Christmas 2009

Dear Parishioners and Friends:

December is upon us once again, in the blink of an eye we went from shorts and shirts to heavy coats and scarves … short days and long nights. The shortest day of the year is just about here: December 21st. The darkness of December seems to match a dark time in our world with the constant talk of war, economic hardships, sickness, sadness and desperation. And yet, what a great light awaits us this Christmas season! It was by the light of the star that the Christ Child was found … it was the light of the glorious angels that brought the shepherds to his manger bed .. I recently saw a Christmas card

depicting angels shining lights on the fields below them, and was reminded of all the roles angels have played in our traditions, as deliverers of messages or protectors of those to whom they were sent. In every case, those who heard their messages became transformed ~ just by their proclamations which cast a new light, a new purpose, a new meaning in their lives. There are still angels among us … they are the people who quietly go about their daily lives, but somehow enrich the world around them by simply being themselves. Goodness shines from these everyday angels. Theirs is a light for the world that shines on in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it.

As we approach the most Wonderful Day of the Year, it is my hope that we each try to find our own little light ~ one so strong that we can share and dispel the darkness in someone else’s life. In the movie “The Bishop’s Wife,” there is a beautiful sermon that I would like to share with you here:

Once upon a midnight clear, there was a child's cry, a blazing star hung over a stable, and wise

men came with birthday gifts. We haven't forgotten that night down the centuries. We celebrate it

with stars hung on Christmas trees, with the sound of bells, and with gifts. But especially with gifts.

We buy them and wrap them and put them under the tree. You give me a book, I give you a tie. Aunt

Martha has always wanted an orange squeezer and Uncle Henry can do with a new pipe. For we

forget nobody, adult or child. All the stockings are filled, all that is, except one. And we have even

forgotten to hang it up. The stocking for the child born in a manger. It’s his birthday that we're

celebrating. Don't let us ever forget that. Let us ask ourselves what He would wish for most. And

then, let each put in his share, loving kindness, warm hearts, and a stretched out hand of tolerance.

All the shinning gifts that make peace on earth.

Nice words, wonderful ideals – compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness and love – a stocking for the Christ child filled with loving kindness, warm hearts, outstretched hands. Yet, are these just the ideals for sentimental movies? You can imagine, of course, that my answer is "no." These are ideals, yes, yet they are the very real promises of the hope and joy that come because we have done what Jesus wants most – to accept God’s enormous, life changing love that was given to us through that baby in a manger. That love can and does change our lives so that we become the human beings that God wants us to be.

And so, on behalf of myself, our entire staff, Fr Lou Mattina, Fr. Ed Struzik, Fr. Alex Carles, Fr. Frank Maione, the Consolata Missionaries, and the Religious Teachers Filippini, we wish you a healthy and most blessed Christmas, and a New Year of satisfaction and Peace!