Dear Beloved Parishioners,
Thanks to all our school children and youth group and adult volunteers who made this year’s live nativity an amazing and grace-filled time. Here is a picture of the scene, toward the end of the night, when the angel choir came and serenaded Jesus with Away in a Manger…
And that being said, it is a beautiful manger that Jon Clements built for our live nativity. And it seems a shame to only use it for a few hours and then to pack it up for next year. But SJM has no outdoor Nativity figurines. If you happen to have a set (tastefully done) and would like to LOAN them to SJM, let me know, (send me a picture perhaps?), and I will have a chat about details…
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As fourth weeks of Advent go, this is almost as long as I could be. Which gives us a bit more time to ponder the mystery of our Lord’s coming, especially through the yes of Mary. So, the DEEPER DIVE into our Sunday Scriptures comes to us this week from a poem by Denise Levertov called Annunciation:
We know the scene: the room, variously furnished,
almost always a lectern, a book; always
the tall lily.
Arrived on solemn grandeur of great wings,
the angelic ambassador, standing or hovering,
whom she acknowledges, a guest.
But we are told of meek obedience. No one mentions
courage.
The engendering Spirit
did not enter her without consent.
God waited.
She was free
to accept or to refuse, choice
integral to humanness.
Called to a destiny more momentous
than any in all of Time,
she did not quail,
only asked
a simple, ‘How can this be?’
and gravely, courteously,
took to heart the angel’s reply,
perceiving instantly
the astounding ministry she was offered:
to bear in her womb
Infinite weight and lightness;
to carry in hidden, finite inwardness,
nine months of Eternity;
to contain in slender vase of being,
the sum of power –
in narrow flesh,
the sum of light.
Then bring to birth,
push out into air, a Man-child
needing, like any other,
milk and love –
but who was God.
This was the minute no one speaks of,
when she could still refuse.
A breath unbreathed,
Spirit,
suspended,
waiting.
She did not cry, “I cannot, I am not worthy,”
nor “I have not the strength.”
She did not submit with gritted teeth,
raging, coerced.
Bravest of all humans,
consent illumined her.
Consent,
courage unparalleled,
opened her utterly.
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The Song of the Day –Is perhaps my favorite Marian song never (seldom) sung in church – To My Surprise… by Rory Cooney
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And a reminder about our Christmas Masses. Because of the expected crowds, I am not sure if we are going to be able to use the ‘every other pew’ sections B and D – be prepared for that. And I am asking that everyone wear a mask as a layer of protection when social distancing is not going to be possible.
The Masses are: 5pm and Midnight on Christmas Eve and 9am and 11am on Christmas Day..
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Blessings,
Fr. Bill