[By Fr. Jim Muscatella, Blessed Trinity and St. Patrick\u2019s Parishes]<\/p>\n
July\u2019s hot sun always brings me back to fishing with my own father, Jim. Even now, as \u201cFather Jim,\u201d I am still my father\u2019s son – and I know it best when Dad and I go out on the water. I still squint through the glare, watching in wonder as Dad deftly cuts, ties, and casts out his line.<\/p>\n
My dad has everything he needs\u2014the know-how, the gear, the desire, the peace \u2013 to enjoy even a \u201cbad day\u201d of fishing. While he has everything necessary already, Dad sometimes mysteriously takes along one extra thing which promises to complicate his otherwise trouble-free day: me.<\/p>\n
For my father, this is no foolishness \u2013 even if his son is still a fool on the water. For Dad, the boy he still needs to get out of the all-too-common tangle is something more than necessary<\/em>. Dad delights in<\/em> bringing his boy into the mix.<\/p>\n In the midst of the many tangible kindnesses he shows me, I continue to learn how to rely on him. Here, I realize again how much he still loves me \u2013 that, after all the years and habitual snags and hang-ups, I am still his boy. Every freshly tied lure he offers is a reminder that Dad called me out onto the water not because he needed me there, but because he wanted me there – to enjoy it all with him.<\/p>\n So it is with God. The Christian story tells us that God has never needed anything, but out of gratuitous goodness \u2013 from the sheer delight of sharing His life – called all things into being.<\/p>\n Turning our backs on God, Our Father, was to our loss, not His. He had been perfect without us before \u2013 He could be perfectly content without us again. We were never necessary for Him.<\/p>\n In Jesus Christ, we find out we are more than necessary<\/em> \u2013 the God who delighted to first create us, now delights in the chance to save us.<\/p>\n As an all-powerful God, He might save us any way He would like \u2013 without our knowing, without our say.<\/p>\n Jesus Christ, true God who took on the full human-ness of our flesh, shows us that He delights to save us in ways we can see, know, even feel<\/em> \u2013 to bring us, every part of us<\/em>, right into the mix of His story of our salvation. The Father sends Jesus as our brother to remind us we are still His children \u2013 and that He still wants to share His life with us. This is how a Father acts; we shouldn\u2019t be surprised.<\/p>\n At Christ\u2019s word, we accept the offer of sharing in God\u2019s life (this is what we call grace) <\/em>by meeting Him with everything we are \u2013 mind, soul, and body. <\/em> <\/p>\n In Matthew\u2019s Gospel, we hear Christ command, \u201cGo, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit\u201d (Matt 28:19). We hear those words, and so let ourselves be baptized (<\/em>literally immersed) <\/em>in water \u2013 not because God could not draw us near to Him in any other way, but because in this way<\/em> He wishes, in His wisdom, to meet us \u2013 body and soul. In the touch of that water, and by the words He entrusted to his friends to forever share \u2013 Jesus gives us a continual point of reference to be seen, heard, remembered, and cherished: it was then Christ met me in the waters; forevermore my life is meant to be immersed in His.<\/em><\/p>\n In every Catholic Church, the holy water font waits. We are meant to take ahold of those waters – and be reminded that the Lord once took ahold of us in them. We trace the sign of our salvation \u2013 the Holy Cross \u2013 across our hearts and faces, remembering that it is by Christ\u2019s gift that we can now see, hear, and receive the good things of the Lord. As we do this, most especially at every Holy Mass, we grow through these means to love and trust the One who delights to meet us in our need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [By Fr. Jim Muscatella, Blessed Trinity and St. Patrick\u2019s Parishes] July\u2019s hot sun always brings me back to fishing with my own father, Jim. Even…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":110225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\n