Dear Parishioners and Visitors,

Happy Fourth Sunday of Advent and Merry Christmas! It is a great joy for our parishes to welcome so many visitors as we celebrate the Birth of Jesus. This great celebration of Christmas is in many ways about welcoming. They had no room at the inn for Joseph and Mary, but we remember how the simple shepherds and the animals welcomed them and in turn welcomed the Son of God into the world He created.

Every Christmas we put up the beautiful manger scene in our church and many put up their own family manger scenes at home to remind us that the shepherds and animals welcomed the Christ Child. As beautiful as it is, the manger scene is not simply sentimental, meant to evoke warm feelings from those of us who look upon it. The Christmas manger scene calls out to each of us, beckoning us to open our hearts to welcome Joseph and Mary and the Christ Child Who has come to save us and bring us back to the Father.

As we celebrate the great feast of Christmas this year, we might be bombarded with distractions and filled with anxiety. The parties and presents, the holiday hustle and bustle, can consume us during this holy time. It would do our souls much good to simply pause and set some of the busy-ness aside.

One powerful way of doing this is by taking time to simply go and pray for a while before the manger, and open our hearts to welcome our God. It is in this welcoming of the Christ Child into our hearts that we find the true meaning of Christmas, that we find hope and salvation.

Be assured of my prayers for all of you and your loved ones as we celebrate the incredible mystery of the Incarnate Word, come to enter into our lives once again and to continue to lead us back to the Father.

Merry Christmas!
Fr. Jim Theby