Merry Christmas! But let me go farther. The word “merry” is indeed a great one. It means cheerful, lively, exciting, a time full of merriment. But while Christmas should indeed be merry, isn’t Christmas much, much, much more than that? Truly, “Merry” does not do justice to the mystery of faith we celebrate. And so, I wish you a Joyous Christmas – full of the deep powerful joy, fulfillment and peace that comes from God. I wish you a Wonderful Christmas – in which that child-like sense of wonder and awe is awakened within us and we stand astonished before the amazing love of God. I wish you a Blessed Christmas – for indeed the Birth of Jesus blesses us in ways we could never have imagined.   

The wonder of Christmas is of such beauty and importance that in the Church’s liturgy it unfolds over a period of twelve days. Today, the Fifth Day of Christmas, is also the Feast of the Holy Family. 

Think for the moment of Jesus growing up, first in exile as immigrants in the strange land of Egypt where his parents fled to save him from Herod, and later in the home at Nazareth. Mary and Joseph changed his diapers, taught him to walk and talk, taught him the prayers precious to them as good Jews. As he grew, Jesus had chores to do. He played with the neighboring children and certainly must have fallen and skinned his knees and elbows like any precocious little boy. I can picture him coming home in tears with a scrape, and Mary cleansing the wound and kissing him to “make it better.” He was given enough education to be able to read the Scriptures in the synagogue. As he grew, he learned Joseph’s trade. As we see in the incident when he was lost in the Temple at age 12, his parents did not always understand him (as parents and children do not always understand each other today). His family was like our families! 

The family of Jesus had its stresses and strains, its economic challenges (which must have been particularly difficult dur ing their exile). It can be easy for us to romanticize the Holy Family, but that would miss the mark. As St. Paul reminds us, Jesus emptied himself and became like us in all things but sin (Philippians 2:7). He was not pretending. He chose to share our life to the full, not to put on an act or go through the motions. Family life is a great challenge in our age, but it has been so in every age. So, we look to Mary, Joseph and Jesus not to escape the challenges of family life, but to learn how to face those challenges with courage and wisdom and grace. We call them the “Holy” Family not because life was smooth, not because they had everything under control, not because they had all the answers, but because they faced all those challenges with trust in God. Joseph and Mary and Jesus knew that God loved them and walked with them. That is what lifted them up. That is what gave them hope. And that is what gives us hope! Just as surely, God loves each and every one of us! Just as surely, God walks with is!

Our families have various shapes and sizes. Our families need to cope with their misunderstandings and struggles. Cer tainly, our families have their imperfections. And this is also true of our parish family! But God walks with us even in the mess, even in the valleys of darkness.

Whether we are currently alone or living with family members, whether we have close ties or are alienated from family members, let us all pray we take to heart the wisdom of the Holy Family – the awareness that God’s love abides with us.

 Jesus, Mary and Joseph, pray for us! 

Blessings to you on this First Sunday of Advent and all through this marvelous season of hope and expectation! These three and a half weeks invite us to reflect deeply on the unfolding of God’s plan that ultimately led to the “advent” (the arrival, the coming) of Jesus. That is God’s plan for you and me, for our redemption, for our ultimate fulfillment.

Advent is like a symphony with multiple movements. We reflect upon and celebrate the past coming of Christ, born among us in Bethlehem so many centuries ago. We reflect not only on that mysterious, magnificent moment of Christ’s birth, but also on the centuries of preparation for the coming, culminating in Mary’s “fiat” (her “yes”) to the Angel Gabriel accepting her vocation to be the Mother of God. But Advent is not simply about the past; this season moves us as well to the future, the “advent” that lies ahead when Christ will return in glory with the fullness of salvation. That first coming inaugurated a new age directed toward this ultimate fulfillment of the second coming. The first “advent” only reaches its completion with this “advent to come.”

Yet while Advent symphony has us look both to the past and the future, it also moves us to recognize the sacredness of the present moment. “Now is the acceptable time, now is the age of salvation” as St. Paul tells us (2 Corinthians 6:2). “The Reign of God is at hand” as both John the Baptist (Matthew 3:1-3) and Jesus tell us (Mark 1:15; Matthew 4:17). And so, Advent is a time of wonder, of gratitude, and of anticipation. It is a sacred time in which we are called to “prepare the way of the Lord” (Isaiah 40:3; Matthew 3:3). Christ comes to us each and every day.

Traditionally, the weeks of Advent have a special focus. The first week of Advent emphasizes hope (the other three weeks emphasize peace, joy and love). This focus on hope is particularly relevant this year as we will enter a Holy Year with the theme Pilgrims of Hope. Below is a prayer for hope that is designed to be used in personal or family prayer throughout the first week of Advent as you light the first candle of your Avent wreaths:

    --Today we light the first candle of Advent, the candle of Hope [light candle]. We put our hope in the one to come, the promised one who comes from God to bring good news of salvation. We hope in the one who will lead us to walk in the light of the Lord. We hope he will not let us live in dark valleys, but on the high mountain of God. We light this candle in Hope. On this day, we remember to hopefully look for the coming of Christ. (from Liturgy Link)--

Advent also begins the Church’s new liturgical year. This year we will use the Cycle C readings of the Lectionary, and most of those readings will be taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke. Let me suggest that during this season of Advent, you make it a point to read the entire Gospel of Luke. You might aim to do a chapter a day, which will allow you to complete the twenty-four chapters during Advent. Luke’s is a gospel of hope and joy, a gospel that emphasizes the compassion of our God, and especially God’s tender loving care for the poor and lowly. Prayerful reflection on Luke’s Gospel will definitely nourish your spirits.

Jesus, the long-awaited Emmanuel, may we take advantage of these days of Advent and prepare your way in our hearts. Holy Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, may we live as you lived, with a heart open to God’s grace and a willing ness to put yourself at God’s service.

​Father Craig 

 
I am grateful to Father Enrique for his bulletin messages over the last two weeks during my absence.  Following up his message from last Sunday, we conclude our observance of National Vocations Awareness Week by welcoming to our parish a number of people from various religious institutes who will be speaking at our Masses.  Please join me in welcoming our speakers.   
 
God does indeed have a call for each and every one of us.  The first and foundational vocation, of course, is our baptis
mal vocation to be disciples of Jesus Christ and to share in his mission.  Every other vocation is rooted in this baptismal calling to friendship with our Lord.  When we are truly aware of our identity and dignity as children of God and sisters and brothers of Jesus, then we will be eager to accept the more individualized calls which God presents to each of us. My own calling to priesthood only makes sense upon that basis of my appreciation that Jesus is my Lord and Savior, that he loves me and sacrificed his life for me.   
 
I am so grateful that God called me to the vocation of being a priest.  This calling is a precious one that has been full of surprises and blessings as well as plenty of challenges.  I love being a priest, find great joy and satisfaction priestly ministry.  Just as with every other vocation, there are bad days as well as good, there are sorrows as well as joys.  But my 46 years as a priest have been so fulfilling.  As I mentioned to some of the school children speaking with them about vocations in this past week, serving as a priest has not simply been rewarding but truly fun.  Serving as a priest has also been inspirational as I have been privileged to journey with so many people on our pilgrimages of faith.  Please continue to pray for me and all priests, that we live our vocations faithfully, and please pray for an increase in the number of vocations to the priesthood.   
 
Whatever our specific vocations – and most of us here at OLPH have already discovered and are living those vocations – I hope that none of us ever lose sight of the reality that God has given us that calling as a means of our sanctification and fulfillment.  And God has not only called us to those vocations but walks with us as we live them out.  May we always pray for God’s help in living out our calling and finding genuine fulfillment in them. 
 
Last weekend we celebrated the great feasts of All Saint and All Souls.  We extend those celebrations throughout November which is a month dedicated to prayer for the faithful departed.  As is our custom here at OLPH, from All Saints Day until the feast of Christ the King, we post the names of the people whose funerals were celebrated in our parish over the last twelve months.  I invite you to walk up and down the aisles, peruse those names, and offer prayer that each and every one will pass through the purification of purgatory to the fullness of joy at the banquet of heavenly glory.  Some of those names will be familiar to you, others will be names you have never encountered.  Each is a brother or sister in Christ.  And as we pray for the deceased, we know well that someday we will face the moment of our own death.  Since we have that vocation of being disciples of Jesus, we need never fear death.  So let us pray for ourselves as well, that we will live well and be prepared for that inevitable moment when the Lord calls us to our final vocation – the perfect fulfillment of the beatific vision, of eternal union with Him.   
 
Jesus, thank you for your vocation as our Lord and Savior.  Holy Mary, who said “yes” to God’s call for your role in the plan of salvation, “pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.”   
 
Father Craig