roger Staubach of the Dallas cowboys, against the Minnesota Vikings in a playoff game.

They had desperation pass there, and he throws the ball and catches it for a touchdown. The cowboys win, and they move on in the playoffs. Roger Staubach, a Catholic, is asked by a reporter, what were you thinking when you threw that ball? And he said, I wanted to throw it as far as I could, and I said a hail Mary. So much so that teams everywhere for fifty years, including at Sunny Slope, every team has a play called the hail Mary pass.

They know desperation. We need a miracle, whatever. They call on hail Mary. Catholic theology. Catholics talking about it.

People who aren't Catholic talking about it. The immaculate reception in Pittsburgh, 1972. Franco Harris catches the ball near the ground and runs all the way to end the game to beat the Raiders and move on in the playoffs there. It's called the immaculate reception, which is close to immaculate conception, which we say Mary, born without original sin, prepared to carry Jesus. So for thirty days, people who are Catholic and not have talked about our theology.

But what is being said is that God's fingerprints are on human activity, whether trivial or more serious. Being a Catholic and understanding what being a Catholic is about is taking our faith into the world. We just celebrated three weeks of Christmas, and god's plan and Christmas is to save the world, to renew creation. And yet people and some in religion have demonized society, have saying, we don't wanna go out there. Let's circle the wagons.

Let's just stay at our altars and inside our buildings, and just wait until we die so that we go to heaven because the rest of the world's going to hell. That's not Catholicism. That is not following Jesus. That is not Christianity. We are sent into the world to help God renew creation, for God loves the world.

John three sixteen, you also see in the end zone. God so loved the world that he sent his only son not to condemn the world, but to save it. And so the ministry of the feast day of Jesus being baptized begins the public ministry of Jesus. It is central to Catholicism. And that's why it makes sense that for the next two Sundays, myself and Eric Tamayo, our parish liturgist, are going to break open the mass, the liturgy, and talk about why the word mass in Latin means to be sent.

Unfortunately, sometimes we're taught or we fall into the belief that mass is about a personal experience solely. To think that mass is only what I do on Sunday, and if I choose to go, I'll get something out of it. If I'm not getting out of it, I'll come one day when I think I need it. It's not about carrying it out. It's about checking off the holy card, having a good experience, or saying I've been to 10 masses in a row.

God owes me. Those are not good ways to be. So today, we wanna break open two parts of the mass just for today. The first part, the liturgy of the word, of what we're into right now. And we'll break that open.

And next week, we'll talk about the second part of the mass, the liturgy of the Eucharist. So when mass begins, it begins as soon as you start your car. For many people who have stopwatches, I see you every Sunday. For you, mass doesn't begin until the priest walks down for procession, and then you put me on a timer. You know, like, that's not when mass begins.

It begins as soon as you start the car. The way you drive here, the way you enter into the parking lot, the way that you enter into the sacred place and greet each other, that's the mass. Because, again, it's about community. It's about bringing the Christ in us into other people. The second thing to remember, mass is meant to be full active conscious participation.

And what that means is you have a role by your baptism. You are called to participate. Unfortunately, you Catholics learn so well, especially you old ones, because you would go to mass and the priest would do his thing, and you just happened to be there. And we're trying to get where Vatican II in the nineteen sixties with the documents that talk about you have a role. You're important.

You're not just here just to obey the priest. You are here to know your baptism matters. And so full, active, conscious participation is important in our understanding of liturgy.

As father Eric mentioned, mass begins far before we even walk through those front doors. And if we really want to get the most out of liturgy, part of that means we have to prepare ourselves as well, preparing ourselves for the celebration of mass. But what does that mean? How do we prepare ourselves? Right?

Well, one of the things the church calls us to do and to prepare is by fasting. Right? One of the first ways we can prepare for mass is fasting. That means avoiding, food or drink, at least an hour before communion. Of course, water or medication is always acceptable.

But why do we fast? Right? The church calls us to fast because it's a reminder that what we are about to receive is something unique. Right? It's not just any ordinary food or drink, but we but this food and drink that we receive when we come to mass, this is what truly satisfies.

So taking that time to fast, to prepare ourselves for what we are about to receive, that when we come to mass, we receive the body and blood, the soul and divinity of Christ. And so taking that time before we go to mass, rather than walking in with a Starbucks cup or a snack, you know, part of it is we're missing something. So to prepare ourselves. Another great way way for us to prepare ourselves for mass is by not letting mass be the first time we hear the readings of the week. Right?

And I would say that's one of the I really do wanna challenge you. Before you come to mass next weekend, take some time with scriptures. Spend some time. Read through the readings. You know, we have so much going on in our lives that we know just hearing it once sometimes, it just goes in one ear and out the other.

Right? But, again, allowing us the time so when we come to mass, that we're able to really understand what God is trying to tell us. Right? And I always find it amazing that even though we might be hearing the same stories over and over in scriptures, that this is God speaking to us in a unique way. So depending on where we are in our life, God's message for us varies.

Right? And it really is God speaking to us in our lives. As father Eric mentioned, we all have a role to play and participate in the mass as well. And that starts by saying hello to one another. Right?

It starts by bringing Christ to the person right next to you. That's why here at Saint Patrick's, we often, invite you to to greet one another. And part of that is understanding that community is central to who we are as Catholics. Right? Coming to mass is not just a a me and Jesus moment, but there's something more to it.

Right? And even scripture tells us, says, if you do not love your neighbor whom you can see, how can you claim to love God who you cannot see? Right? As Catholics, community is central to who we are, and we are called to bring Christ to one another. And that means bringing Christ to the person sitting in the pew right next to me.

Right? Acknowledging the presence of Christ in the person next to me. This is why, again, we start by greeting one another. Then we gather in a chorus, we gather, and we start with a procession at the beginning of the mass. And why do we process?

Right? We process because it's a sign that we are a pilgrim people, that we carry the cross in the presence of God with us. And at this moment then, we turn and we open ourselves up to God, and we often mark ourselves in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit. Right? Again, invoking the names of the trinity.

This is the foundation of our faith. And it's as we turn, as we mark ourselves in the name of the father and son, the holy spirit, we turn ourselves and open ourselves to the transforming presence of God. Next, of course, we get to the penitential act. Right? It's at this moment when we're called to acknowledge our sinfulness.

At the same time, not only acknowledging our sinfulness, but we're also called to recognize the mercy and love of God. To know that, yes, we are sinners and we are in need of God. That we need God's healing presence and mercy in our life. And I would say even more so than acknowledging that we are sinners, it's acknowledging that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God. That whether this is the first time we're stepping through the doors coming to mass in years, or maybe we go to mass every day, no matter where we are in our life, no matter how far we feel from God, it's in this moment, in this penitential rite, when we are exposed and called to accept the mercy of God into our life.

Of course, in this moment, we are forgiven of our sins, and we give glory to God, we rejoice, and we do this by singing the Gloria. Right? The Gloria, of course, is an ancient Christian hymn. And the first words actually come directly from the gospel of Luke. It's the message of this the, angels to the shepherds.

Right? And this is we hear this on Christmas day. Right? Glory to God in the highest, and on peace people to good people to good of goodwill. Right?

Again, in this moment, we're recalling the incarnation, the moment that Christ entered into our world. And so we echo those same words as a community of faith, again, giving glory to God. Of course, during Advent and Lent, during Advent and Lent, we refrain from saying the Gloria as this is a time of preparation, a time of anticipation. But after the Gloria, we'll hear the colect or the opening prayer from the priest. And this is a chance for us to gather our prayers together, for us to then present our focus as we prepare to listen to the word of God.

For some people, they think Catholics really don't appreciate or know scripture enough. And yet our liturgical documents write that whenever there's a liturgical celebration of any kind, scriptures needs to be proclaimed. The purpose of scriptures is to be proclaimed to the assembly. The purpose of scriptures is to be proclaimed to the assembly, not just in your own private bibles or in a nice pretty book. It is meant to be proclaimed.

And so at every mass, the scriptures are proclaimed. Many years ago, the church got together and developed a cycle of readings that the Catholic church uses. Cycle a, which we currently are in, is mainly the gospel of Matthew. Next year, the gospel of Mark, and year c would be the gospel of Luke. All three gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are called synoptic gospels.

That means viewing with the same eye. John's gospel is mingled all throughout all three cycles. So father Eric doesn't get to pick the readings saying, boy, I think this community needs to hear more about this. So I'm going to pick readings to choose the things that I like preaching on or thinking what I need to use against you guys to wake you up. No.

It is all together. In fact, other denominations follow our cycle. Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, and others are proclaiming the same readings we are this weekend. And so the word of god begins when a person comes up from the community, and they will be the proclaimer of the word to a place called the ambo. The ambo is sacred.

It is just as important as the altar because here's what Catholics believe. I bet you wake up if you're falling asleep because you're gonna miss this. God is fully present in the ambo just as he is in the altar. That's not my opinion. That's the documents of the church.

So those of you who love Eucharist, which we all should, and you love and come here for communion, you have to know attention, reverence, and respect to the amble, and the word of god is central because god is just as fully present in the word. Our first reading usually comes most of the year from the Old Testament. The reason the Old Testament is important is Christians remember their history, they remember their ancestors, but Christ is hidden, that everything in the Old Testament points to the coming of Christ for us as Christians, and so we honor that reading. Now there is silence between each reading. Many of you sit there and go, I guess the lector forgot that they have the reading.

No. We do that on purpose because we don't wanna be a place where we just mumble right through the the the readings. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Thanks be to god. Okay.

The next reading. Blah blah blah blah blah. We want you to think and reflect. That is why there is silence in between each one of them. Now you just saw one of our parishioners come up from the music ministry to lead what is called the responsorial song.

That is hearing god's word and then using his words back by singing. The church encourages singing the responsorial song if possible. Some churches don't have that and can't do that, and that's fine just to simply proclaim it or read it. Now it is using God's word to say, God, we have heard you. And so the first reading and the gospel are usually connected, the same theme.

They cover the same thing. The Old Testament reading, and Eric will talk briefly about the gospel. And now we move to the second reading.

And similar to the first reading, our second reading is meant to bring light to the gospel message that we are going to hear that day. And, typically, usually, the from the second reading, we get to hear from one of the letters of Saint Paul or another apostolic writing. And, again, it's in this moment when we get to hear and really reflect on the ministry and life of Jesus Christ, his saving work, and ask the question, well, what does that mean for me in my life? After our second reading, of course, we we stand together and we all proclaim the gospel acclamation. Right?

Hallelujah. We give praise to God, and even that word, hallelujah, means to praise God. And so because of the unique presence of Christ in the proclamation of the gospel, it has long been a custom and a tradition in the church to stand in attention, to be attentive to what we are about to hear as we hear the word of God. We believe that Christ is present in his word. And since it is him himself who speaks to us when we hear the readings, we acknowledge his presence.

The gospel, of course, means the good news. It is the news that we are called to share with one another. The message, if it is good, we want to share that with one another. Right? It's not just a message for us to keep to ourselves, but it is message to be shared, to be spread with one another.

And I again, as I mentioned, the gospel often has a unique way of speaking to us. And I've once heard it compared to a diamond. Right? If you look at a diamond, you see, you hold it up to light. It may seem ordinary, but you begin to see it in a different perspective as you see and turn and twist and you see the light reflect in a different way.

Right? It shows us a different perspective. And the same thing is true with the gospels. Even though we might be hearing the same readings over and over, God is speaking to us. I can't tell you how many times I've I've read the parable of the prodigal son throughout my life, and in each point in my life, the message that God is telling me was a little bit different.

Right? Because it's God speaking to us. So again, I challenge you, before you come to mass next week, spend time with the readings, at least the gospel, at the very least. Read the gospel before you come to mass next weekend, and really ask that question, what is God trying to tell me? Right?

Don't let the mass be the first time you're hearing the readings.

Eric also would mention that we do the sign before we have the proclamation of the gospel. We all make the sign of the cross on our heads as a sign that we hear and that we understand the gospel, that the gospel is in our minds. We also make the sign of the cross on our lips so that the gospel may be proclaimed by our mouths. And we make the sign of the cross over our heart as the sign that we will live the gospel. The next part of the mass, probably the most important, is the homily.

Not a sermon. A sermon would be about a topic. The ideal of the homily is to break open the scriptures. Now there are times when maybe a sermon has to be done based on what's going on, and the priest or the deacon, whoever's preaching, would be making that decision and all. So what the role of the priest and for me is that I use the scriptures, the commentaries, what our church teaches, and and look at the times.

I have to look at the gospel and what it means. Many times, people look through the lens of politics or ideology or what they remember and how they want to see the world. And sometimes that can create some tension as well, and that's not all bad. I don't think homilies are meant that everyone is going to agree. That's why I discouraged anyone from clapping from any homily that anyone ever gives.

Because the gospel preach is not based on your affirmation. Because when you're the one that's clapping, the person next to you might be struggling with it. And it's okay to have your minds and your hearts disturbed. That's a good thing from the holy spirit. I've been doing this for forty years.

And when I was younger, I needed confidence. I needed people to come up and tell me I'm good. Today, I don't care. Whatever's fine. I don't I don't have time for that.

I'm old enough to say, I only got so much time left. And so in that, people used to come up and say, father, that's a nice homily. And I'd go, great. And then I would ask, what did I talk about? And they all said, it was nice.

So I've kind of learned. So if someone comes up and is not happy, that's a good thing, because what you don't want is apathy. What you don't want is deafness. What you don't want is someone that says, I don't really care what you said, and I'm not open to it. I'd rather have someone say, I'm disturbed by what you said, but tell me more.

Look, I am humble that you sit there and listen. That's a gift you give me. But the priest, me, I have to give that gift to you so that if there is a need for dialogue and understanding, I am always available to talk to people, and I've done that for many years. And you know what? I learned how to maybe say it better, or there might be a new insight, or I can gauge someone what they're struggling with.

And so it's okay to disagree. I'm not foolish to think all of you agree, and it's okay to struggle. You know, my favorite, person in the Old Testament is Jacob. You know that? Because Jacob would wrestle with god, w w e.

He'd be going at it. And so that's what we do with god's word. We have to wrestle with the truth. We have to try to struggle with that. And so don't do a drive by after mass and go, I hated your homily, blah blah blah blah blah, while I'm greeting people.

That's not respectful to me or to you. You're always free to call and say, I'd like to sit down with you with a cup of coffee, and I'd like to talk about because you have listened to me, and if I can't listen to you, I will never grow. I will never be a better preacher. You have taught me how to do that by conversations. So a homily is meant to challenge us.

And the gospel has everything to say about what's happened in the world. To say you are too political, that you are taking signs is misusing what the purpose of homily is. God has something to say about everything, and he doesn't take sides. He takes his way. Love one another.

After the homily, of course, we come to our profession of faith, also known as the creed. So either we hear the Nicene Creed or the Apostles Creed said at at mass. Here at Saint Patrick's, we proclaim the Apostles Creed. It's one of the earlier forms of the creed. It's also a little bit shorter of the forms as well.

But in this moment, we see that the creed is tied to our baptism. Right? Once we are baptized, we make a public profession of our faith. And so that is exactly what we do as we come to mass together. Right?

We confess, I believe. Right? And we do that as a community. And it's during this moment, during this profession of faith that we have the link between the liturgy of the Eucharist or the liturgy of the word and the liturgy of the Eucharist. Here we are called to reflect on the mysteries of our faith.

And in a nutshell, the creed is contains the core truths of what we believe as Catholics. Right? After the creed, we come to the prayers of the faithful or the general intercessions, and it's at this time when we offer our prayers for ourselves, but also for the needs of the world. During this time, we often have we hear a variety of petitions, usually petitions for the church, for our community, for our country, for those who have gone before us as well. But it's also during this time when we are called to bring our own prayers, the prayers that we hold silently within our hearts.

And sometimes we will have that announced, but every time we are called to bring our prayers. And this is part of our role from our very baptism. When we are baptized, did you know that you are baptized as a priest, a prophet, and a king? What and think about, what does a priest do? A priest offers sacrifice.

He offers prayers. And so we are called to do exactly the same as we share in that common baptism, our common priesthood. We are called to bring our prayers before God, to offer sacrifice and prayer. And so I encourage you, in this moment, to take the time and think, who in my life could benefit from prayer? Who in my life can benefit from experiencing the presence of God in their life?

Again, it's at this moment when we're called to participate as Catholics through our baptismal promise that we too bring our prayers before God. And after this, of course, we enter into the liturgy of the Eucharist. And next week, we'll break down the liturgy of the Eucharistic liturgy of the Eucharist a little bit more. But before we go, I wanna leave you with a few points to ponder, to think about before you go. The first, as we mentioned, is preparing yourself.

Right? Fasting before mass, Making that time of preparation for our bodies, for our our spirit to center ourselves before we are coming to mass to receive communion. Right? Second, of course, I would say be on time. Right?

Part of that is setting time apart for God, knowing that he deserves our time here, that we give him the attention that he deserves. So making that effort to be on time makes all the difference.

To participate and sing is very important. We can't be a church where we're a spectator because we are meant to to have ownership of our liturgy. A lot of times when we have weddings or funerals here filled with a lot of Catholics, sometimes they say nothing. And they're not encouraged to respond because they just sit there, and they just let other people do things. And so it's hard to have anything from mass or do participate without participating and singing.

Remember, the documents don't say that, but father Eric says this. It helps to move your lips. Okay? And so we encourage you to do that. Also, reverence the altar.

You know, some churches have the tabernacle near the altar. We have ours in the center. There's a document called Redemptoris Sacramentum. That was from 2004 that talks about the ideal place for the tabernacle is in a chapel, visible and therefore prayer, which is exactly what we have. Now for those churches that can't have a chapel for whatever reason, they need to find a sacred place in the sanctuary.

So many times people get here, I'm never coming back to Saint Patrick's because you don't have the tabernacle in the right place. Well, I'm gonna tell them, look up Redemptoris Sacramentum, or if you don't know it, just type in Sacramento Kings. I think that'll come up as well. But again, it tells you where the the the tabernacle should be. But again, reverence the altar is, maybe when you come here, how about bowing before you get in the pews?

Just a good way to know this is a place of action. This is a place where Christ will be made present.

And we've talked about this before as well, but simply to avoid leaving early. Right? Sometimes we have the the habit of receiving communion and then walking straight through the doors. Right? But really think about what we are receiving.

Right? Even that word Eucharist, Eucharistia, it means thanksgiving. So that is what we are called to do in this moment. Once we receive the body and blood of Christ, we take that time to return to our pew and to just take time to give thanks to God. And finally, it's about bringing Christ to others.

Right? As we are dismissed, as we are sent out, we are called to bring Christ to those into the world. Right? And that begins, as I mentioned, even when we come into church, acknowledging the presence of the Christ the presence of Christ in the person right next to us, as we are called to bring Christ to those around us. After mass, I encourage you to take a look at our table outside.

We have a resource table by the Touchdown Jesus outside, a number of liturgical resources you can find about breaking open, learning a little bit more about the liturgy of the word, about the readings, how to find the readings of the of the week, how to pray along as a community as well. So I encourage you after mass to check out our resource table after. And as I mentioned, next week, we'll take the time to break open the liturgy of the Eucharist. Thank you for your attention.