1/4/2012 – Wednesday of second week of Christmas – John 1:35-42

“What are you looking for?”  This is the question that Jesus asks two men who are intrigued by him after they hear John the Baptist call him the Lamb of God.  So many of us are searching for something in our lives.  Many in our modern society feel so unfulfilled.  They try to fill this void in their lives with many, many things – drugs, alcohol, music, video games, entertainment, pleasure, work.  Many of these things are not bad in themselves if done in moderation, if we don’t make them our idols or our gods.  Yet, if we are looking for something in our life, our faith is where we will find it.

Yet, we won’t always get an answer to all the questions we have.  Many times we will have to walk by faith.  We will learn, we will grow, we will live out our faith.  This is a journey.  And the journey of faith in itself is important. 

We celebrate the saint Elizabeth Ann Seton today.  She was born in an Episcopalian in North America in the American colonies in the late 18^th century before the United States was even an independent country.  She became Catholic after the death of her husband while on a trip to Italy.  And her own father was a great example of someone who lived a life of charity toward others.  Elizabeth Ann Seton gives us a great example of faith today as the first American born Catholic to be beatified, as the founder of the first American religious community for women, the Sisters of Charity, as the founder of the first American parish-affiliated Catholic school, and the first American Catholic orphanage.  What are you looking for?  Elizabeth Ann Seton answered this question by the life of faith that she lived in service to God and in service to her brothers and sisters.  We have to answer this same question with our own lives of faith.