The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
Dear Parishioners,
At the Mass of Christmas at dawn we read in the opening prayer:
“Grant, we pray that, almighty God,
that, as we are bathed in the new radiance
of your incarnate Word,
the light of faith, which illumines our minds,
may also shine through in our deeds.”
There was an old meditation on Christmas that I heard once that had some of the following sentiments. Once the last Christmas hymn is sung. When the last present is opened. After the luscious meal is eaten. Once the tree is taken down. Then the true work of Christmas begins.
Then, we must feed the hungry. We then must lift the broken hearted. It is time to heal the sick. After this we must start to bring about reconciliation on the earth. In other words, once we acknowledge our faith in the Incarnation we have to decide what we are going to do about it.
At Sacred Heart we try to have Christ shine through our deeds every day of the year, not just on the 25th of December. This is an ongoing task.
I would like to acknowledge all those in our parish community who reflect the light of Christ to others. Especially, I would like to thank the parish staff that works so hard to serve our community. This is truly an unselfish group. We often forget those who type the letters, teach our teachers, remove the snow, clean the bathrooms and do a myriad of tasks. Without them Sacred Heart could not function.
Fr. Matthew and I would like to thank our many volunteers next Sunday, January 5, with an open house at the rectory. We would like to celebrate with free food and drink. Come join us from 1 to 3 p.m. Come for a few minutes or stay the whole time. Who knows, maybe there will be three kings there to greet you since it is the Feast of the Epiphany.
May Christ shine through all of us in the new year.
Merry Christmas,
Fr. Mark
P.S. I would like to thank several groups for their generosity during the Advent-Christmas Season. First, I would like all those who planned and carried out the Advent Vesper Services. The choir, speakers and prayer leaders did a nice job. I would like to thank the social committee for their work on the cookie walk. Everyone seemed to have a good time. I would also like to thank all the liturgical ministers for their efforts as we celebrated all our Masses on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Kudos to all and to anyone I might have missed.