Pastor's Note: December 22, 2024

Dear Friends,

Merry Christmas to you and your family!  Father Ken, Mr. Ben, Deacons Tom and Joe extend Christmas Peace, Joy and Hope to you and your family.  

Remember our Mass times for the Holy Day:

Christmas Eve: 4, 6 and 10pm

Christmas Day: 8 & 10am

And then start planning ahead for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, a Holy Day of Obligation on Wednesday, January 1. Mass times: 6:45am, 8am and 5:30pm.

These days around Christmas and New Years are a great chance to slow down and re-center ourselves. The New Year brings an opportunity for what is probably now considered cliché but I’m gonna bring it up regardless: New Year’s Resolutions. Here’s a few I’ve made over the years: lose weight, eat better, spend less, pray more, blah blah blah.  Most of these resolutions, and you’ve probably had a similar experience, fall off by the 21st of January. These plans to better ourselves are in fact good and we approach them with good intentions, no doubt. But, may I offer a place for prayer in this regard?  In addition to making resolutions that are good for you, make resolutions that are Holy for you.

Here’s what I mean:

God wants more and best for us even more than we do. The Father wants nothing more than for us to be, in the words of St. Irenaeus, “fully alive”. (St. Irenaeus said, “The Glory of God is the human person fully alive.”) To be alive in God is to be Alive in Christ Jesus. In fact, St. Paul says in one letter, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me”(Gal 2:20). Now that, my friends, is being fully alive! 

So, here’s the place for prayer: 

As I start to make resolutions for the new year, what and who do I need to fully alive in Christ? What needs to be added and what needs to be jettisoned? Are my resolutions good for me and good for my relationship with God and with the people in my life? If I’m resolved to lose some weight, stop drinking so much, spend less money, am I doing that so I can become better and holier? That’s what it means to be fully alive and fully alive in Christ!

So, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Enjoy these holy holidays!