Pastor’s Letter: December 26 Bulletin

Pastor’s Letter: December 26 Bulletin

24 Dec 2021 | Posted by: chadmin

The December 26 bulletin is now available online.

Dear friend,

Merry Christmas! It’s always personal perspective, but I feel this year went so fast! This time of year always encourages the hope of salvation and the peace of the new born King. Of the many aspects to the Christmas celebration, the fact that God fulfills His promises is always at the forefront. From the moment of the fall of Adam and Eve, God promised to save humanity from sin and death. This theme develops through the Old Testament of the Bible and centers on the prophecy of the Messiah. The Season of Advent allows us the opportunity to reflect on all the prophecies about the coming of the Christ. As we prepare for Christmas, each Advent Mass includes the Scriptures that called the Jewish people to expect the Savior would come from Bethlehem. Christmas is the annual celebration that God fulfilled this promise to come Himself into the world to teach and bring Salvation. Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and even the star point us to the presence of the Christ. As we acknowledge the Birth of the Savior may we celebrate in hope that we all personally experience eternal salvation.

This weekend we celebrate the Nativity of the Lord and the Feast of the Holy Family in consecutive days. Sunday, December 26 the Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. The Church often calls the family the “domestic church” for it is in the family that one is educated. In our families we learn to give and receive love. The family unit of Mary, Joseph and Jesus invites us to grasp the potential of the family. So often we can dwell on what is not perfect, what has failed, how we have disappointed or hurt family instead of seeing the opportunity for growth. The Feast of the Holy Family is an invitation to see the possibilities for tomorrow. We celebrate Jesus, Mary and Joseph as living a perfect relationship ordered toward the good of the other. The model of Jesus, Mary and Joseph is meant to inspire us to seek ways to reconcile today what was imperfect yesterday. The process of conversion and growth is only successful if we focus on loving rightly in the present and not on the miscues of the past. As we begin a new year, we all have interior conversations we’ve held with the self or with God that need to be expressed to family, friends or neighbor. People often joke about “bucket list” items that they would like to accomplish before death. The Christian life invites us to see that the only true “bucket list” items are the things we need to communicate and forgive in our relationships. As we pray this weekend, let us ask the Lord to inspire family forgiveness.

As the school is on break for a few weeks, life tends to quiet down a bit on our campus. This time always gives me the opportunity to reflect on the excellence of our church and school staff.  Whether it is the patient and loving approach to parishioners visiting the office, the desire to communicate the truth of our faith through various media offerings or the outreach of the sacraments, the staff at our church truly seeks to serve our parish family. I think we can reasonably expect that the faculty and staff of a Catholic school would love our children, but they also make the effort to grow as teachers by implementing the best educational practices. I am in awe and truly thankful for the dedication, commitment and Christian love of the entire staff of our church and school. Whenever presented the opportunity, please express your sentiments as well. May we continue to build the kingdom together. Thank you for all the kind cards and Christmas gifts. I am so grateful to serve as priest at St. Philomena! Merry Christmas!

God bless,

Father David