Dear Parishioners:
With the celebration this weekend of the Baptism of the Lord, the Christmas Season comes to an end. We now begin the Season of Ordinary Time and we return to green vestments. This will be the last weekend to see all the beauty of Christmas in our Church as the decorations, trees, flowers and the crèche will all be taken down this week.
I hope your Christmas Season was joyful and faith-filled. Unfortunately for me I spent Christmas Week in bed with a severe flu. My Doctor quarantined me to my room in the rectory and I missed all the Christmas Masses at OLM and also spending Christmas Day with my family. It is the first time in my twenty-five years as a priest I have been unable to offer Mass on Christmas! I wish to thank both Fr. Barrow and Fr. Connors for their able assistance in assuring Christmas at OLM went on without a hitch during my sickness. They both deserve great gratitude for all the extra work they took on and also for their great support of their ailing pastor!
Christmas at OLM is the result of the hard work and dedication of many people. We thank Paul Anderson and our excellent OLM Maintenance Crew for all the preparation of setting up for Christmas. They always make sure that OLM is clean and beautiful and we are grateful. The Church during Christmas is always decorated so beautifully. I wish to thank Celia Franzone and her crew of decorators who do such a terrific job in making OLM the most beautiful of Churches at Christmas. Their hard work and dedication always enhances our worship of God at Holy Mass.
I wish to thank too Henri St. Louis and our OLM Choir for their great gift of song and music at Christmas. They add such joy and solemnity to our worship of the Christ Child! Also we thank Shirley Medici and the OLM Children’s Choir for their terrific job of singing at Christmas Mass. They are a great sign of joy and hope for us. We must also thank the many OLM Altar Servers who so dutifully and reverently serve Holy Mass at Christmas. They add great solemnity to our celebration of Christmas and we are grateful. Also we thank the many ushers who ensure the good order of Church during Masses and also provide a welcoming and helping hand to our many visitors during Christmas. We also acknowledge the great job by our Lectors in proclaiming God’s Sacred Word with reverence and joy and also the tremendous help of our Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion who always make the celebration of Christmas at OLM a grand occasion of faith, praise and worship. We thank them all for what they do for God and our parish!
We thank too Nancy Wray and the many sacristans who helped prepare for all the Masses at Christmas. They along with our good Sisters, Sister Lourdes and Sister Emma, provide so much help behind the scenes in ensuring all the vestments and sacred vessels are ready, clean and polished for our worship. We thank them for their dedication and hard work.
Along with Fr. Barrow and Fr. Connors, I thank the many parishioners who were so very generous in recognizing our priestly ministry this Christmas. We thank them for the many cards and well wishes, delicious baked goods and holiday foods, and the many generous personal gifts. Indeed we are truly grateful for the loving support and encouragement you provide us as priests!
We give thanks to Almighty God for the blessings bestowed upon us, our families and our parish family. They are signs to us of God’s great and generous love for us. Christmas truly is a time to celebrate God’s love as we rejoice in the greatest gift given to us, God’s only Son, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World, born on Christmas Day!
Christmas ends but as Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI reminds us: “The joy that flows from the celebration of Christmas finds its fulfillment today in the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. In the sacrament of Baptism is in fact manifested the living and active presence of the Holy Spirit who, enriching the Church with new children, vivifies her and makes her grow and we cannot help but rejoice over this.” Christmas is over but let us continue to rejoice with joyful faith in our loving God even during this Ordinary Time!
Be well. Do Good! God Bless.