Many Gifts, Given for All

Dear Friends,

Many gifts, one Spirit. This is the theme of the reading from Paul for Sunday, January 19. In his second letter to the church at Corinth, he writes:

There are many kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit.
There are different forms of service but the same Lord.              2 Corinthians 12

The apostle is encouraging that early Christian community to recognize and affirm the gifts given to individuals for the sake of all. They need the reminder because, for this faith community, that’s difficult to do.

It is difficult for some 2025 communities as well. All the baptized are called to mission. Baptism calls us to live in Christ Jesus, to love God and the neighbor, using the gifts we are given. The Church is called to recognize and nourish believers’ gifts, and to foster whole-hearted living of the baptismal call.

A colleague of mine is a gifted preacher. She is prayerful, attuned to human experience and educated in scripture studies and theology. She offers insight into the Sunday readings in a way that helps the congregation go deeper. She encourages worshipers to holiness and service. She leads in response to the baptismal call.

Currently, she is unable to preach at Catholic Mass because this ministry is limited to ordained priests and deacons. Her calling to preach is not recognized by her own faith community. A woman of faith, she has found ways to fulfill her call. She has taught Scripture, trained new preachers at a Christian seminary, and preached at various Christian churches. Along with other lay Catholic women and men she publishes homilies on the Sunday readings. In her nineties, she continues to share this gift of preaching. She has found ways to fulfill her vocation outside the Eucharistic celebration.

This woman’s story is not unlike that of many lay Catholic women and men called to preach. Each one has received a gift given for the good of the community. Each must find a way to live the call. The Catholic community continues to gratefully receive the preaching gifts of the ordained. These men’s homilies do build us up for faith and service. How much more blessed and gifted would our community be if the ministry of preaching could be shared by the gifted non-ordained?

~ Susan Schantz, SSJ

Taking the Plunge

Dear Friends, 

During many Christmas visits over the last few weeks, I heard heartwarming stories of newborns being welcomed into their families. Take Elena Marie. Not only was she welcomed, but the family arranged her baptism when the whole family was together because they all wanted to witness and celebrate Elena Marie’s new place in the church and world. 

One proud grandparent relayed to me the anticipation the family had as they waited to hear her response to the touch of water being poured over her. If Elena Marie showed no fear, the family would say “Ah! Isn’t she strong and wonderful!” And if she cried out, they would say “What powerful lungs she has already!”

In a sense, Elena Marie’s cries are a truer response to baptism than smiles. At its core, baptism is a frightening event, not just for babies, but for adults for who baptism was originally intended.

The descent into the water is a symbol of dying. The person being baptized is dying to the past in order to become, to enter into something new. 

At his own baptism, different from Elena Maries’s, Jesus went down into the murky waters of the Jordan and submitted to a cleansing by John. Luke, and only Luke, tells us that Jesus was baptized in the midst of and after others. He is one of the crowd, part of our humanity. He takes his place with all who stand, wade, and plunge into the waters of ordinary life. Jesus is not apart from us.

You and I suffer in varying degrees because the currents of our minds pull us in one direction and our desires pull us in another. Sometimes we feel deluged by the waters of our mortality, by the threatening chaos of sin and death. But we are not alone. Jesus enters the cleansing waters, greets us in the floods of our lives and emerges with us on the other side.

At his baptism by John, Jesus leaves his former hidden way of life and emerges a new creation. As does Elena Marie. As you and I did when we were baptized. Jesus urges us to discover what is true about ourselves and face our truth with all its beauty, paradox and difficulty.

Luke also adds that Jesus, after his baptism, prayed. Through prayer, he opened his life to all the possibilities the Holy Spirit offered. Jesus held himself ready, then gave himself freely and completely when the time was right. If Elena Marie’s baptism as well as yours and mine are to be fruitful, we must take the plunge, and pray to be ready for the next moment.

With Jesus before us, beside us, behind us and within us, why should we be afraid to take the plunge?

~ Sister Joan Sobala

The Magi, Returning Home

Flyaway Books, 2018

And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way. Matthew 2:12


Dear Friends,

It is the feast of the epiphany. I’ve been reflecting on the Magi story and I have two questions:

• What happens to the Magi after Bethlehem?
• What happens to us after Bethlehem?

The Magi saw a star and they followed it. Their visit to Herod alerted him to Jesus’ birth. Herod’s violent response began with their visit. The Magi found the child and family they had travelled to see. They worshipped and gave gifts. A dream warned them to return home by another way, avoiding Herod and protecting their new hope.

We believers are also advent searchers for signs. We are drawn by the Christmas star, and we follow. Through each epiphany season of our lives, we retrace this journey to find the God of hope.

Like the Magi, we encounter evil, in individual persons, but also in destructive systems and ideologies. Even when our hope is threatened, God draws us forward to meet the glory shining on the face of Christ. We too can see clearly and follow a different road home. We are strengthened in faith and courage to face changes and challenges ahead.

There are so many threats to our hope this new year. The Magi’s story speaks to us:

• Do not travel alone.
• Be ready to travel far and long.
• Be awake and alert to the presence of evil.
• Be awake and alert for signs of hope.
• Find this new way home and foster and protect the gift of hope.

Hopeful New Year’s greetings,
Susan Schantz SSJ