Dear Beloved Parishioners,
CHANGE OF DATE/CHANGE OF TIME
Do to the impending threat of a winter storm and extremely COLD temperatures, we are MOVING our LIVE NATIVITY from Thursday, Dec. 22, to WEDNESDAY, Dec. 21st. And the start time will also be a little later – so, from 6:00 to 8:00. This has the added benefit of allowing you time to feed your children before you head out to pet the donkeys and sheep, and see our youth group staging as Magi and Mary and Joseph. We hope to see you there. (I will be in church, decorating for the upcoming Christmas feasts…)
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So, the schedule of Masses for Christmas eve/day is as follows.
Christmas Eve: 5 pm and 10pm.
Christmas Day: 9 am and 11am.
There are no scheduled confessions on Christmas eve, but by appointment only at the rectory. Call, and Fr. Bill will be happy to find a time.
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The Schedule for New Year’s Day, the Feast of Mary, Mother of God, is the normal weekend Mass schedule, 5pm Sat.; 7:30, 9, and 11am on Sunday.
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THE DEEPER DIVE into Sunday’s Scripture..
Comes to us from the good people at Loyola Press.
Finally, on this the Fourth Sunday of Advent, our Gospel Reading permits us to begin our contemplation of the mystery of the Incarnation we celebrate at Christmas: “Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about” (Matthew 1:18).
The Gospel of Matthew tells the story of the birth of Jesus from Joseph’s perspective. Today’s Gospel passage is the second movement in this story. In the preceding verses of the first chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, the Evangelist has listed the genealogy of Jesus, tracing his lineage through King David to Abraham. In the chapter to follow, Matthew tells of the visit from the Magi, the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt, and Herod’s massacre of the infants in Bethlehem. (The other stories which we associate with Christmas, the Annunciation, the Visitation, the angel and the shepherds, are found in the Gospel of Luke).
We must not gloss over too quickly the difficult circumstances described in today’s Gospel. The way that Joseph and Mary face these circumstances tells us much about these holy people and their faith in God. Joseph and Mary are betrothed to be married. This is sometimes described as an engagement period, but it is more than that. Betrothal in first century Jewish culture was in fact the first part of the marriage contract. A breach of this contract was considered adultery. Mary is found to be with child. If adultery is proven, the punishment might be death. Joseph has rights under Mosaic law, but chooses to act discreetly in his plans to break the marriage contract, so as to protect Mary. Then God intervenes.
The message of the angel of the Lord given to Joseph in his dream tells us much about the child that Mary bears and his role in God’s plan. He is conceived by the Holy Spirit. His name will be Jesus, which in the Hebrew means “Yahweh saves.” He will be the fulfillment of the prophecy heard in today’s first reading from Isaiah: “. . . The virgin shall be with child . . . and shall name him Emmanuel [God with us].”
Joseph does as the angel of the Lord directs. He takes Mary to be his wife and accepts the child in her womb as his own. Joseph and Mary are both cooperative with God’s plan. They are both models for us of what it means to be faithful servants of God.
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The Song of the Day –
Is one of my favorite Christmas reflections. It is not your traditional song about Mary or Joseph or Shepherds or Silent Nights, but rather, a meditation on how this earth is changed because of the birth of our Messiah. So, without further ado: What Sweeter Music, composed and arranged by John Rutter.
And here are the lyrics – as it makes it easier to listen whilst you read along.
What sweeter music can we bring
Than a carol for to sing
The birth of this our Heavenly King?
Awake the voice, awake the string
Dark and dull night, fly hence away
And give the honor to this day
That sees December turned to May
That sees December turned to May
Why does the chilling winter’s mourn
Smile, like a field beset with corn?
Or smell like a meadow newly-shorn
Thus, on the sudden? Come and see
The ’cause, why things thus fragrant be
It is He is born, whose quickening birth
Gives life and luster, public mirth
To Heaven, and the under-Earth
We see him come, and know him ours
Who with his sunshine and his showers
Turns all the patient ground to flowers
Turns all the patient ground to flowers
The darling of the world is come
And fit it is, we find a room
To welcome him, to welcome him
The nobler part of all the house here is the heart
Which we will give him, and bequeath
This holy and this ivy wreath
To do him honour, who’s our King
And Lord of all this reveling
What sweeter music can we bring
Than a carol for to sing
The birth of this our Heavenly King?
Of this our Heavenly King, our King
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: John Rutter / Robert Henich
blessings,
fr bill