Cardinal Offers God’s Words About Jesus as Balm for Crisis

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Cardinal Dolan said in a social media video Jan. 10 that the people of the United States need to hear the message delivered on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord after protesters stormed the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6 killing five people.

After being baptized by St. John the Baptist, Jesus emerges from the Jordan River and God reminds everyone that they should listen to Jesus, his beloved Son.

“Maybe there’s too many voices out there, and maybe we need to listen to God the Father,” Cardinal Dolan said. “How can we go wrong, when he points to his son Jesus and says this is the only voice you need to listen to. This is my beloved Son, listen to him.”

“We’ve got a lot of voices in the country today, and a lot of them, I’m afraid, are less than helpful,” said the cardinal in closing his two-minute video in front of a tapestry of Jesus being baptized in the River Jordan.

 “A lot of them are know-it-alls who are screaming and yelling and telling us what we need to do, and I’m afraid they’re pouring kerosene on the fire of violence and fracture, ominous clouds we’ve got in our beloved country.

Cardinal Dolan had just returned from a retreat where he said he was secluded from the “tumultuous events” taking place in Washington, D.C.

“Our nation seemed in crisis,” Cardinal Dolan said. “There was violence and terror all over the place. It all seemed to be exacerbated by the fact that the man who should be a voice of reason and encouraging us to law and order and civility and unity, namely the president, seemed to be the one who was stoking these flames.

“So it’s been a tough week for our country, and I would submit to you that we need the message of this beautiful Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.”

Dan Pietrafesa