A Word from Your Pastor December 29 - Holy Family

Dear Parishioners:

The Solemnity of the Holy Family reminds us that God saves us through the life of a family.  We are not alone on our journey through this life and the journey to Life Eternal is also a shared experience.  Jesus, the Son of God, lived a human life that was ordinary in a small town.  His life in Nazareth was longer than His public ministry in Galilee and Judea.  This simple truth speaks volumes about how God sees our earthly life.

The Holy Family of Nazareth lived divine life humanly.  Jesus, Mary and Joseph loved one another with an intensity we can hardly imagine.  Yet, they did so in a way that did not draw attention.  The few stories we know of those years leave a mystery surrounding their daily life.  This mystery is shared with our own experience of family life.  Holiness is to be found in the daily routines, the activities of our lives that are ordinary and human.

As we observe the Feast of the Holy Family, it is our custom to offer a special blessing to individual families at the end of Mass.  This is a moment for each family to join together to accept the Church’s touch of grace to assist them in their witness as the Domestic Church – the Church alive in the home.  It is also a reminder that we are meant to live as the Holy Family of Nazareth, united in heart and mind.

May our parish, which is a family of families, grow in the life of grace and be ever more truly a witness of the power of the Gospel in family life.  Jesus, Mary and Joseph, pray for us!  

A Word from Your Pastor December 25 - Christmas

Dear Parishioners and Guests for Christmas:

We welcome all of you to St. Timothy Church for the celebration of Christmas!

This Feast highlights all that is best about our Faith as Catholics – We acknowledge and welcome the Word-made-flesh among us and we seek to renew our commitment to live as a family united by the grace poured out on us by the Father Who so loved the world that He sent His Son to be our Savior.  In a world that is more and more characterized by polarization and division, we seek to live in Unity with all human beings through the power of Jesus, Who has made us One with God.

In a particular way, this year, we call to mind all those who have died in the past year and all our loved ones whom we remember with fondness in the holiday season.  We pray that we may be true to the Faith that promises a reunion one day when the Christ Who is born for us at Christmas will come again in glory and majesty to establish the fullness of His Kingdom.

Blessings to you and to your family.

A Word from Your Pastor December 22 - Fourth Sunday of Advent

Dear Parishioners:

The Fourth Sunday of Advent begins the week that opens to the Christmas Season.  Depending on the year and how Christmas falls, it can at times be given little attention.  This year, since Christmas falls on a Wednesday, it does get a bit more than the years when it is also Christmas Eve.  The readings already plunge us into the message of Christmas.  A Son is to be born Who is Emmanuel, God-with-us.

God has chosen to offer salvation to the world by way of our own human nature and in a human family.  This is very different from any other understanding of salvation offered by other philosophies and religions.  It makes all the difference that the grace of salvation comes from God, but flows through humanity.  We have a great responsibility for our brothers and sisters and for the whole world.

Each one of us has a “sphere of influence” where we can be the instrument of God giving His saving power to some aspect of the world.  As you prepare to welcome Jesus Christ anew in the celebration of Christmas, you must also ask how you are to share the salvation He has won for us with those in your portion of the world.

Do you realize that you are meant to be an expression of the Word of God with a unique message?  What aspect of the Christmas Story and of the whole Christ Event strikes you?  In that, you will begin to discover what is entrusted to you.

We are given the task of welcoming others to know Jesus Christ.  We speak His Word and become a living expression of the Word in our witness.  The Sacramental Life deepens our understanding and gives us strength to carry on.  Our Mission is to go out to all the world, to join the Angels in the proclamation of the Birth of Jesus Christ.

Happy Advent! Merry Christmas!

A Word from Your Pastor December 15 - Third Sunday of Advent

Dear Parishioners:

The Holy Land comes to mind throughout the Church year, but especially during Advent and Christmas.  Anyone who has taken a pilgrimage there will be able to tell you — and probably has pictures to prove it! — that the Scriptures come alive in a powerful way after seeing the land where it all happened for yourself.  I have often suggested that if you ever have the opportunity to visit the Holy Land, take it.  Don’t hesitate.  You won’t regret it.

You don’t have to wait for a trip to the Holy Land, however, to be able to purchase souvenirs from the land of Christ’s birth.  As we have done annually for many years, this weekend we are hosting the Bethlehem Families, who are making available olive wood carvings from the Holy Land.  These are real treasures that will last for years to come.  I first encountered them on a trip to the Holy Land during my time in seminary.  Gifts I purchased at that time still serve to enhance the celebration of the Church’s Faith.  The Good Shepherd statue used by our Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program is an example of this.  Now it serves as a way to draw our children at St. Timothy’s Atrium into a realization of the Good Shepherd’s love for them.

Your purchase of these items from the families who still live in the Holy Land is also a way to help our brothers and sisters who are a minority in that land.  Their witness to Jesus in His own land is important for the world.  Peace will come through the grace and love of Jesus.

Next weekend, we will celebrate the Anointing of the Sick at all weekend Masses.  Please make arrangements to bring loved ones who would be comforted by the Sacrament to Mass with you.  The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick gives healing and strength in the face of illness and the burdens of aging.  Our weakness receive strength from Christ’s Sacramental touch.

A Word from Your Pastor December 8 - Second Sunday of Advent

Dear Parishioners:

Advent is a Marian Season.  We wait expectantly for our celebration of the Birth of Jesus, Son of Mary and the Son of God.  Joyful anticipation and hopeful acceptance of all the struggles that come from doing the Will of God form us to share in the act of offering Jesus to the world.

This week, a few different Marian Feasts remind us of aspects of the actions of God in the life of Mary.  The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is celebrated this year on Monday, December 9, since the 8^th fell on the Second Sunday of Advent.  God reveals His Providence in preparing the mother of His Son by preserving her from all stain of sin.

Pope Francis has put the Feast of Our Lady of Loreto in the general calendar on December 10.  Loreto has the shrine of the Home of the Holy Family, which was transported there from Nazareth.  This feast calls to mind the capacity of the human family to welcome the Presence of God among us.  Each family is able to welcome the Lord into its home, just as Mary and Joseph made a home for Jesus.

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is December 12.  The Blessed Virgin Mary came to the Americas to assist in the proclamation of the Gospel to the peoples native to this place.  She reminds us all that she is with us as a Mother, one who knows our needs and brings them to her Son.

We are called to be like Mary in our Faith and in the welcome to show to all the members of the Family of God.  May our hearts be ready to receive the Lord as He comes to dwell with us.

Next weekend, we will have the Bethlehem Families with us to share olive wood sculptures from the Holy Land which will be on sale after all Masses as part of our effort to reach out to our fellow Christians in the land of the Lord’s Birth.  The Fourth Sunday of Advent will bring the celebration of the Anointing of the Sick at all Masses, to bring healing and comfort to those who experience the burdens of illness and age.

A Word from Your Pastor December 1 - First Sunday of Advent

Dear Parishioners:

Happy Advent! With this weekend, we begin a new liturgical year and our preparation time for the Christmas celebrations.  In this season, we are invited to pay attention to our Faith’s assertion that Jesus Christ is Coming to us.  There are three aspects to the Coming of Christ.

The first is, of course, Christ’s Coming to us in history: Christmas proper is the Nativity of Jesus.  The Coming at the end of time is called His Second Coming, the manifestation of the glorious Christ at the end of time, His Coming in Majesty.

Between these two Comings, there is the continual Presence of the Lord through the Mystery we celebrate.  He is present most powerfully in the Eucharist, which is the ongoing Sign of Christ among us.  He is also present when two or three gather in His Name and when there is Mutual Love that opens to His grace.

We are invited to spend Advent in preparation for Christ to enter our lives.  Our Parish Penance Service will take place on Wednesday, December 4, at 7 p.m.  The children in our School and PSR will have the opportunity for Confession during their regular school day and class times.

May our hearts be ever ready to welcome Jesus when He comes to us. 

A Word from Your Pastor November 24 - Jesus Christ King of the Universe

Dear Parishioners:

The Solemnity of Christ the King is the closing to the Liturgical Year.  It is a time to renew our commitment to the Lord Jesus and to our Faith in Him as the Universal Savior.  In our time, it has become common to see Jesus as simply a great man, one among many, who have contributed to our civilization.  But our claim, the claim of the Catholic Faith cannot be reduced to that perspective.  Jesus is Someone More, Something Greater.  As Catholics, we acknowledge Him to be our Lord and our God.  He is the Melech HaOlam, that is, the King of the Universe.  If we believe anything less of Him, we do not do Him justice.

The transition between one Liturgical Year and another invites us to look toward Jesus at the end of time, as the One Who will gather all the nations for judgment. One year ends proclaiming Him as King; Advent begins with a glance toward His Second Coming, that is, His Coming in Glory at the end of the ages.  We are invited to hope for salvation for us and for the whole world.  In time, we are called to make ready the way of the Lord.

The Sacramental Life of the Church helps us to prepare our hearts.  This weekend, our Second Graders made their First Reconciliation.  They joyfully experienced the Sacrament of Mercy that forgives us our sins and fortifies us to fight the good fight against temptation.  Anointing of the Sick is another Sacrament that helps us in time of need.  It strengthens us in the face of illness and prepares us for our final meeting with the Lord when He comes to call us to Himself.  As a parish, we celebrate this Sacrament on one of the weekends of Advent (this year December 21-22).  It is always available at request when you or your loved ones are reaching the end of life’s journey.

May we stand together to witness our Faith in Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe.  And may we celebrate the Sacramental Life that forms us into the Body of Christ that brings Him to the world.  To the King of Ages, the Immortal, the Invisible, the Only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.  Amen.