On Thursday, Jan. 1, we celebrate Mary’s title “Mother of God” with a Holy Day of Obligation. Our vigil Mass on Dec. 31 will be at 4:00 p.m. Masses on Jan. 1 will be 9:00 and 11:00.
This weekend the Church celebrates the Holy Family. We look to the example of Joseph and Mary as they raised their child. May our families grow in holiness.
Thanks are due to all who worked on our Christmas liturgies: our musicians, our church decorators, our maintenance crew, our readers, servers, ushers, and extraordinary ministers. We were also blessed to have three deacons rotating through liturgies this Christmas.
A lot of other Christmas events point to the vitality of our parish. The school Christmas concert and Christmas play, the Knights of Columbus Christmas party, the Athletic Association Pancake Breakfast with Santa, the youth delivering “jingle baskets” in nursing facilities, school children sending cards to shut-ins, the St. Vincent de Paul Society and Walking with Moms group helping so many people in need, the extraordinary ministers taking Holy Communion to the homebound, and the enormous generosity of those who contributed to our Advent Giving Tree requests.
Finally, I point to an observation: the number of people in line for confessions has been growing in recent years. It is surely a sign that the Holy Spirit is working as we see more and more people coming to this beautiful sacrament. Here we let the Lord clean our hearts so that we can meet Him worthily.
