Clergy Bulletin Articles

Merry Christmas, Happy Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God, Happy New Year and Thank You! Thank you for all the cards, gifts, goodies, and prayers you have given to me and Fr. Andrew! 

January 1st is the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God, normally a holy day of obligation. It still is a holy day, but the obligation is lifted this year by particular rule since it falls on a Monday. In any case, though you are not obliged, it is a great day to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary and her motherhood and continue to come adore her child, Jesus. 

Merry Christmas! Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to people of good will. (Luke 2:14) So the angels sung to the shepherds near Bethlehem.

What color is salvation…justice…joy? Today, it must be Rose. Our first reading talks a little about clothing—a “robe of salvation” and a “mantle of justice”. But it leaves out the detail of what color they are, so we just have to imagine.

I rejoice heartily in the LORD, in my God is the joy of my soul; For he has clothed me with a robe of salvation, and wrapped me in a mantle of justice, Like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem, like a bride bedecked with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10)

How are we doing? The second Sunday of Advent focuses on St. John the Baptist who proclaims repentance to the people to make ready the way for the Messiah. So, let’s take a good look at how we are doing. We are about halfway through our year of Eucharist Revival. Prince of Peace does Mass attendance accounts during the month of October. In 2023, we recorded an average of 1,891 people total for Sunday (including Saturday evening) Masses. That is a lot of people, and thanks be to God for this! However, last year, 2022, we had an average of 1,980.

Happy Advent! Happy New Church Year! We have the shortest possible Advent season this year, so things are going to move fast. Christmas falls on a Monday, therefore the fourth week of Advent consists only of Sunday resulting in an Advent more like 3 weeks than 4 this year. Now, the idea of Advent is really to watch, wait, and prepare so we must make some intentional efforts to slow things down and pray to make this a good Advent.

“God is the infinitely good and merciful Father. But man, called to respond to him freely, can unfortunately choose to reject his love and forgiveness once and for all, thus separating himself for ever from joyful communion with him. It is precisely this tragic situation that Christian doctrine explains when it speaks of eternal damnation or hell. It is not a punishment imposed externally by God but a development of premises already set by people in this life.

Next in our evaluation of the Four Last Things, we will be looking at the third: Heaven. The past two weeks we evaluated Death and Judgement, next week will be our last and final; that of Hell. But this week, the much happier reality of Heaven, where all of us want to be!

As we move through the Last Four Things, we now look at the second of them; that being Judgment. Last week we focused on Death and looked at the reality that all of us will die. After we die, we will all be judged.

As we move into the month of November, we enter into the final Sundays of our liturgical year. The first Sunday of our liturgical year begins with the 1st Sunday of Advent. The readings at the end of the liturgical year always turn to what we call eschatological realities. This is a fancy way of referring to the Last Four Things; that being of Death, Judgement, Heaven, and Hell. Over the next 4 Sundays, I would like to dedicate an article to each of these four things.

Since Halloween is Tuesday, I’d like to start with a few skeleton and ghost jokes:
Why can’t skeletons play church music? Because they have no organs.
How do ghosts stay in shape? By exorcising.
Why do skeletons and ghosts love Sundays? Because they are dying to hear our homilies!
What is a ghost’s favorite response at Mass? “And with your spirit.”
What is a ghost’s favorite hymn at Mass? “Come Holy Ghost”
Why can’t skeletons fulfill the greatest commandment of Jesus? Because they have no hearts, souls, or minds.