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From the Pastor
From the Pastor
Pastor's Corner
Pastor's Corner
December 14, 2025
December 14, 2025
As we move closer and closer to Christmas, the mood of our liturgical celebrations begins to shift as well. For the first three weeks of Advent, we hear about the eventual coming of Christ – really, His coming in glory at the end of time. The focus is clearly on our need to be prepared to greet the Lord when he comesagain.
On December 17, the liturgies begin to deal more directly with the birth of our Savior at Christmas, as we ourselves are reminded that Christ did come into the world. His coming ushered in a new beginning – a moment of light in a world darkened by sin, and that is what we celebrate during the Christmas season.
However, in order to celebrate anything, be it Christmas, a birthday, a wedding, or anything we celebrate, there needs to be some preparation. Yes, we prepare an awful lot for Christmas: baking and cooking and shopping and decorating and all kinds of rushing around. But what kind of preparation do we do spiritually?
All of us are warmed and excited by the Christmas Story. The star appears, wise men seek the child, shepherds keep watch in the night, and the animals keep the babe warm. We all can see ourselves seeking thelight and searching out the child, kneeling in adoration at the manger. However, throughout the year, we forget that this is who we are called to be: people who seek the Light, who bow in adoration to the Son of God.
Our Advent Service of Word and Song this year was entitled Welcome the Light. It reminded us of all the times throughout the history of salvation in which God provided Light to lead us out of the darkness of sin, to do His will, and to bring about His kingdom. This is especially true with the birth of Jesus Christ.
The celebration of Advent and even Christmas is a wakeup call for those who believe. God calls us to follow the light and to repent of the times that we have chosen, and maybe still choose, the darkness. Remember the call of John the Baptist: repent! That’s exactly what Reconciliation allows us to do: to repent of our sin and to choose to be better disciples of Jesus Christ, the light of the world
We have several opportunities this week to do this. There will be several priests available for confessions on Monday at 5:30 PM at St. Anthony’s Church and again on Tuesday at 5:30 PM at St. Eulalia’s Church.
Later in the week, we come to the last Friday of Advent, and as you know, during Advent our parishes have had a Friday Holy Hour to help prepare for Christmas. It includes time for adoration and also an opportunity for reconciliation (confession).
Take the opportunities offered this week to celebrate God’s forgiveness as we prepare to welcome the Lord. Let the season wake us up to our need for repentance and to the promise of redemption.
Look honestly at your life and your actions and your habits. What brings light to your life, to the life of others, and to the life of the world, and what brings darkness? Bring the darkness into the light, and be someone who makes the world brighter, not darker.
Celebrate God’s forgiveness and the promise of salvation that Christmas brings. Let the light of this season shine in you and through you so that Jesus Christ is known in all the world!
Faith Like a Child
If you Google Search recommendations on how to raise generous children, almost every list of ideas begins with — or at least contains — the directive for adults to be good models of generosity themselves. Our children learn from our actions much more than from our words. Of course, when I think back over the years while my children were growing up, I think I may have learned as much from them as they learned from me. There is a time between early childhood and middle school where a child seems to be freer to give and share than at any other time in life. It is around the age of First Communion when the cries of “mine” turn to laughter and smiles, and the urge to be a part of something bigger than oneself leads to sharing. Before you know it, the child hits the pre-teen years, and once again, he or she becomes the center of the universe. I believe that the previous paragraph is all true, however, the stages described seem to repeat themselves throughout adulthood. Don’t you agree? Sometimes we fall into seeing ourselves as the center of the universe, or we become consumed by our state in life or with what we have acquired. Also, we at times are generous and loving people. It is sin that draws us back into ourselves and away from any meaningful life of stewardship and generosity. In order to be freed for love, we need role models to help us see what really matters. We need to reflect on the example of many of our brothers and sisters in Christ. And, yes, we need to look to children who may be at the point in their lives where sharing is fun, and love is something in abundance.
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