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A birth of a child is never accidental. In order for a child to be born, many generations of parents had to be in place. My pastor, Fr. Frank Uter, has a passion for tracking genealogy of his family. So far, Fr. Frank has found baptismal records dating back to 1500s in Germany on his father's side. Another way of seeing this family tree is that incredibly many people, events, and places were set in place in order for Fr. Frank to be ordained as a priest in Baton Rouge Diocese. If you think about it, it is mind boggling how God guided the lives of Fr. Frank's ancestors to bring His Son Jesus to the people of Baton Rouge the past 40 years through the hands of Fr. Frank. What kind of preparations God must have done to make this gift possible!
(Picture: Fr. Frank showing the birthplaces of his parents and the churches of their baptism--Ireland and Germany)
When we hear from today's gospel the genealogy of Jesus, we appreciate anew the great preparation that Heavenly Father took to bring to birth Blessed Mother. To us she is a humble and unknown teenager in an insignificant town who said 'yes' to seemingly impossible request from Archangel Gabriel. The long line of genealogy that goes back to the time of Abraham shows us the dignity of Blessed Mother's heritage. The other day I was hearing confession of a teenage girl, and she was so distraught because she felt she was so worthless, insignificant, and alone. I had to remind her what great preparation that God the Father took to bring her to birth. I reminded her that she had a great mission on this earth; she is to make God's love, flesh. That's what Blessed Mother did when she said 'yes' to Incarnation. The Love of God was made flesh! Today's feast day reminds us that we too need to bring Jesus to those we meet.
(Picture: Nativity of Blessed Virgin Mary)
