Bulletin Letter

My Dearest Parishioners,

1.   Christmas is a very special time for all of us.  In our desire to serve our parish family, I have decided to add several more Christmas Masses since we are limited because of social distancing and dealing with COVID-19.  Our desire is to enable everyone to attend Mass on Christmas. 
   Therefore, our Christmas schedule of Masses will be:
   Thursday, December 24, Christmas Eve:
               4PM – Mass in Church and Holy Family Life Center
               6PM – Mass in Church and Holy Family Life Center
               9PM – Mass in Church
               Midnight Mass – in Church
   Friday, December 25, Christmas Day:
               10AM - Mass in Church and Holy Family Life Center
               Noon - Mass in Church and Holy Family Life Center

2.   Since we are not having our confessions at the parishes in our Deanery this Christmas, we will have our own Advent Confession times with three priests at the Holy Family Life Center on Wednesday, December 16 from 6:00-7:00 PM and Saturday, December 19 from 9:00-10:00 AM.
3.   This Tuesday is December 8 and the and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.  We will celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception with the Vigil Mass on Monday, December 7 at 6:30 PM and Tuesday, December 8 at 8:00 AM and 6:30 PM. 
   The implicit seed of the revealed truth of Mary’s Immaculate Conception is found in Genesis 3:15. After Adam and Eve committed Original Sin, God addresses Satan, who is represented by the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed; she shall crush your head, and you shall lie in wait for his heel.”  Since the “seed” of the woman is Jesus Christ, who is to crush Satan victoriously in the redemption, then the woman must in fact refer to Mary, the Mother of the Redeemer.  
    The enmity established between the “seed” of the woman, which is Jesus, and the “seed” of the serpent, which is Satan, because there is absolute and complete opposition, because there is absolute and complete opposition between Jesus and Satan.  Mary, the woman, is given the same absolute and perpetual opposition to Satan as Jesus possesses in relation to sin.  It is for this reason that Mary could not have received a fallen nature as a result of Original Sin.
   From the New Testament the principal scriptural seed for the Immaculate Conception is revealed in the inspired words of the Angel Gabriel in Luke 1:28 “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you.”  It is true that no person with a fallen nature could possess a fullness of grace, appropriate only for the woman who was to give God the Son an identified, immaculate nature.
   Mary, from the first moment of her conception, was preserved immune from all stain of sin, by a singular grace of God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race.  Mary was redeemed at the moment of her conception through sanctifying grace by an application of Jesus merits on Calvary.  God, being out of time, has the power to apply the graces of redemption to Mary at the first moment of her conception.  Being full of grace from Christ prevented her from ever receiving a fallen nature.  In short, Mary needed to be saved and was saved in an exalted way by her Son.
   During this Advent Season, let us turn from all sin and desire to be full of grace so that when we celebrate the birth of Christ on Christmas Day, we can also celebrate that Christ is born anew in all of us.

4.   This Saturday, December 12, we celebrate the Feast of our Lady of Guadalupe.  It began when Juan Diego at 57 years old was on his way to attend Mass in honor of Our Lady on December 9, 1531.  Juan was walking by a hill called Tepeyac when he heard beautiful music like the warbling of birds.  A radiant cloud appeared, and within it stood an Indian maiden dressed like an Aztec princess.   The Lady spoke to him in his own language and sent him to the Bishop and stated that the Bishop was to build a chapel in the place where the Lady appeared.
   Eventually the Bishop told Juan to have the Lady give him a sign.  The Lady provided roses for Juan to carry to the Bishop in his cape or tilma.  On December 12, when Juan Diego opened his tilma in the Bishop’s presence, the roses fell to the ground, and the Bishop sank to his knees.  On the tilma where the roses had been appeared an image of Mary exactly as she appeared on the hill of Tepeyac.  We continue to be blessed as we honor our Blessed Mother and celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.    

Please be assured of my love and prayers.
Fr. Jim