A Word from Your Pastor - December 29 Feast of the Holy Family

Dear Parishioners:

The Feast of the Holy Family mirrors all that is good about God and His world.  The Triune God is a Family – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Human beings are called to live as a family united in holiness – just as Jesus, Mary and Joseph did in Nazareth.  We pray in the Lord’s Prayer “Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”  It is God’s Will that we live in His Love, the very Love that created the universe.  Life begins and ends in "The Love that moves the sun and the other stars," as Dante put it.  As members of God’s Family, we find our life’s meaning in that same Love.

As we seek to grow in our understanding of the Mystery of the Incarnation, we discover that it is not a merely abstract idea or a concept.  It is a creative reality that moves us outside of our isolation and individualism into a community of Love.  Family life in the world today seems ever more complex.  But in the end, it is simple.  We are a Family in relationship to the God Who created us all.  We are to love one another and to do what we can to make sure that all with whom we have contact know and experience that love in a personal way.

My first assignment as a priest was at St. Mary’s in Lancaster.  My first Christmas there, I learned a custom they had which I have since carried to every parish I have served: the individual family blessing at all the Masses of the Solemnity of the Holy Family.  As we offer this blessing, I delight in watching how families configure themselves across the generations.  Children are helpful in showing just how far the blessings have to extend.  Mothers are delighted when they have managed to pull their children together.  Individuals present alone are welcomed into other families or come forward to receive the blessing to carry it home.  Family life itself, with all its joys and sorrows, is a blessing.

I am grateful to be part of the St. Timothy Parish Family.  We have walked together these years through some amazing experiences.  No doubt God has in store for us many blessings yet to come!

Focolare Word of Life for December 2013 Focolare Word of Life for December 2013: May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all (1 Thes. 3:12).

http://www.focolare.org/en/news/category/parola-di-vita/