Happy New Year

Jan 9

I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas and New Year celebrations. I did not have a letter last weekend because I was away for the week. I celebrated Christmas with my family at my sister’s house and then spent the week at my mom’s enjoying being with her and visiting with family and friends. I do enjoy the slower pace of that time between Christmas and New Year's Day, especially after the Christmas rush! I did, however, leave for vacation with a wonderful sense of the faith and joy of our parish community. I thought the Christmas celebrations this year were over the top. The spirit was alive in the church as so many gathered to celebrate the Birth of Christ. The music was extraordinary, the church decorations were magnificent, and our new outdoor Nativity added a powerful testimony of our faith to all who passed by. Thank you to everyone who made all of that happen! I think if you celebrated Christmas at St. Francis of Assisi Church this year, you would have had a very hard time denying that God was and is with us.

Liturgically speaking, the Christmas Season ends with today’s celebration of the Baptism of the Lord. For some, Christmas is over on the 26th. Not for us. It may seem odd to be singing Christmas carols more than two weeks after Christmas, but our Catholic sensibilities tell us that we know life is always a process. Conversion doesn’t happen overnight. Time is
necessary because it allows us to sit with something, to let it mature and develop, so we can truly plumb the richness and depth of our faith life and the mysteries of God.

The Christmas season used to be much longer. Before the liturgical changes following the Second Vatican Council, the Christmas season ended on February 2nd, the Feast of the
Presentation of the Lord. We still see some vestiges of this tradition. The Christmas tree and manger in St. Peter’s Square isn’t removed until after February 2nd. The Feast of the
Presentation of the Lord, also called, Candlemas day, is when, customarily, churches bless their yearly supply of candles, once again recalling Jesus as the Light to All Nations.

During the Christmas season, we celebrate three significant moments in Jesus’ life. With the Feast of the Holy Family, we recall the blessing and the importance of family. The family is our primary grounding and foundation. The roots of our
identity begin and are nurtured, or not, in our family. The
stability of the family is crucial in shaping our individual
values, beliefs, and behaviors. We honor Mary and Joseph as they worked hard to create the family for and with Jesus.

Last weekend we celebrated the Epiphany. The visit of the Three Wise Men reminds us that Christ is the Light to All
Nations, Jews and Gentiles alike. We also heard of Herod’s conniving to secure his own worldly power and we know of the drastic steps he took in an attempt to secure that power. The Epiphany always reminds us to remain focused on the star, the true light, that leads us to Jesus and the will of the Father.

In today’s celebration of The Baptism of the Lord, we hear of the voice of God the Father saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” This “approval” from God also fills Jesus with the Holy Spirit through the waters of Baptism, and commissions him to begin his mission to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is here. As it was with Jesus’ baptism, we too are called by our baptism to go out and proclaim the Kingdom of God through the lives we live in and for the world.

I pray this Christmas season was a true moment of grace for each of us as we come to a deeper appreciation of
Emmanuel, God with us. I also pray this blessing carries us through this new year. May we always know we are blessed because God is always with us.