… not a creature was stirring, not even Fr. Carlos!

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even Fr. Carlos!

Our teens and young adults had sung Christmas Carols to those in the Nursing Homes and sang to Sue Herman and Family!

Our Environment Committee had worked long hours to make our new Church look pretty for our First Christmas in our new Church!

Andy had come by on his tractor and cleaned the foot of snow from our Parking Lot!

Our office was closed, the phones stopped ringing with people inquiring “what time is midnight Mass?” (This year 9pm).

So in the blessed quiet of the moment, Fr. Carlos, Deacon Tom, Deacon Chuck and my very hard working staff and I want to wish you a Very Merry Christmas! Thanks for the sacrifices that you made to get us into our new Church! Have a happy, holy, blessed, and prosperous new year!

Merry Christmas to all! And to all a good night!

What a great early Christmas gift this trip was for me!

As you know I arrived back late last night from a pastoral visit to the Archdiocese of Kingston, Jamaica. Myself and a brother Priest were invited by the Archbishop of Kingston to look at the possibility of establishing a Sister Parish. I will certainly blog about this more in the future. I am very grateful to the Archbishop for his invitation, his own personal hospitality shown to us and to the great hospitality shown to us by the people whom we encountered.

I had the chance to spend an afternoon as well with the Missionaries of the Poor who do such great care with the poor and the most abandoned in Kingston. Wow, I would certainly encourage you to look them up on the web and to offer them your financial support and prayers. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, let me tell you a story about Donovan!

At one of the several places of care that I visited, I walked in and immediately began to say hello to each resident and ask how they were doing. I personally love that very human touch. As I was doing this I heard a voice say from across the room “Hi Father!” I turned and there was Donovan. Donovan is the young man seated in the wheelchair. He told me that several years ago he had met Pope John Paul II when he had visited Jamaica. So we both had a time to share our memories and love for this great Pope! What still strikes me is that Donovan radiated joy in the midst of such suffering and pain. He had that radiating joy that made you leave joyful!

As we get so close to Christmas I tend to meet so many Catholics and others who do not radiate joy! Sadly they radiate unhappiness, impatience, especially since they are not getting all that they want, when they want it.. Donovan to me is a great example for us, or radiating joy. You can really tell that Jesus is with him as he goes through each day. I would strongly encourage you to send a monetary gift to the Missionaries of the Poor to help them as they care for the poor.

What a great early Christmas gift this trip was for me! Fr. Brad

Saint Francis of Assisi was credited with beginning and encouraging the use of the Manger scene

We know that Saint Francis of Assisi was credited with beginning and encouraging the use of the Manger scene at Christmas time.

It is written –

“What he did on the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ near the little town called Greccio in the third year before his glorious death should be especially noted and recalled with reverent memory…Blessed Francis sent for this man…about fifteen days before the Birth of the Lord and he said to him If you want us to celebrate the present feast of our Lord at Greccio, go with haste and diligently prepare what I tell you. For I wish to do something that will recall the memory of the little Child who was born in Bethlehem and set before our bodily eyes in some way the inconveniences of his infant needs, how he lay upon the hay where he had been place…The Manger was prepared, the hay had been bought, the ox and the ass were led in. There simplicity was honored, poverty was exalted, humility was commended and Greccio was made as it were a new Bethlehem. The night was lighted up like the day, and it delighted men and beasts. The people came and were filled with new joy over the new mystery. The people came and were filled with new joy over the new mystery. The woods rang with the voices of the crowd and the rock made answer to their jubilation…. The solemnities of the Mass were celebrated over the manger and the priest experienced a new consolation…”

Merry Christmas!

May we have in our homes a Manger Scene. May we have, as the people of Greccio had experienced, experience abundant and resounding joy remembering the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ!

In Christ!

Fr. Brad

Growing in the Virtues of Patience and Humility

An Advent Reflection from St. Francis of Assisi – Second Sunday in Advent

Sometimes in the midst of this Advent Season we get so preoccupied with finding the right present for a particular person and unfortunately we tend to stress out as human beings. As we pull into a particular shopping mall our stress level comes up because someone took our parking spot that we were ready to pull into. Or we get impatient on the checkout line. Or someone took the last of the particular item that we were looking for. There doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day…

St. Francis teaches us two lessons:

“Where there is patience and humility, there is neither anger nor disturbance.“
Saint Francis of Assisi, the Admonitions XXVII: Virtue puts vice to flight.

So a great Advent Lesson is to be have both patience and humility.

So in this Holy Season of Advent and Preparation it can be so easy to have lots of cares and worries. St. Francis talks about setting aside cares and worries.

“In the holy love which is God, I beg all my brothers… after overcoming every impediment and putting aside every care and anxiety, to serve, love, honor and adore the Lord God with a clean heart and a pure mind in whatever way they are best able to do so, for that is what He wants above all else.”
(St. Francis of Assisi, the Earlier Rule XXII An Admonition to the Brothers, 80)

May the Peace of Christ be with you!

Fr. Brad