The section of Luke which we read today comes from a section often called the "Prologue" because the first two chapters of Luke deal with the earliest days of the life of Jesus. They are in a sense the stories before the great story of the Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ. In fact, they are often called "the Infancy

Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Mary Parish,

This brief letter is to offer my personal Greetings and Blessings for these Christmas Holidays. Please treasure the memories you make and the ones that you share from the past. The Pandemic Life has been taking its toll on all of us in obvious and subtle ways, so please think and speak words of Christmas joy. Please also remember in prayer those who feel sorrow and loss of loved ones at this Season.  We especially hold up in prayer in particular the Owen Family, their relatives, friends and neighbors. In our outside Christmas Crib and also in the Crib in the main church there will be a candle which is lit in memory of Shirley and for victims of Domestic Violence. May the peace of the Holy Stable fill the hearts of all who suffer from the effects of Domestic Violence.

In thinking about this weekend's scripture and one of the underlying themes in all of it, we are reminded of the wonderful saying of God writes straight with crooked lines. We learn in the scripture and perhaps from personal observations, we can discover God's presence in the most unexpected places and people. Those who are planners and have a need to be always in control or always be "right" do not like the crooked lines with which God writes. Often they feel threatened. Those who are able to see the hand of God in the crooked lines are amazed and grateful to him.

Church-wise we make a big deal about the Third Sunday in Advent and we call it Gaudete ("rejoice") Sunday. I think the major reason is "in the olden, olden days" people used to fast and perform many extra ascetic pious practices during Advent in preparation for Christmas. Thus, when folks were almost through the Season of Advent, they would rejoice that all that extra discipline and denial of self was almost at an end. They used the color rose as a visible sign in church that the end was almost there. In a sense, it is a weakened form of the color of red which is a major Christmas color. Our readings this weekend pick up the theme of the joy that is soon to be here and that the coming of the Light of the World will soon be celebrated. We pick up speed as we come closer and closer to Christmas Day. We can sense Christmas in the air and the liturgy at Mass helps us feel its closeness. The readings for this Sunday reflect this delight. In fact, the whole rhythm of Advent picks up today. We start proclaiming in song the "O Antiphons" beginning this week.

Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Mary Parish,

This Sunday at 3 PM in our main church our Choir will offer a most wonderful “Lessons and Carols” Service. Our extraordinary choir will be offering various Christmas Carols interspersed with sacred scripture about the Birth of Jesus Christ. This is during daylight hours and it is a great opportunity to prepare spiritually for Christmas. This is also a wonderful service of less than one hour to take your children to. Afterwards visit our beautiful outdoor Christmas Crib outside on the St. Rocco Plaza.

We must always remember that the word "gospel" means "good news". This weekend our scripture abounds in "good news". We must remember as followers of Jesus Christ to spread His Good News to one and all by our daily words and actions.

Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Mary Parish,

I hope everyone has recovered from the wonderful activities of Thanksgiving Day and Weekend. For many of us we saw family and friends for the first time in a long, long time and it was wonderful. Now all of us press on towards the Christmas Season. Advent is the four weeks of church time that helps us to prepare spiritually for Christmas. We are holding a Holy Hour and Benediction each Sunday evening from 7 to 8 PM in our chapel on the lower level of the church building. This would be an excellent way to spend some quiet time reflecting on the Birth of Jesus and your own daily life. Come and spend some time one of more of these Sundays.

This weekend we begin a new church religious year. Our year is based upon telling the story of Jesus Christ Our Savior. In a sense, we begin at the beginning and end at the end when everything has been said. To begin telling the story we need to back up a bit before the actual birth at Bethlehem. Thus, we have four weeks called Advent to help us get to the story of Christ's birth and its meaning in our lives. The readings of this weekend help us by focusing us on the future. They, in fact, invite us to rejoice, even in the face of our times and situations, because we know that God will not fail us. They strongly encourage us to plan for the future, because we believe that God will not dash our hopes. They greatly encourage us to strive and work for the promise of a better tomorrow, because we are absolutely convinced that on this very day and every day God is fulfilling His promises and acting on our behalf. We believe that the "Son of Man" is coming and has come. Our great hope and the way we live can make for a brighter future for all who seek him.

Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Mary Parish,

This letter will be a bit short because the parish work schedule is a very short week with the staff only in for two and a half days along with my heading to the family home at the Cape to help with food and guest preparation (and of course my specialty: dropping the turkey (!) and also (lots and lots of) dish and pot-washing). On behalf of our Pastoral and Support Staff along with Deacons Guy and Ron and also Fathers Jack and Frank, I wish you a Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving. May this holiday weekend bring some joy and light to your life.

Our scripture readings are thematically related to the theological concept of the life-pact between God and ourselves that is verified by Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. We know from the scriptures that God initiates the covenant and invites us to enter into it and to complete it. We learn that what our "high priest" has begun, we are to continue through celebration and service.

When Jesus told his friends to remember him by breaking bread and drinking wine, he did not mean just to have "good thoughts" about him. In our religious tradition all the way back through the earliest of times in the Old Testament, to remember is a very special action. To remember means to make events or happenings from the past come alive now in this very present.

Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Mary’s,

This coming Thursday is Thanksgiving Day which is a very beautiful and wonderful time for us. For the most part we all gather with family and friends to celebrate with a special meal. I know that the Pandemic will influence how we celebrate this year, but our celebration will be closer to what we normally do. Not everyone is blessed to have family and friends that they can gather with on this day, so please recognize how blessed you are in your gathering with loved ones. All of us, of course, will hold in our hearts the special people of our lives who have gone before us to the other side of life. May they rest in peace. Amen. Also remember that some are missing from our tables because of bitter fights, long held grudges or remembered or forgotten resentments. Perhaps the Pandemic will help some of us to realize that a lot of our “issues” really do not matter and we should extend a hand of welcome to our missing family and friends. In the long run most negative issues we carry really do not merit the darkness we have kept in our hearts and the work to keep the alienation going. Some of my family will be gathering at our home down the Cape. There will be the traditional turkey dinner, (with the 3 minute rule if I drop the turkey! And the code of silence about it!)

We are now drawing close to the end of our Church's religious and liturgical year. Thus our readings this weekend focus on the end times of our world, which is the return of Jesus Christ in his Second Coming. This usually is not a topic we think about or talk about. Some do, however and they usually make it sound scary and frightening. Our readings today approach all of this differently, these readings call us to faith and draw on our faith to help us face the end times without trepidation.

Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Mary Parish,

The march of time happens every day. Thanksgiving is shortly in the distance and then comes the wonderful Season of Advent for weeks and then our great Celebration of the Nativity of Our Lord, Christmas. I suggest we just put one foot forward at a time and step along each day and we will end up having a wonderful and beautiful Winter Religious Season along with the gatherings of our families and friends.

We witness the kindness and generosity of the poor in the two different widows in the first reading and the Gospel reading this weekend. In reading from the first Book of Kings, we learn about a very dire time of famine in Israel. The prophet Elijah in his travels met a pagan widow. We need to remember that Elijah had been told by God that there would be a great drought and a widowed woman would appear to help him. When Elijah saw the woman, he asked for a drink of water. Asking for a cup of water in a desert climate and place was quite normal. He, however, asked for a second cup He even pressed further before she had even answered and asked for some bread. This clearly poor widow had so little to give him; in fact, she did not even have any bread on hand. She was planning to bake the last of her supplies of flour and oil. In a dramatic way Elijah gave her a promise that if she gave what she had, she and her family would not go hungry during this terrible drought.

Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Mary’s,

The Fall is always a very busy time for everyone with lots of important events taking place and long term plans being made. It is easy to get lost in all of this activity and end up feeling overwhelmed. Critical events also take place that add to the pressure and stress of trying to know and understand and also to act and do everything that is expected. All we can do is take one step at a time and hopefully be moving in a forward direction. This letter has many things for you. So my advice to you is to do the best you can with the items that you believe yoREAD MORE