December 18 , 2005

Dear friends in life and in ministry,

I am very late in getting this out to you. Blame it on the Christmas rush. I've been working on my Christmas message for the past few days so I thought I'd better get last weekend's thought to you first.

We had our Advent Reconciliation Service on Sunday evening so my column this week is on the Reconcilaiton.

I does look like we'll be experiencing a white Christmas and that always helps to make the holiday all the more special.

Christmas Blessings to all . . .

Ray

Click image for printable column... (Adobe PDF file, plugin needed) (Click Here For Sent To Serve Archives)

Dec 18th, 2005

December 18, 2005 - The Fourth Sunday of Advent

Today we light yet another candle on the Advent wreath. The Lord is coming! Are your hearts ready? You still have time to prepare!

Advent is the season that we watch and wait for the Savior, a time of preparation for the Christmas season. It is a season of joyful anticipation, but not everyone is filled with joy. The experts among us report that domestic violence increases dramatically during the holiday season. The stress of anticipating the Christmas season can put people in a tailspin. Examples of this are doing one or all the following in excess: spending money, eating, drinking, partying or running around, neglecting or acting uncharitably toward family members who cannot or will not behave as we might expect. Violence is often part of family life when the pace picks up, when emotions are high, when the normal world looks loving and you sense your family is not.

Our liturgy in this season often focuses on the family life, on searching for ways to prepare spiritually and in exploring charitable options to make our families more Christ-like. The opportunities to become more ideal as a family are endless, but we have to always remember becoming ideal is an ongoing process. We need to look creatively at how forgiveness, personal kindness and healthy activities can improve our journey to come closer to the ideal as we await the coming of Christ.

We Rejoice in God's Mercy
Tonight (Sunday, December 18th, we will rejoice in God’s mercy as we celebrate communally the Sacrament of Reconciliation at our Advent Penance Service just a few days before Christmas. Coming together as a parish family – people of all ages, we acknowledge our personal and communal sinfulness, knowing that we haven’t always used the gifts and talents we’ve been given to good purpose, that often we are selfish, and that we are far from the persons God created us to be. We give voice to the fact that we are undeserving of the greatest gift ever given, the Gift we will celebrate with great joy just one week from today.

As writer Wendy Wright once put it so eloquently, “The infant in the manger at Bethlehem comes with a message of peace, an announcement that all sad divisions, all the irreconcilable pieces of our public and private lives will be brought together in the celebration of "shalom" -- God's blessing,
God's peace.... Peace will reign when our forgiveness of self and others
is wide and deep enough to create new possibilities and, without the use of violence, to transform our seeming impasses into new freedoms and joys.”

Advent should not be principally about shopping and decorating, but about preparing our own hearts to open our true Christmas gift. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a means in which we can put our spiritual houses in order to welcome our most import Guest. Join us tonight as we rejoice in the fact that God always welcomes the sinner home – for Christmas and forever! AUTOMOBILES NEEDED Over the past few weeks I’ve met with two families and one individual who are in great need of reliable transportation. Two are working families of very modest means with young children. They both need a dependable automobile to get to new jobs. The other individual is retired but lives in a place not convenient to daily meetings that he attends in Bath. All are reliable people who have strong ties to St. Mary’s Parish. If you have a very reasonably priced car or one that you would be willing to donate to St. Mary’s, I will see that it gets a good home. Your donation will be tax deductible as it will be used as part of our social ministry outreach to those in need. Over the years, Pat and I have both donated automobiles to people in need and been given automobiles to assist us in our ministries. Both giving and receiving have been great blessings. HOSPICE NEEDS VOLUNTEERS Alice’s Rest is a Hospice Home located in Avoca. It is staffed by two registered nurses who work in associated with Hospice of the Southern Tier to provide a comfortable homelike environment for terminally ill persons during the last days of life. This outstanding community resource is in need of volunteers who can perform a variety of services to hospice patients their families. If you think that God may be calling you to this important ministry of caring, give me a call and I’ll put you in touch with the Alice’s Rest nurses. Training will be provided and the hours that you’ll volunteer will be set by you. THANK YOU! Thanks to many very generous parishioners, over 25 families received needed clothing from St. Mary’s Giving Tree. Pictured below is the truckload of gifts that were distributed on Wednesday to needy families.

Finally, an advance word of thanks to our parish staff and volunteers who will dedicate many extra hours this week to assure that our Christmas liturgies will joyously welcome the many guests and returning parishioners who will celebrate Christmas with us. Thanks also to those generosity throughout the year has helped us get back on the road to financial viability.

Have a good Christmas week. Serve one another well.

I pray that you will enjoy this visit, and if you like,
                                          E-Mail me with your comments

.