We begin today Catholic Schools Week. This annual observance is a good opportunity for us to give thanks to God for the existence of our Catholic schools, especially here in our Archdiocese, which enabled so many of us to receive our grounding in the faith. We are also reminded of the many sacrifices parents and guardians make, many right here in our own parish, to send their children to Catholic school and, thus, to provide them with the best of a faith-based education.
As I have mentioned in the past, prayer is vital, but so is a personal invitation to these young people. There are surely young men and women in your life --- whether they are family members, friends, neighbors, or those you may see in church week after week --- who you believe would be excellent priests or religious. Why not --- in the name of God and his Church --- invite them personally to consider committing their lives in just such a vocation.
I am happy to report to you, as well, that we have achieved an important goal of mine: Blessed Trinity School is now complete ly financially independent from Saint Thnothy Parish and from the other parishes who send children to our school. Our school is pres ently in a very strong financial position, allowing us to discontinue the subsidy of the parish(es) to the school (you will recall the fact that, for many years, much of our parish's fmancial resources were used to keep Saint Timothy and, later, Blessed Trinity School sus tainable).
It is important that we realize the significance of today’s feast. We end the season of Christmas with the Lord’s baptism by John, an act which marks the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. With his baptism he officially begins the work he was sent by the Father to accomplish.
I would like to take this occasion to thank you all for your generosity in our Christmas collection. The sacrifices that were so evident in your contributions are appreciated by me, as your pastor, and are certainly not unnoticed by God. This is one of the most important collections of the year, and so I want you to be sure that your generosity is not only appreciated but very necessary for the upkeep of our parish.