THE PROMISE OF CHRISTMAS

THE PROMISE OF CHRISTMAS

At the heart of the Christian faith, there is the Incarnation. It’s a startling event: the Son of God empties himself of divine privilege and takes on the poverty of human flesh. He becomes like us in all things but sin. In order to save us from the bondage of sin, Jesus becomes one of us and accepts the guilt of sin in our stead. His birth was a promise, a promise to redeem us from eternal darkness.

Before the birth of Christ, there was little or no hope for eternal life. In fact, for the vast majority of human beings, life was hard and brief. Suffering was the norm. The Christian message tapped into the world’s deep longing for a life that has meaning beyond the struggle for food and shelter.

We keep Christmas best when we ponder, as Mary did, the wonder of the Incarnation. Our prayers and presence at the Holy Mass are the first and most important Christmas activity. Next to that, our embrace of family and friends is important because they are gifts to us from God. We do not have to walk this life alone. Finally, the practice of charity at Christmas time has special meaning. Our savior was born very poor. We must not forget that. Each time we help the poor, we do so in the name of the Christ Child.

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

I am a big believer in making resolutions for the New Year. I need goals and challenges in my life. 2024 promises to be a big year for our parish. We will have a groundbreaking and will begin construction on our new Early Childhood Center. The Childhood Center will impact the entire parish in so many positive ways. My personal resolution is to turn from fund raising (necessary but time consuming) and concentrate on the care of souls. I hope to do a summer series of scripture study for the parish. I also want to use the summer to, once again, visit all of our homebound.

UPDATE ON AMEN SUNDAY!

We had a phenomenal response to Amen Sunday. The Holy Spirit moved through our parish and inspired great generosity. We even had a child in the parish who gave $25.

We are now only $118,000 away from our goal. (Praise God!!!) I am so grateful to the many who have pledged and given to this project. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.