January 1st.

Dear Friends,
What a wonderful Christmas we had last weekend! It is always a joy to be together in a full church to celebrate the birth of Christ. And while Easter is real focal point of our liturgical year, there is nothing more festive than a church decorated for Christmas. I am so grateful to those who put in so much of their time to adorn our beautiful spaces with the flowers and garland and wreathes and manger scenes of this Season: Kim Media, Dee Ann Setina and their team for Nativity and Joe Hermle and his team (family) for St. Gabriel.
Music makes Christmas, that’s for sure. And are blessed with such wonderful musicians in Carl DeSanti and Kenned McIver, whose voices and instrumental skills fill our space with beautiful, uplifting sound. Our dedicated choir members “pull out all the stops,” giving their all to our community by rehearsing so faithfully on Sunday afternoons and singing so gloriously at Mass. Let me also take this opportunity to thank our 8am cantors, Greg Krajewski and Josh Ludtke.
Beginning our New Year on a Sunday this year, we conclude the octave of Christmas with the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. The church celebrates “octaves” (8 days) of festivity for its most important feasts. The number “8” has theological significance for us, related to the Creation Story. In the book of Genesis, God is portrayed as creating the universe in 6 days, and then resting on the 7th- the origins of our “week.” That final day is intended as a day of rest- a rest enshrined in the Third Commandment and maintained to this day by observant Jews, for whom the sabbath begins with sundown on Friday. For Christians, Sunday is considered both the 1st day and the 8th day, as Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday, and so this “8th day” marks the event of the new creation that occurred through this saving work of the Lord. Therefore, the mandate to rest and worship (“keep holy”) is moved from Saturday to Sunday for us (our Saturday vigil Mass is in line with the Jewish understanding of the sabbath’s beginning at sundown the day before).
The “twelve days of Christmas” officially conclude on January 6th, with the feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord, though the liturgical celebration of Epiphany gets bumped to a Sunday in our country so that more people are present for it.
As we inaugurate 2023, may God bless our parish with renewal and growth, as we pour energy into evangelical outreach and conversion with the hope that more in our community will deepen their relationship with the Lord and His Church. And may God bless our families with health, our nation with peace, and our world with growth in the Christian faith.
May your week reflect the encounter with Christ
we experienced at Mass today!