December 26th, 2004
A blessed Christmas!
When
was the first Christmas?
I’ve recently gotten some e-mails from people whose co-workers
were arguing about the date of the birth of Jesus. The claim was that
we really shouldn’t be celebrating Christmas in December because
we don’t know when Jesus was born. Some suggest that it must have
been in the spring because shepherds were taking care of sheep and that’s
a spring-time thing.
Well it’s true that no one kept a census record of Jesus’
actual birth date. And it’s true that December 25th was chosen
as the day to celebrate because Christianity replaced the Roman Pagan
feast of the return of the sun (which took place after the shortest
day of the year as it was apparent that the days were getting longer
again) with the birth of the Son of God. What matters for us is not
when we celebrate Jesus’ birthday but THAT we celebrate.
Merry Christmas!
End
of Year Gifts
We
concluded this past fiscal year “in the black” because we
watched out expenses (spending $1000 less each week) and because of
last year’s generous donations in the Christmas Fund collection.
In addition, we received some very generous “end of year”
contributions from people who were looking to make a tax-deductible
donation where it would do a lot of good. This year as we approach Christmas,
I encourage you to be generous in the Christmas collection -- it helps
us cover our expenses for the months ahead. If you’re from outside
the parish & visit for weekday masses or any of the other services
we offer, please consider giving a gift at this time of year to support
out work. And if your accountant (or heart) says that you could use
a tax-deductible charitable donation at the end of the year, we’d
gladly help you out! .
At
College?
At St. Brigid’s we like to stay in touch through
e-mail “letters from home.”
Once a person has an e-mail address at school (or if he/she uses a personal
address), please let us know what it is so we can include them when
we write.
Here's a handy college link so you
can send this info online.
e-mail Father Ralph:
Past Columns:
December 19: Here comes
everybody!
December 12: The Journey
Continues
December 5: Visions of Sugarplums
November 28: Patience People
November 21: Squeezing In
November 14: Beacons of
Light
November 7: Our Vincentian
Deacon
October 31: Candy
Good...Saints Better
October 24: Flu Shots
October 17: Aaron &
Hur
October 10: Heritage Celebration
October 3: Is it safe?
September 26: Up and coming...
September 19: New Year Resolutions?
September 12:Our New Priests
September 5: Got Two Hours?
August 29: In My Humble
Opinion
August 22nd: Hot Asphalt, Cool Church
August 15: A Big Assumption
August 8: Do It Anyway!
August 1: Parking Lot Joys!
July 25:"Doh!"
July 18: Taking Church Home
July 11: Seven Eleven
July 4th: Independence Day
June 27: God Bless Father
George
June 20: Our New Priests
June13:Missing you
June 6: Farewell Father
Leonard
May 30: Going & Coming
& Going
May 23: P.O.P.S.
May 16:
Celebrating Our Parish
May 9: Facing the Future
May2: Resurrection Sequel
April 25: Chapel Design
April 18: Oh what a week!
April 11: Easter Life!
April 4: Palms & Passion
March 28: Plenty Good Room
March 21: More Passion
March 14: Reconciliation
March 7: A sequel from Mel?
Feb 29: Come to
Life!
Feb 22:
An Adventure to Life
Feb15: A rose
by another name?
Feb 8: If at first...
Feb 1: Our Patron Saint
Jan 25:A View From Inside
Jan 18: Our School
Jan 11: Baptism with Fire
Colums from 2003
Columns from 2002
It
was crowded that night in Bethlehem. No room for Joseph and Mary to give
birth to Jesus. Still, God doesn’t let something as ordinary as
crowded towns stop him from coming into the world. That’s good news
for our world today because there are countless crowded refugee camps,
crowded prisons, crowded third world cities -- and even crowded living
rooms and kitchens and churches this holy night.
It’s good news because God
still comes into a crowd.
Most people didn’t notice
that night in Bethelehem that the savior of the world was born. Some shepherds,
scripture tells us. No one else. (Not exactly a public relations success.
More people know about “Chia-pets” today than people knew
about the birth of Jesus back then.) Old-time shepherds were among the
mistrusted in that society. They kept to themselves and their sheep. They
smelled like sheep. They didn’t have the best social skills. These
were the ones to welcome the savior of the world.
That’s good news because
sometimes we can consider ourselves (or other family members) as folks
without the best spiritual or religious skills. Still, we’re here
to welcome the savior into our worlds.
Despite all the sales hype these
past weeks, Christmas turns out to be a rather quiet intimate event between
us and our God. Surrounded by other believers we’re strengthened
to welcome Jesus into our lives again in a new way. We recommit ourselves
to him by turning over our worries and cares, our joys and our sorrows
and we re-discover what a friend we have in Jesus. (As the song says,
“the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”)
On behalf of my brother priests,
our deacons and our staff, I welcome you to new life in Christ this Christmas.
May God bless you and your family with hope and peace this Christmas and
throughout the New Year ahead.
You are Person
