Pastor’s Letter & December 6 Bulletin

Pastor’s Letter & December 6 Bulletin

4 Dec 2020 | Posted by: chadmin

The December 6 bulletin is available online.

Dear friend,

Happy Advent! This time of waiting for the Lord inspires us to build our patience. It is very easy for us to get accustomed to receiving what we want in a timely manner, but it is not always the case with God. God knows that spiritual growth takes place in the human heart when we have to wait for deeper understanding. This weekend we hear the story of John the Baptist. John tells the 1^st century world that one mightier than he is coming.  “I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.” By these words, John was clearly working mighty works. John was attracting crowds. John was inspiring the people to ponder their own relationship to God. Ultimately John teaches us that all of our lives exist in reference to Christ. One of the great spiritual lines in the Bible comes from John. “He must increase, I must decrease.” In some ways this statement addressed the external aspect of John’s ministry and that Jesus was about to call Apostles and begin ministry. But at the heart of John’s ministry and this statement, is that Jesus must increase in each of our lives, while our own self-importance decreases. In spiritual language, this is the development of the virtue of humility.

Advent is one of those spiritual seasons that reminds us that God is God and I am not. Not only does this put us in our proper place, but also calls us to really ponder what it means when Christ increases in our lives. The whole of the Gospel message of Jesus is present within His personhood. As He increases in our thoughts, our words and actions then we focus less on what we once were and embrace His life within us. May we focus more on the Personhood of Jesus Christ and His desire to increase in our lives this Advent.

I’ve had a few questions about our celebration of Christmas at St. Philomena. The miracle of the Nativity is one of the great Solemnities on our Church calendar. With 1,400 registered families, we usually have large crowds at Christmas. With the coronavirus, we’ve limited our Mass attendance at each Mass. The use of the Eventbrite online scheduling software has allowed individual families to book a pew for weekend Masses. Our plan is to do the same for Christmas.  However, before we open the Eventbrite links to our public website, we are going to email registration links to each family who has used the registration process since June. This will allow those familiar with the process and those that have been attending Mass to get registered for Christmas, before we start working with those who might come for just Christmas.

I plan to offer six Masses. On Christmas Eve, Thursday December 24, we will have Mass at 2pm, 4pm and 6pm. On Friday, December 25, we will have Mass at 7:30am, 9am, and 11am. As usual, there is no 7:30pm Mass on Christmas Day. We will distribute Communion in the parking lot after Mass in the same manner, at each of the Masses except the 7:30am on Christmas Day. Our hope is to keep the Christmas liturgies as close to the protocols we have all become accustomed. Our plan is to email those who have previously registered for a Sunday Mass on Monday, December 7 with the links for the Christmas Masses. I ask that our regular Mass attenders register by Friday, December 11, at which time the Eventbrite links will be posted to our website and further communication will go to the parish community. Prayers for a blessed Advent.

God bless,

Father David