We waited and waited for Christmas, and then before we knew it, here we are just a few days later and it’s the final day of the Christmas Season. Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. That means that it’s time for our Christmas decorations to be put away for another year.
This feast of the Baptism of the Lord makes us reflect on our own life of faith and where we are going. Life is always challenging. But as I like to say, life would be a lot more challenging without having faith. Jesus gives us the example of His own baptism in the Jordan so that we can see that we belong to Jesus through our Baptism. He is always helping us to live our lives better and to have faith no matter what life will bring.
Speaking about what life can bring, who would have guessed that our community would be hit by a tornado and other severe storms that would cause so much damage. It has now been eight months since the May 7th tornado. I know that everyone is hoping that Fr. Joseph and I will be living in the rectory soon. As we are reaching the end of the re-construction project for the rectory, we can see the final form of the inside of the house coming together.
As anyone who has gone through a major construction project like this, we all know that there can be delays or problems that come up at the last minute. That’s why I don’t want to promise a day that we will be moving back in as we also need the City Building Inspector to sign off on all the repairs and upgrades. In fact, Fr. Joseph might miss this upcoming move-in day entirely. He needs to leave the country to get his Visa renewed by the end of January. Fr. Joseph will be combining this with a little vacation and other things that he needs to do. He is planning to be back here at St. Catherine the last week of February. Therefore, he might not see the finished rectory and move in until he gets back from his trip. Keep your prayers coming so that there are no delays coming up for your priests to return home!