​If I asked you which Pope spoke most of the devil, who would you say: John Paul II, Benedict XVI or Francis? ... It has been Pope Francis. It doesn’t surprise me though but what does surprise me is that nearly all Catholic people to whom I’ve mentioned it were surprised to learn that. How little we know about this prophet of our time whom God has given us.
My Dear Sisters and Brothers! Why I am not surprised that Pope Francis speaks about the devil so often? Because the Pope is permeated with God’s Word. If we read the Gospels truthfully we discover that Jesus met the devil in all sort of places. The beginning of the Lord’s mission was marked by the temptations in the desert. It wasn’t an imagination of a hungry person. It was the fight for the salvation of people which would take Jesus to Golgotha and to the Day of the Resurrection. However the Scriptures remind us that the devil is not a desert person. Staying away from the desert is not going to make us safe. Keeping close to Jesus will. That was the very first message of the new Pope in 2013. On the day after he was elected Pope Francis preached: “When we do not profess Jesus Christ, the saying of Léon Bloy comes to mind: ‘Anyone who does not pray to the Lord Jesus prays to the devil.’ When we do not profess Jesus Christ, we profess the worldliness of the devil, a demoniac worldliness.”
The next year he reminded the Church: ‘The devil also exists in the 21st century, and we need to learn from the Gospel how to battle against him.’ Today’s Gospel gives us such learning. It is Jesus who’s got authority. He has got authority to teach which as we could hear ‘made a deep impression’ on his listeners. He has got authority to cast out devils as we could also hear in the Gospel: ‘He gives orders even to unclean spirits and they obey him.’ Our advantage in the battle against the unclean spirits is in our faith in Jesus. That’s why we were repeating after the Psalmist: ‘If today you hear your voice, harden not your hearts.’ The Word of God, when it is welcomed with an open heart, is a powerful protection and exorcism. The heart which becomes hardened to the Lord becomes soft to the devil.
In another talk Pope Francis offered his insight on the technics of the devil: ‘his temptation begins gradually but it grows and always is growing. Secondly, it grows and infects another person; it spreads to another and seeks to be part of the community. And in the end, in order to calm the soul, it justifies itself. It grows, it spreads and it justifies itself.’ Today’s Gospel is an example for that. Where did Jesus meet the devil? In a synagogue, in a holy place. As I said before, the devil is not a desert person. He will find his way to infiltrate even holy places. The Bible calls him the unclean spirit, and he is unclean indeed, but he works in white gloves. That’s why he can hide his uncleanness.
Saint Padre Pio was often found beaten by the unclean spirit but he would explain that it was because the devil couldn’t hide his true intentions from him. However most of the time he will work like a gentleman wearing white gloves. What would eventually happen to that synagogue if Jesus didn’t come there? It would be totally infected. That’s why before the Holy Communion we will pray the way Jesus taught us and we will ask God: ‘Deliver us from evil.’ Then the priest will continue: ‘Deliver us, Lord, we pray from every evil.’ Deliver us Lord because you have authority.
Last week I learned that in our Oblate seminary in Poland half of the community returned a positive result for coronavirus. They discovered it by accident. They didn’t have drastic symptoms but the virus was already spreading through the community. This is how the devil will work in any Christian community. ‘It grows, it spreads and it justifies itself,’ using the words of Pope Francis.
I said at the beginning that it surprises me how little we know Pope Francis. I think that the reason is that relying on media etc., we get a filtered image and message of the Pope. What about the image of Jesus we have? Is it the image of the Holy Scriptures or the social medial?

​Scripture readings for this Sunday about the Prophet Jonah called by God for a mission to Nineveh and about Andrew, Peter, James and John called by Jesus to become fishers of men are not for spectators keen on realty shows, though these readings do capture reality. It is the reality of God who keeps coming into this world and calls people to follow him.
Our first reading shows us God coming to Jonah for a second time. After the first calling Jonah run away from God, or better to say he tried to run away from God, as he didn’t like the mission God was giving him. It was a good try but Jonah failed to run away from God. God found him like he did find Adam and Eve when they hid themselves after sinning. God knows that our happiness is in being close to him, which means doing his will and participating in the mission of salvation he is accomplishing.
When the Son of God Jesus Christ, came to save people he began his public ministry by calling some people to follow him. He didn’t take them to some remote and serene place but he led them right into the midst of human activity. He drew them into his mission. The greatest preparation those four men from today’s Gospel were given for their future endeavours, was being united with Jesus. It was because Jesus united himself with them. That’s why Jesus never gave up on them even when they tried to run away like Jonah did. We remember what happened with the disciples when Jesus was arrested. They run away and hid or better to say, they tried to run away and to hide. The Risen Lord found them and invited them again to his mission.
In our Catholic tradition there is a story about the aged St Peter, who after being advised by his fellow believers to save himself, was leaving Rome when Christians were persecuted there. On the way out of Rome he met Jesus carrying a cross and walking towards the city of Rome. When Peter asked Jesus: ‘Quo vadis Domine?’ which means ‘Where are you going Lord?’ he heard: ‘I am going to Rome to be crucified there again because you are leaving the city.’ Peter changed his plans. He went back to Rome and was crucified there upside down.
My Dear Fellow believers! As we witness Jesus calling the Apostles we are not spectators of some reality show. It is the Good News for us that the Lord Jesus will keep coming to us when we try to run away from him. He knows that our lasting happiness is doing God’s will and participating in the mission of salvation.
We don’t win people for Jesus but we are privileged to witness Jesus doing great things in others when we do our best to bear witness to him. The great stories we find in the Gospel happen in our days to. Today we read the story of Jesus calling his first followers so that we could be reassured that it does happen in our time too.
Tomorrow the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate will celebrate 205th anniversary of the foundation of their Congregation. It evokes the 25th of January in 1816 when a young priest Eugene de Mazenod and two other priests came to live as a community in the rundown Carmelite Convent in Aix in France. Why did they leave the comfort of their families and presbyteries to embrace the austere conditions of the ruined monastery? It was they believed that what Jesus did in the Gospel happened to them. They believed that Jesus called them to be his missionaries. Some years later when St Eugene was reminiscing that time he said: ‘I’ve never been happier then at that time.’ Should we be surprised? He was following the Lord of heaven and earth who loved him and gave his life for him.
The same Lord of heaven and earth has called us gathered here. He is not taking us out of this world but he is taking us into this world which still cries for salvation.

​When a nephew of mine was still very little I was on my holidays in my home parish. After a Mass I saw my sister and my mum talking to the little boy who looked agitated. My mum said to me: ‘You need to talk to your nephew. He is upset with you.’ When I asked why, he said: ‘You didn’t give me the lamb.’ First I got confused and asked him: “What are you talking about?’ He answered: “You showed the lamb to everybody saying: ‘Behold the Lamb of God’ and then you gave it to everyone but me.”
Sisters and Brothers! I must confess that after hearing that I felt like I had met my John the Baptist. This little boy who was too little to have his Holy Communion got it right whom I was holding in my hands at Mass: Jesus Christ the Lamb of God.
We say so often that we receive Holy Communion, the Body of Christ or the Eucharist but I would like to ask you: When was the last time when you said to yourself or to someone else: I am going to receive the Lamb of God, who takes my sins away, who takes away the sins of the world.
It is because of the salvation which Jesus won for us by his death and resurrection that we are not slaves of the evil one. St Paul wrote: ‘You have been bought and paid for’ with the body and blood, humanity and divinity of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who sacrificed himself for our sake.
A great English writer C. S. Lewis, after he was inspired by his dear Catholic friend J. R. R. Tolkien to embrace the Christianity again, wrote some books in which he showed the beauty and power of the Gospel. He did so because he was aware that lots of people stayed away from the Church. He wanted to reach out to them. That’s why the Chronicles of Narnia were written. In the first Book of the Series: ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ there is the story of the Great Lion called Aslan who is the figure of Christ. When one of the four children who got to Narnia, Edmund, betrayed his siblings to the Witch, who is the symbol of the evil, Edmund was to be handed over to the Witch for good. Then Aslan offered himself to replace Edmund. There is this most moving scene when Aslan, the Great Lion hands himself over to the Witch and her army. They torture him, humiliate him, they shave him and eventually kill him. When I saw it in the movie I couldn’t help thinking: This is not a lion this is a lamb. The scene in the movie was moving but what happens at every Mass is saving. We may return to sin many times but Jesus will match it by sacrificing himself. That’s why the words of St John the Baptist are repeated at every Mass so that we could take heart that despite slipping into sin so often the Lamb of God will not get disappointed with us nor discouraged at bringing his salvation into every day and every moment of our life.
My Fellow believers! We are so close to the great mysteries of God. We are even closer than the young prophet Samuel was as we could hear in our first reading. Samuel lived day and night in the Temple of God. However despite being in the Temple all the time it didn’t occur to him that God could speak to him. When he heard God’s voice he thought it was his teacher calling him. We too hear God speaking to us when Scriptures are proclaimed and when a homily is given. We even receive God under the species of bread and wine, our Lamb of God who takes away our sins. I ask you appreciate him. Love him. Pray to him every day so that you may recognise him on Sunday. ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those who are called to the Supper of the Lamb.’ You are the ones he wants to share his supper with.

​Last Wednesday I discovered that 670 grand appeared in our parish account. I got pretty excited as you can imagine. Later that day I got a phone call from our bank. It was a bank mistake. 670 grand disappeared from our bank account.
Sisters and Brothers! Though I can’t report that we became miraculously richer in earthly currency but as the Christmastide is being brought to its completion, on this Sunday of the Baptism of the Lord, with full confidence I can proclaim to you that we do have wealth which has been given to us purposely and which will not be taken away from us. St John the Apostle in our Second Reading wrote that ‘our faith – is the victory over the world.’ What we believe in is ‘that Jesus is the Son of God.’
This Sunday gives us the account of the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Jesus is not a baby any more. He is 30 years of age. However there is something which still belongs to the Christmas message. As we witness Jesus’ baptism we discover that he is the Son of God, ‘You are my Son’ says the voice from heaven. Jesus enters his public ministry not simply as a great preacher or a prophet but as the Only Begotten Son of God the Father. As we witness Jesus’ baptism we also discover his eternal ‘Holy Family.’ We cannot see Mary and Joseph at his Baptism but we see ‘the Holy Spirit, like a dove, descending on him.’ We also hear the voice of his Father coming from heaven: ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on you.’
The open heaven in today’s Gospel is like a window through which we can get a glimpse of the eternal Holy Family which as Christians we call the Blessed Trinity. What we can see through this window is how loving and united this eternal Holy Family is. The love which is given and received within the Blessed Trinity can make us shy; we may feel that we should look away because we are intruding this intimate relationship of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. However my dear fellow believers don’t be shy. Don’t look away. On the contrary fix your eyes on this Epiphany happening at Jesus’ Baptism. Shepherds had their Epiphany when the angles send them to the manger. God revealed himself to them. The Wise Men had their Epiphany when the star led them to Bethlehem. God revealed himself to them. John the Baptist had his Epiphany when he baptised Jesus. God revealed himself to him as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
On Christmas Day with the shepherds we went to the manger. There we discovered that God was also a human being. On the Epiphany Sunday with the Wise Men we went again to the manger. There we discovered that this God-Man in the manger is the precious and life-giving treasure not only for the Jewish people but for all of us who touched by his grace believe in him. On this Day of the Baptism of the Lord we stand by John the Baptist at the Jordan River and discover that the boy whom we adored in the manger is our way to the eternal Holy Family, the Blessed Trinity. The public ministry he begins in today’s Gospel will be continued in the Church until the end of time. This ministry is about evoking faith in women and men which leads to their baptism. When we were baptised we became sisters and brothers of the One who was baptised by John the Baptist. He didn’t need a baptism but he did it so our baptism could unite us with him. This is our wealth which is more life changing than any fortune which can end up in our bank account.
Let me end this homily by showing you an image of the Holy Trinity.
This is your Family. Do you believe that? So say it loudly: This is my Family.
This is where you belong to. Do you believe that? So say it loudly: I belong to this Family.
To what you have just said I tell you: AMEN.

​Recently I’ve come across some definitions of epiphany. They don’t come from a religious background. They are rather secular. The first one says that epiphany is: ‘a moment when you suddenly feel that you understand, or suddenly become conscious of, something that is very important to you.’ The other is this one: ‘an epiphany occurs where the words and music ‘speak to you,’ becoming something more than the sum of their parts’. These definitions are ‘secular’ and as such they attempt to handle something in human life which science cannot explain.
My Dear Sisters and Brothers! Today as Christians we also remember Epiphany but this one is with the capital E.
We should still remember what brought the shepherds to the manger. It was what the angels proclaimed to them. What brought the wise men to the manger? They didn’t see any angels but still they saw something. It was the star. Many people have tried to explain this phenomenon. The great conjunction of Saturn and Jupitar which occurred just before Christmas last year, when the two planets got so close to each other that in the sky they looked like one shining celestial body, was suggested to be the star which the Wise Men observed when Jesus was born. However the story of the Wise Men is not just about the star but it is about something mysterious which happened in their souls when they saw the star in the sky. Before they set their eyes on the Baby Jesus they had their Epiphany back home somewhere in the East, which brought together what they studied in the ancient traditions, what they discussed among themselves and what they eventually saw in the sky. Their Epiphany moment was like that about music I mentioned before: ‘an epiphany occurs where the words and music ‘speak to you,’ becoming something more than the sum of their parts’.
While they were still home, far away from Bethlehem, Jesus Christ by his divine grace enlightened them to recognise the unfolding of God’s mighty works. Before the Apostles and other missionaries were to go out to proclaim the Good News, and by God’s grace to bring people to faith in Jesus, the bright star did it for the Wise Men. The angels reached out to the shepherds who were Jews. The grace was given to the shepherds to search for Jesus. It was the shepherds’ Epiphany. The bright stars reached out to the Wise Men, the pagans, like us who aren’t from the People of Israel. The grace was given to the Wise Men to search for Jesus. It was the Wise Men’s Epiphany. In the Church we treasure this Epiphany so close to our hearts because it began bringing non-Jews to the family of believers. Thank God for that. Where would we be today if God had kept the Good News of Jesus only to the Jewish People?
A couple of weeks ago I read an interview with an actor who was asked why he left the Church. His answer was: ‘I think because I have never had the grace of believing.’ I respect and admire his frank confession. I am also convinced that it can explain something about our loved ones who don’t worship with us anymore. We may be very pious, religious and holy but still it doesn’t give us control over God’s grace. We need to humbly pray for it, for ourselves and for others. Grace of faith is not a gift we deserve or own but it is the gift we recognise as the one we need. When we do so it is also our Epiphany, our sacred moment when God reveals himself to us and gives us his grace to set out on the journey of faith. The Wise Men were on such a journey but as we could hear in the Gospel King Herod and his Royal Court were not impressed. The excitement and commitment of the Wise Men didn’t inspire them. Does it mean that the Wise Men were wrong because Herod and his people didn’t accept it? Herod and his people missed on the joy, peace and hope which faith gives.
I don’t expect you to remember those two definitions I told you at the beginning but I do hope and pray that as believers you may hold fast to the grace of faith you have because carrying in your soul the memory of your Epiphany, and living your life accordingly, can be the moment of Epiphany for other people like that actor. It means that his frank confession: ‘I have never had the grace of believing’ can eventually turn into a joyful confession: ‘I believe in One God…