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 Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Greetings on this Fourth Sunday of our Advent
season! This year, we are just hours away from our celebration
of Christmas. I hope and pray that this Advent season has been
as rewarding and beneficial for you as it has been for me this
year. I have loved this Advent. God truly has called US out of
darkness and more and more into His own wonderful light! And oh
what incredible things we see and experience when we heed that
call and follow God’s way! We are so blessed!
We welcome all of our visitors who are joining us
this weekend. If you are in town visiting family or friends, we
are honored to have you pray with us today. Please also join us
in praying for our own members who are traveling this weekend
and away from home. May all travelers have safe and happy
journeys during this wonderful time of the year!
We also welcome back our own brothers and sisters
from our Parish family who haven’t been to Mass with us since
last Christmas or Easter. We sure miss you guys. We would love
to have you with us every Sunday when we gather around the Altar
of the Lord for the Mass. I know you are busy people. It’s
just that the strength and the grace that comes to us only
through the Eucharist, might really be a help to you IF you took
advantage of it more than once or twice a year. I know I can’t
imagine my life without it, and I like to stay fairly busy
too. How about coming back next weekend? We’ll be here. Will
you?
The theme for our Fourth and final Sunday of Advent,
even when the Sunday IS the whole Fourth Week of Advent, is
peace. You know we talk a great deal about peace. We wonder
why the Israelis and the Palestinians can’t get along. We
wonder why the Irish and the English can’t get along. We wonder
why I.U. fans and Purdue fans can’t get along. And for all the
worrying that we do about peace around the world and why others
can’t seem to get along, the real peace that we need to be
concerned about is that deep peace inside of each one of us.
That’s what Jesus is offering us today. He’s not guaranteeing
that our lives will be all rosy and nice. Each one of us is
going to encounter some really nasty situations in this life.
Being a Christian doesn’t exempt us from those times. But
being a Christian does give us the peace that we need on the
inside, so that no matter what is going on outside of us in our
lives, we will be able to handle it because of the deep peace
that we have on the inside. Hope, Faith, and Joy – our themes
from the first three Sundays of Advent, all lead to real peace.
Not the kind of peace that this world offers. But the kind of
peace that lasts forever. The kind of peace that will get you
through anything! It’s that deep peace that we rejoice in this
weekend and this Monday, Christmas. God forever altered our
world when He sent His only Son, Jesus the Christ, to be our
Savior. God came to bring us His peace. And that’s the kind of
peace that we are to take out to our world. Our world today is
starving for that peace. How can we not be messengers of that
peace for others? There is a better way. And it is Jesus’
way! And yet, if we don’t know that, and if we don’t put that
into effect in our lives, how will we ever be able to give it to
others?
I’d like to thank EVERYBODY who sacrificed and worked so
hard to provide the food and the Christmas gifts to over 165
families in need this year. Last Saturday was truly amazing.
Sometimes before we try to talk to someone about peace, we need
to make sure they have food and what they need for life. We did
that through our Advent Adopt-a-Family Angel program. Thanks to
our entire HELP Committee and Shepherd’s Gate Food Pantry.
Thanks to everybody who makes those ministries possible with
their donations. Thanks to Mark and Anita Wojda, who have
chaired the HELP Committee for the past three years and are now
moving on to other ministries. And thanks to Kendra and Jerry
Geis, Tom and Suzanne Oliger, and Ron and Kathy Pelletier, for
stepping up to take over the leadership of the HELP Committee.
You guys are awesome!
Have a great Christmas! Next Monday, January 1st,
the Feast of Mary, Mother of God, is NOT a Holy Day of
Obligation this year, because it falls on a Monday. We will
still have Mass at 9:00 AM and 5:30 PM next Monday for the Feast
Day. From Fr. Dale, Fr. Joshua, Deacon Steve, myself, and our
entire Parish and School staffs, “Merry Christmas and a Blessed
New Year!”
In Christ,
Fr. Kevin
All God’s angels come to us disguised |
