Today ends the Christmas season in the Church calendar. We’ve moved from the babe in the manger to the man at the river. Upon Jesus’ baptism we are told in Luke’s account that “heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” From that point, Jesus began his public ministry. His baptism was a commissioning – and so was ours! Most of us were baptized as an infant and many of us today still don’t realize that we, in our baptism, were commissioned to bring the good news of the Gospel to others. We are, by our baptism, supposed to be missionary disciples! But many of the baptized haven’t experienced a personal relationship with Jesus to be able to truly evangelize others. If you are one of those many, I invite you to ALPHA. Please visit the parish website to learn more and register. Re-awake the spirit you received in baptism!! ALPHA begins on January 22nd and 24th.

As we end the Christmas season, there are some people that truly need to be recognized and appreciated. I hope you enjoyed the display of our nativity scene in the narthex this year. The platform was built by Jim Fisher. The Art & Environment Committee spend months prior to Christmas in creative thinking and planning, then procuring needed materials and executing their ideas. Then many hours are spent coordinating and decorating the church and grounds. So a profound thanks to Marty Kadziela, Linda Eickhoff, and Karen Schwartz for their beautiful work, creative ideas and dedication! All the floral arrangements you see in church were created by Marty, not pre-made by a florist. Thanks as well to the many volunteers who helped set-up the decorations throughout the week prior to Christmas and on December 23rd after 5:30pm Mass. Thanks to Jolene LeRoy for her idea to add the “memory trees”.

Another special thank you goes to Phyllis Anderson our sacristan and all around behind the scenes person who makes everything go smoothly. Much of what Phyllis does is detailed oriented and goes unnoticed by most, but Fr. Mark and I notice, and we are profoundly grateful for all she does! I lovingly refer to her as “mother church”!

Thanks to Frank Sauter our director of Liturgy & Music for all the work in his first year to carry on the tradition of an all parishioner orchestra for our Midnight Mass. The music was truly inspirational! So a special THANK YOU! – to all our parishioners who played instruments in the orchestra, and to parishioner Emily Brink for cantoring. Emily is currently doing Masters studies in vocal performance. Thanks to our choir, musicians, cantors and all liturgical ministers who served at Christmas Masses.

Thank you to all our PADS and Hesed House volunteers who spent part of New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day preparing, cooking, and serving food and spending time with the homeless at Hesed House.

Finally, Fr. Mark and I again thank everyone who sent us cards or gave us personal Christmas gifts. We truly appreciate your thoughtfulness and generosity!

Have a Blessed Week!

Fr Don

Today we celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord – the revelation that Jesus is a light to all nations. The magi are the first of many gentiles who will follow in their footsteps, including you and me. From the start of his life on earth, Jesus has come for all people but his kingdom will not be one that Herod – or anyone who covets power – will seek. The latter will only pretend to see the light, and their sight will be shadowed with fear. We have all experienced Epiphany….times when our night sky has been brightly lit, when our minds have been illumined, and when our hearts have been enlightened. When we live in the light, we are able to see that our lives, our families, our communities, no matter how humble, are glorious blessings. We respond to the light as the magi did – with gratitude, with honor, with gift. Unlike Herod who had worldly power, we are not weak with fear that we will lose our power. Because of his fear, he could only pretend to see the light that the magi were willing to share with him. We have seen the light!! Perhaps it was the day you bathed your first grandchild or the day you said “I love you” and knew that it was about more than romance and physical attraction. Perhaps it was the time you sat vigil with a dying loved one and knew that you were on holy ground. Perhaps a magnificent sunrise or sunset was an epiphany. Epiphany is also called “little Christmas” in many cultures. So we are called to pay forward this gift of light in our day-to-day experiences. Are we conscious of our responsibility to share the light? One way to share the light is to invite someone who may be experiencing darkness in their life to come to Alpha. Alpha starts January 22 & 24. Info and registration is at www.olmercy.old.diocesanweb.org/ alpha.

As I mentioned, Epiphany in some cultures is known as “little Christmas” and gifts are exchanged. Fr. Mark and I would like thank everyone who celebrated Christmas Mass with us at OLM. You are gift to us! We also thank those who gifted us with so many goodies and personal gifts. We truly appreciate your kindness! We also want to thank our Art & Environment Committee and the many volunteers who worked hours to decorate our church and parish grounds. I hope you enjoyed the new location of our nativity scene this year. We thank all our musicians who make our Christmas season so joyful in song. Thanks to those who served in liturgical ministries at our Christmas season Masses. We are also grateful to our maintenance staff for their efforts to keep everything clean, in order and working properly. Thanks to our Hispanic community for the beautiful celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Posadas, and to our Filipino community for the wonderful celebration of Simbang Gabi. And our children in the Religious Education program did a delightful re-enactment of the Christmas story. Thanks to all our staff for their work to make our Christmas celebrations welcoming. Our outdoor nativity has a new figure this year – the “Drummer Boy”. This is a gift by Debbie Schremp to her mother Geraldine Schremp in memory of David Schremp who died in January 2018. David is the son of Geraldine and brother of Debbie. David played the drums. Thank you to the Schremp’s for this donation.

Blessed Christmas Season!

Fr Don

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The word “family” may be a hot button word for many of us, especially following on the heels of Christmas when family experiences can be wonderful or barely tolerable. We may have different feelings about our own families and families in general. And for many, the Holy Family may be a romanticized or seem totally unrelated to real world families. But today’s readings have insights, no matter what our own experiences of family may be. In all the readings today, families are shaped by their faith, culture and traditions. In our Old Testament reading, Hannah, at the Temple, dedicated and gave over her only son, who would have a crucial role, unknown to her, in Israel’s early history. In the Gospel, Mary and Joseph followed the Jewish tradition of the Passover pilgrimage to Jerusalem when they lost Jesus. And the advice given to community members and their families regarding how to live together, as found in Paul’s writing to the Colossians, is shaped by the faith and experience of the earliest Christians. The cultures, traditions and social norms in these readings are different from ours, but there are similarities here that we can relate to and learn from.

It is no surprise that parents ultimately must let go of their children. The story of Hannah’s offering is framed by religious practices of the period and was required by tradition. Samuel would become both prophet and king related to the lineage of King David. The significance of Hannah’s action for Israel’s future was understood by later generations. One gesture in one small family had a lasting impact only time would reveal. As parents are well aware, the outcomes of their sacrifices are usually known only in hindsight. Risks are taken on faith. Sometimes they exceed a family’s wildest hopes and dreams! Jesus’ spreading His wings probably came sooner than expected and brought with it both confusion and consternation. Mary and Joseph were not any better prepared than most parents are for the challenges of parenting. Jesus’ interests in the Temple surprised and puzzled them and may even have been contrary to their own. In some ways, they did not understand their child any better than most parents. Paul’s words to the Colossians are addressed to people who have already learned norms for family and community life from their Greek culture. His advice is animated by the Gospel. Demonstrating how to live together and teaching our children how to interact with others is what families do. But practicing kindness, humility, patience and forgiveness can seem idealistic in the daily stress of family life and the challenges of what is acceptable in our world. If the early Christians needed to be reminded about it, so do we!! It’s how our families become holy!!

As you know, our parish family has been enriched by the assignment of two seminarians. Senovio Sarabia has been with us since fall of 2017. He will be studying in the Holy Land this spring semester and will be ordained a transition deacon on March 30, 2019. Our other seminarian, Luis Miguel Garcia has been with us since this fall. He has discerned that he needs to take time off from seminary studies. He is returning home to Mexico to further reflect on what God wants him to do with his life. Please keep both Senovio and Luis in your prayers.

Blessed Christmas Season!

Fr Don

From our youth and even into our adult years, we have all lived at times with eager anticipation of some upcoming event in our life. We imagined how great it would be when “it” – whatever it was – finally happened or arrived. The closer we get to the actual day of the event, the more excited we became. Hardly sleeping on Christmas Eve to finally at last open gifts on Christmas morning. I loved that red shinny bike! You may have been waiting for the birth of a child, or graduation or a special vacation, or retirement. I even have an app on my phone counting down the days until I can retire! I’m in the 1,290’s days left. Poor Fr. Mark has over 14,000 days before he can retire!! But as much as we look forward to something, our day-to-day experiences of anticipation do not offer much insight into the ancient Israelites waiting for the messiah. The magnitude and scale of their longing and expectation is beyond our comprehension. Generation after generation, they yearned for peace and harmony in their own land and with their neighbors. Age upon age, they prayed that God would send the shepherd that we heard Micah describe in our first reading. The prophet, like those before him, assured the people that “he shall be peace.” To recall Israel’s history of faithful expectation helps us better appreciate the potency that Luke seeks to convey in today’s Gospel. In these few, brief lines, we hear that Israel’s longawaited Savior and his herald are not only already in the womb but now are even under the same roof. Through the power of the Holy Spirit what might have been an unremarkable family visit on an ordinary day in a rural village becomes the intersection of two periods of human history. Elizabeth, with John the Baptist in her womb, embodies the former generations. She bears the prophet who will point the way to the promised one. Mary, with Jesus in her womb, embodies a new beginning. She bears the transforming fulfillment of Emmanuel – God with us.

Luke describes the meeting of these two women as being charged with excitement. Anticipation is palpable in every phrase. Mary travels “in haste.” John “leaped” in his mother’s womb. Elizabeth is “filled with the Holy Spirit.” Then she exclaims to Mary, “Blessed are you who believed,” celebrating Mary’s faithfulness to God’s plan for humanity’s salvation which is unfolding right before their very eyes!

As we listen to this Gospel, we are swept up in the euphoria that was so evident in Elizabeth’s home. We can imagine how Luke’s first audiences must have delighted in this story. Jesus was the answer to their ancestors’ prayers. He is the answer to our prayers as well! The day of salvation has arrived!! The waiting is over!!

And so, it is with great joy and anticipation that along with Fr. Mark, our Deacons and staff, that we look forward to celebrating Christmas Mass with all who will come to Our Lady of Mercy! We warmly welcome you! We hope you will encounter Jesus in a new way through our celebration of Christmas and leave with a new appreciation of the gift of the Incarnation. God bless you!!

Blessed and Merry Christmas!

Fr Don

Here I go, dating myself again!  How many of you remember the commercial for Heinz Ketchup?  The bottle upside down with the cap off, and the ketchup very slowing coming out with the music of singer Carly Simon’s 1971 song “Anticipation” playing in the background?  Perhaps that is the song that would best go with today’s gospel!  John the Baptist has the crowds all stirred up and excited.  We are told that “the people were filled with expectation” and wondered if John might be the Christ.  They were anticipating the someone!  So much so, that everyone was asking John what they should do.  Basically everyone was told to be fair, be kind, act with compassion.  John then told them that the someone they were anticipating was coming after him, that he was “not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.”  And so John sets the stage for the coming of Jesus – the Messiah they were anticipating after thousands of years of waiting.  We too are living in anticipation! Christians have been waiting for over 2,000 years for the return of Jesus.  Many throughout the years since the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus have tried to “stir up the crowds” by announcing the exact date they figured out would be the return of Jesus, or stand on corners holding signs “the end is near.”  Followers of these so called prophets have gone up mountain tops only to be disappointed.  But remember, some day they will be right!  So how do we prepare for that day when the Lord returns?  We do exactly what John the Baptist told the crowds in his day. John preached an attitude that turns the world’s values inside out.  It is an approach to life that both hopes and works for the time when things will be as God created them to be.  John was pointing out what that looks like in action.

This brings us to the message of the combination of today’s three scripture readings for Mass.  Where John pointed to the sort of behavior that prepares the way for God’s coming, Zephaniah proclaims that God is overjoyed to be in our midst.  Zephaniah goes so far as to paint a picture of God partying with the people who have been saved.  Paul picks up on the theme by telling the Philippians that their life should be one of constant rejoicing.  And why?  Because the Lord is near, and there is nothing to fear.

On the Third Sunday of Advent, we as a church focus on our reasons for joy.  The readings offer us multiple reasons to rejoice, all of which come down to two basic themes.  First, God loves and saves us. Secondly, we are capable of loving one another with the freedom God’s loves engenders in us.  When we truly encounter the love of Jesus, we can do nothing BUT rejoice!

Several people ask me how my new dog Chardonnay is doing.  Has she adjusted to her new surroundings?  Indeed she has!  She is really a sweet dog but I’m afraid to let her off her leash outside.  She has such a hunting instinct, I’m afraid she wouldn’t come back.  She is now being re-treated for heartworm.  The rescue treated her, but not adequately.  On December 10^th she finished a month of pills.  Then on January 10^th she will have an injection followed by 4 weeks of very limited activity.  February 10^th she will have another injection, followed by another one a day later, then 4 more weeks of limited activity.  Hopefully she will be clear of heartworm by then.

Blessed Advent!

Fr Don