Dear beloved parishioners,

Christmastime is here !…as the timeless holiday song joyfully proclaims in such a way that even young hearts and children can appreciate. I hope that you and yours are having a blessed and holy Christmas Day this year. Now that we have had time to focus on the real meaning of the Christmas Season, we can ask the Lord to sustain us in the celebration of Christmas in our heart. The Church in her deep wisdom gives us more than just one or two days to enjoy this most wonderful time of the year.

We get to celebrate Christmas Day on the 24th and 25th of December, then there is the Christmas Octave, the eight days from Christmas Day to January 1st we celebrate as if it were one long celebration of Christmas. The Christmas Octave concludes with the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God on January 1st, New Year's Day. Mary Mother of God is a holy day of obligation, but like Christmas this year, it falls on a Sunday so that will be easy to remember to attend Mass. The Christmas Season continues with the Twelve Days of Christmas, the twelve days from Christmas Day to the arrival of the Magi on the Epiphany of the Lord (Jan. 6th). Here in the United States, most of the dioceses move the Epiphany of the Lord Feast Day (which is a holy day of obligation) to the nearby Sunday (Jan. 8, 2023 this year). And the Christmas Season technically ends on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (which is another Epiphany of the Lord--there are three Epiphanies of the Lord in our faith, the Wedding Feast at Cana being the third). Sometimes the Baptism of the Lord, which is the last day of the Christmas Season, falls on a Sunday; this year, it falls on Monday, January 9, 2023, which is the official end of the Christmas Season this year.

All this to say, there is a lot more Christmas celebration and blessings to be had in our hearts and in our faith. Let us not close our hearts to Christmas sooner than the Lord desires to remain in our hearts as the Child of God who comes to us at Christmastime. We will see you next weekend for the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God. Being that New Year's Day falls on the weekend, we will keep mainly with our regular weekend Mass schedule with the exception of the 5:30pm Mass on Sunday. There will be no 5:30pm Mass on Sunday, January 1st. I have provided next weekend's Mass schedule below (and on the parish website).

So now that it is Christmas time, it is my prayer that your soul experiences the blessings and warmth from having yourself herald with song and praise the wonderful Life that is born this day that we call Christmas!

Devotedly yours in Christ,
Rev. Tom Lam
Pastor